Monster (4 page)

“No.”

“
What do
Jim
and
Kathy and Todd have in common?”

“I
asked myself the same question last night
,” Angela said. “J
im
and Todd are both on the football team. Kathy's
a
cheerleader. A
ll three are popular.” Angela had to c
at
ch
herself. She was talking as if they were all
still
alive. Sh
e
lowered her head and took a deep breath. Nguyen
was
sympathetic.

“
It's not easy to see people die,
”
he said.

She raised her eyes
–
they were damp.
“
Things like
this happened to you in the war?”

He took a moment to answer. “You expect it in war.” He shrugged. “
B
ut i
t doesn't make it any easier.
”
He looked
out
the window for a moment. They had a view of the back of a warehouse.
“
Do you want to talk to her?
” he asked.

“Mary?”

“Yes.”

She felt weak to her stomach. “
She won't talk to you?
”

“No. She says s
he has the right to remain silent. She won
’t
eve
n
talk to her parents. She's
cl
ammed up.
”

“Will she be let out on bail?”

“I
doubt it, but t
hat's for her lawyer to arrange. I
unde
rstand her family has money.”

“
Lots
,” Angela said.

Nguyen shook his head
. “
The families of her victim
s
are crushed. Mary might be safer in jail than out. Y
ou might want to tell her that.”

“
You're saying they might come after her?
”

“You never know.”

“
What else do yo
u want me to talk to her about?”
Angela asked.

“
Why
s
he did it. If she'd just tell us that, it would help
.”

Angela glanced down at her shoes. They were different from the ones she had worn to the party the night before. She had already thrown those away. She knew she couldn't wash away the bloodstains.

“
Who will it help?
” she asked softly.

“
You never know,
”
Nguyen said.

Nguyen led her to a small, grey box-like room with
p
ainf
ul
fluorescent lights on the ceiling. He told her he'd ge
t
Mar
y
and left her alone for a few minutes. Angela passed the time reme
mbering when they had first met. Those had been happy days.

Angela had been in town a week. Or outside of town would have been more correct. Her grandfather's house, located on the far side of the lake from Point proper, had
the
body of water to keep the world away
.
Her grandfather was not reclusive, however. Although seventy-
t
wo years old, he had a flourishing social life. He loved women, and since there were few men his
age who were capable of doing mo
re than talking, the women
reli
shed
him. He was i
n excellent health. Right from the start he l
et Angela go her own way, which suit
ed her just fine. She had been wal
king alone in the woods on the south side of the lake when she stumbled across Mary.

Mary was dancing. She had on a skin-
t
ight green
leotard and tights and was
playing her boom box at maximu
m
volume. Angela stood and stared at Mary for several
min
utes before announcing her presence, but there was
no
rudeness in
the delay. She was awestruck –
Mary dance
d
like a pro. But she wasn't an MTV clone. The way sh
e
moved between the trees
–
it was as if she were a Gree
k
nymph descended t
o earth for an afternoon frolic. Mary
was fully
alive
when she danced, filled with energy. H
er
dance was an art, and the interesting thing was that
she
did it to ordinary rock blasting out of the boom box.

When Ange
la finally did speak up, Mary st
opped an
d
stared at her. She immediately turned off the music, b
ut
she wasn't embarr
assed or angry. She just said, “
You're n
ew
here, aren't you? My name's M
ary.”

Want to be friends?

Mary hadn't said the l
atter, but she could have. She
has
taken Angela under her wing that very day. Angela had
never
met anyone with such incredible self-confidence
–
too
cool
to care about being cool. Besides being an incredibl
e
dancer, Mary could paint, sing, play the flute, and make
–
so she said
–
incredible love.
Jim
, she said, was the best.

Three months ago. The best
.

And last night she had done everything in her power
to
kill him.

“I’ll kill
you if I have to
–
to g
e
t to h
im.”

Suddenly Mary was at th
e door, being l
ed inside by
a
uniformed officer. She sat down in a chair across fro
m
Angela
.
The chair was metal, bolted to the floor, an
d
Mary was handcuffed to it with her good hand. Sh
e
had already changed into prison clothes. The grey shi
rt
and trousers looked like unwashed pyjamas
–
baggy an
d unflattering.
Angela was appalled at
the
change in h
er
friend's appearance.

Ordinarily Mary was a beauty. Her brown hair was c
ut
short, as was Angela's, but it wasn't the same beca
use
Mary's had that extra gloss that separated the blessed fro
m
the non-blessed. At least that was what Angela had to
ld
M
a
ry not long after they'd met. Mary had been quick to disagree. Mary's eyes were large and liquid green, Angela's a simple blue. Mary was voluptuous
–
in a bathing suit she
c
ou
ld
turn heads
a hundred yards away. Angela was slight and
had trouble gaining weight, probably because she
seld
om ate much.

Eating wouldn't be a priority that day. Just looking at Mary took away her appetite. Mary had a huge bandage
wra
pped round her head, and the doctors had not spared
h
er
hair while treating her
wound.
They had lopped off a handful of it ri
ght at the top. Common treatment
for a murderess, Angela supposed. Her
right
hand was ban
daged to her wrist.
Nguyen could shoot straight.

Mary
stared across the table at her with bloodshot eyes.

“
Well
,” Angela said.

“
Well,
” Mary muttered.

“How's your head?”

“I don't know.”

“Does it hurt?” Angela asked.

“
I
don't know.”

“Did you sleep last night?”

“
A
little. Did you?”

“
Some
,”
Angela said.

“
That's good. What are you doing here?
”

“I came to see how you're doing.”

“
I'm all right
. Anything else?”

“Yeah.”

“What?”
Mary said.

“
You kno
w what. What the hell happened?”

Mary sh
rugged.
“You were there. You saw it all.”

“T
ha
t
's not what
I
mean, and
you know it. Why did you do it?”

Mary acted bored.
“
If I told you
,
you wouldn't believe
me.”

“
Try
me
.
”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“
You won'
t believe me.”

“
Mary, you killed two pe
ople. You almost killed a third –
Jim
. How do you feel about that?”

Mary stared at the floor
. “I feel nothing.”

“
Nothing? Not even regret? God, do you know w
hat you've done to their families?”

Mary took a breath.
“I
feel bad fo
r their families. I also feel regret.”

Angela sighed
. “I know you must.”

“I
reg
ret
that the cop stopped me before
I
could get
Jim.”

Angela was exasperated. “
Why? What did
Jim
do to
you?”

Mary raised her eyes to Angela's
. “
He didn't do anythi
ng to me.”

Angela paused. “
Did
he do anything to anyone else?”

“
Trust me, Angie. Ther
e's no point in talking about it.”

“
What did
Jim
do?
”
Angela insisted.

A bitter chuckle escaped Mary.
“Boy, if you only knew.”

A remark Mary had made the previous night came b
ack
to Angela right then.

“
Because he's not human.”

“
Not human,”
Angela whispered.

Mary was instan
tl
y alert
. “
What?
”

“You said l
ast night that
Jim
wasn't human.”

“
No.
I didn't.”

“I
heard you, Mary. I remember. Don't deny it. Why di
d you say that?”

Mary changed. No l
onger was she bored, indifferent
,
or defiant. She was
pale, and her check twitched. She
was
scared
.
This in itself frightened Angela more
than
anything the previous night had. Mary turned away an
d pressed her hands to her face.

“Because it's true,”
she said.

Angela reached across the table and touched Mary
’s arm. “What's true? What did he do?”

Mary
was having trouble breathing. “
Horrible things.
”

“Tell me?”

Mary slowly raised her he
ad. “
You won't believe me,
”
s
he
said for the third time.

“Try me.
Please?
I’ll believe you.”

Mary chewed on her lower lip. She was thinking, but not normal thoughts. There was a faraway look in her eyes
,
and where those eyes were focused was not a happy place.

“Todd and Kathy,”
she said finally,
“
were not human beings
anymore. That's why I killed them.”

“
You mean
they
did somethi
ng inhuman? They hurt somebody?”

“
I mean they were no longer like you and me.
”

Angela had no idea what she was talking abou
t. “What were they, then?”

Mary's lower lip trembled. “Monsters.”

“Mary?”

Mary smiled, a grotesque twisting of her face.
“I told you.”

“
No. Tell me more.
I
don't understand
.”

Mary sat back in h
er chair and stared at Angela. “
You want me to start at the beginning?
”

“Yes.”

“It'll be a waste of time.”

“I have plenty of time to waste.”

Mary closed her eyes for a moment
.
When she opened them and began to speak, her tone had changed. She spoke softly and simply, as if she were recounting a great tragedy.

“
You know how the cheerleaders and the football players practise before school starts at the beginning of September
,” Mary said. “
They meet and go through
their routines and their plays.
They do this every year.
Well, this year you also know t
hat I was seeing
Jim
. Sometimes I'd be
bor
ed and drive over to the school in the morning, just
to
watch the guys bang heads
. I'd watch the girls on the squad work out, too.”
Mary shrugged.
“
That's when
I
began
to
get a clue.”

“
A clue to what?
” Angela asked.