Monster (6 page)

“
No
,”
Mary said.

“
To
rn clothes? Bloody clothes?”

“
No
.” Mary l
ooked up weari
ly. “
I
think our dear
classmates t
ook the clothes with them in the green
garbage bags.”

“I
thought you wer
e implying that the bags contained the bodies of the two couples,”
Angela sai
d.

“
Hardly. The bags were not tha
t big.”

“Then the bodies — What are you saying,
Mar
y?”

Mary met her ey
e straight.
“They're monsters. What do monsters have for dinner?”

Angela was appalled
. “They didn't eat them, for God’s sake.”

“I
don't think God had anything to do with what
they
did to those four
.”

“Mary.”

“
Seven people went in that warehouse, Angie. Only
three came out.”

It was Angela's turn to close her eyes and shake her
head.
Shake
it all
ou
t
of h
er head, she wished. These awful images
Mary so easily invoked. Super strength, strange appetit
es.
All this from a girl who had killed two people only
twelve
hours ago. What was she to believe from such a per
son
? Nothing
–
she could believe none of it if she wanted
to
be sane.

Ma
ry
’s
raving.
She
can
’
t
a
ccept what she’s done and she’s invented
this
fantasy
.
Ther
e
ar
e
no m
onsters
.

Angela opened her eyes. “
Why didn't you go straight the police
and tell them what you'd seen?”
she asked.

“I
wouldn't have been able to prove that
Jim
and Todd
and
Ka
thy had killed the two couples.”

“
But the people at
the
bar w
ould have been able to confirm th
at
they all
left together. And you had the blood-
stains on the warehouse floor.”

“
I
did
go back to the bar
–
but to the owner it had been just another night of faceless people. He couldn't remember anybody. I also went back to the warehouse a couple of days
later.
The bloodstain had been washed awa
y.”

“
B
y who?”

Mary shrugged
. “Probably by them.
I
think they began
to
su
spect they were being followed.”

“
What
makes you say that?”
Angela asked.

“It was
jus
t
an impression. The next time
I
s
aw
Jim
, he looked at me funny.”

“
What
was the name of the warehouse?”

“
I
don
't know if it had a name.”

“Do you know the address?”

“No,” Mary s
aid
. “
But
I
could show it to you.”

“Cou
ld
you draw me a map to it?” Angela asked.

“
I
don
't think so.”

Angela nodded
.
Mary was dod
ging every chance to have her story verified.
It was all an illusion.
“
You should have
gone
to the police if yo
u believed you saw what you did,”
Angela
said.

Mar
y
exploded
. “
And tell them what? That I saw a cute
little
cheerleader lift a thousand pounds over her head?
That
my ex-boyfriend eats people?
I
would have been shown the do
or faster than you could blink.”

“Ma
ry
,” Angela
said pa
ti
en
tl
y.
“
T
hey’re
not going to show
you t
he door now.”

Ma
ry quietened.
“
I had to do what
I
did. I had to st
op
them
while there w
as still time.”

“What do you mean?”

Mary was defensive. “Nothing.”

“You
've told me this much. You may as well tell me the
rest.”

“Why? I c
an see what you're thinking. Mary went be
rserk
and now she's con
co
cted thi
s
crazy story to try to e
xplain why.”

“
That's not true,
”
Angela lied.

“I
t is true
.
I
told yo
u, you wouldn't believe me. Well? Do y
ou? See?
”
Ma
r
y
was angry at herself. “I
must
have been crazy to think you would.”

“
How come the two couples were never r
e
po
rted
missing? That would
have been big news in these parts.”

Mary frowned again. “
I
don't know why. I sus
pect
though, that
Jim
and Todd and Kathy only picked
up
p
eople who were passing through.”

“
You think
they killed people every night?”

“
I think they had strong appe
tites.”

“
Look, wha
t do you want from me, Mary? All right, I
don't believe
your story. It's too ridiculous. I
f
I
was
in
your position and I told you the same thing, you would
n’t believe me.”

“That's true.”

“
Then what am
I
supposed to do?
”
Angela asked.

“
I don't know
if
anything can be done.”

“
Because
Jim
is still alive
? Because he's still on the loose?”

Mary nodded gravely.
“
Yes
.
If he made a couple
of
partners
,
I
don't
know why he couldn't make another
two
. Or thousands, for that matter.”

“
Now the world's in danger of being taken over, is
that
it?”

Mary nodded again. “
What I wanted to say a mo
ment
ago and didn't was that the day before the party
I
saw
our
happy threesome talking with Carol McFarland and
Larry Zurer.”

“
Carol and Larry are monsters now?
”

“Maybe.”

“
Why didn't you kill th
em as well? They were at party.”

“
I
wasn't sure they had changed. Strange as it may so
und,
Angie,
I
don't just go around shooting people beca
use I feel like it.”

“
All right, let's pretend for a moment that everything
y
ou
say is tr
ue.
I
don'
t believe it is, but let's say I do. What ha
pp
e
ned to these people that changed them?
”

“I
don't know,
” Mary said.

“
Bu
t
you must have a
n idea.”

“
I
don't,” Mary said. “
Bu
t
if Carol and
La
rry have become like
t
he others, then it's an interesting coincidence. Carol's
a
cheerleader
. Larry's on the football team.”

“
Why don't you tell Lieutenant Nguyen your story?
”

“
What for?
You know me,
and you don't believe me. Wha
t are the chances he will?”

“
Nguyen thinks it might be a bad idea for your lawyer
to
try to get you ou
t on bail. He fears Todd and Kat
hy's
families might come after you.”

M
ary waved away the suggestion. “
They won't do anything to me.
Jim
's the one who'll try to get me.
”

“
Will you try to get out?
”
Angela asked
.

“
I don't know if
I
should answer that
question.
”

“
The answer is yes. Bu
t
I
suppose Nguyen knows that
already, so I g
uess
I
don't have to worry about it.”

“
Personally, I think you have plenty to worry about
,”
Mary
s
aid
.

“
Because the world is
about to be overrun by aliens?”

“
I don't know if they're alien
.
I
don't know if they have
the str
ength to overrun the world
.
But I have no doubt
that
they'll take
over Point in the near future.”

Angela glanced at her watch.
“
Is there anything else you
wa
nt to add
to your story by way of proof?”

“
Two more points. You were there last night. You'll remember how
Jim
was on the second floor when I shot Todd and Kathy. You'll
remember how he immediately realized that I'd go after him next.”

“
What does that prove?
”
Angela asked.

“
Nothing in and of itself. But it's interesting that he knew
he was to be next.
You should see the significance. Then
there
was the way he dived out the bedroom window on to
the
roof, dropped twelve feet to the ground, and dashed
into
the
field without breaking stride.”

“
I would dive out a window if someone was coming
after me with a shotgun.”

“
But you'd bleed
,” Mary said. “
You'd ge
t hurt.”

“
You hurt
Jim
when you shot him in the leg
.
I'm
sure
he bl
ed.”

“
I
wonder how badly I hurt him
.”

“I’ll ask him.”
Angela started to stand.
“
He's here at
the
station
.”

Mary reached over and grabbed her arm. Her eyes
were wide, scared. “Stay away from him,”
she said,
a
note of p
leading in her voice. “He's dangerous. Promise me you will.”

“I
rarely see
Jim
I don't
thin
k it'll be a p
r
oblem
.”

“
But he'll know we talked. He might come after
you.”

Angela reached down and removed Mary
's
hand
from
her arm
. “
I'm ca
pable of taking care of myself.”

Mary sat back and smiled sadly.
“
Tha
t’s
what I tho
ught, t
oo
.”

Angela didn't know what to say. She told Mary
she’d
talk to her soon and left the room, leaving Mary ch
ained
to the ch
air.
H
ow sad, s
he thought. M
ar
y had had so m
uch
potential. What a waste of a life. Angela hoped the c
ourt
saw fit to place her in the hands of
a
competent psychia
trist
rather than behind strong ba
rs
.

Nguyen met he
r
in the hallway and led her back
to
his office. He offer
ed her a seat, but she refused. He
asked her what Mary had said.

“
Nothing,
”
Angela said.

“
You
were
with her more than ten minutes
,”
Nguyen
said. “
You must have talked abou
t something.”

“
Nothing important
. She won't talk about last night.” Angela spread her hands. “I'm sorry.”

Nguyen stared at her a moment.
H
e
had the
warmest e
yes, and she
felt guilty lying to him. But s
he saw no
point in relating Mary’
s story. If Mary herself wanted to tell h
im,
that was one thing. But Angela would have felt
as
if
she were
betraying her friend to talk about her friend'
s
monsters.