Underbelly (58 page)

“
Larry Whitlow doesn’t need these anymore,” Adelaide said gleefully.

“
That’s unforgivable,” Germaine said, holding her hand over her mouth, the words coming out unintentionally. Fighting her fear, feeling some relief that she was not alone with them, she turned to Audrey (who was fixated on the lungs at her feet, possibly remorseful) and said, “You’ve got to tell them to stop. This has to end.”

“
It will soon,” Adelaide said, her voice demulcent as she targeted Germaine as a prospective client, Germaine fitting the profile perfectly. Her powers granted her much knowledge, invaluable for targeting weaknesses, and she used this knowledge as she said, “We’re nearly done and then, our little countrywoman, you can write us a list. We like long lists best but if you want only one then we’ll deal with Inge’s servant, Lotte, for you.”

“
Could you kill Inge?” she asked.

“
No, we can only kill the living. Clemence could have killed even Octavius if anyone had had the guts to put him on our lists. If your husband keeps digging in that direction he’s in for a shock, mark my words. Friendly advice, Germaine, because that’s what we’re about, helping people.”

“
By torturing and killing others!” Germaine said. She misunderstood Adelaide’s words about Inge, assuming that she didn’t consider her alive in the same sense as humans.

“
For someone to put another name forward for our list, that person must have been foul,” Adelaide said, her specious reasoning enough to sate Audrey, but not enough to convince Germaine. She had been sympathetic to Audrey’s plight – she knew what it felt like to be a helpless victim – but the sight of the bloody set of lungs and the thought of that man’s suffering changed her mind instantly. She didn’t even wish that fate for Inge. “If you want to allow those who have ruined you to live that is your choice. Audrey does not feel the same, do you?”

Audrey picked up the lungs and said, tears streaming down her cheeks, “He didn’t rape me, but he held me down while the others did. He shouted abuse outside during my husband’s funeral, even though he had caused his death with his friends, kicking my gentle Earl around like a dog. He deserved it.”

“
He deserved a death sentence from the courts, not from these two and not in this manner. Look at them, they’re demons. Why are you even here? What more do you want from her?”

Clemence drew close to Germaine, snorting on her, successfully intimidating her.

“
I know you can’t hurt me,” Germaine said, her voice wavering.

“
Can hurt anyone,” Clemence hissed. “Get uncle put you list inherit farm.”

“
I’m French and I hadn’t even heard of you before this. You are not legends – perhaps once, but you’re forgotten now. People have to contact you first and I imagine that doesn’t happen very often, especially as the callers suffer a worse fate then their targets.”

Clemence opened her jaws wide and leaned over Germaine, slavering on her before Germaine walked away from her. Clemence followed her around the room, shadowing her movements. Germaine could tell how much she ached to hurt her and it affected her composure.

“
Audrey knew the score. We don’t hoodwink anyone,” Adelaide said.

“
I can take it. It’s worth it,” Audrey said.

“
Whatever they do to their victims they do to you,” Germaine said. “Can you…”

“
Not exactly,” Adelaide interrupted. “In the case of female to male lists or male to female, we use poetic license where we have to.”

Germaine looked at her with revulsion and looked back at Audrey. “Can you bear your lungs being removed, maybe over and over because she can repair them?”

“
That day doesn’t have to come yet. That’s why we’re here Audrey, to talk about your list, and to show you that lovely sight which we will take with us, don’t worry. You’re down to one name on the list and after that we have no choice I’m afraid, Audrey.”

“
I understand,” Audrey said.

“
What if she cancelled it? You said he didn’t rape you and he wasn’t with the others when they killed your husband. He was only 16 at the time.”

“
He stood guard, telling them if anyone was coming,” Audrey said, determined to see it through.

“
His father would have told him to. His father’s dead now, can’t it end?”

“
It’s too late, he’s on the list,” Adelaide said. “You can add names, Audrey – add enough names and your turn will never come. Once Clemence and me tortured a man to death for five years. Add ten names and that should give you at least five years respite, we’ll ration it out.”

Audrey considered this, wondering if she could come up with ten people who deserved it.

“
Add her to list get ten years not killed,” Clemence spat out. Audrey looked at Germaine, contemplating it for a moment before shaking her head, realising she could not sacrifice her to save her own skin.

“
I need time to think. I can come up with three now. Ten?”

“
Just write down those three for now and come up with more when you need them,” Adelaide said, smiling at her warmly. While Clemence was the freakish monster who scared her more, Germaine knew that Adelaide was equally monstrous.

“
Tell me why these three people deserve to die,” Germaine said to Audrey.

“
Live my life in this part of the country and then you can judge me,” Audrey said.

“
If you don’t write them now it might be too late. Once he’s dead if there’s no more names on the list it’s too late,” Adelaide said. Germaine felt tears stream down her cheek as Audrey slashed her forearm with the quill and wrote another three names on the parchment with her own blood.

“
What if I wanted to put her name and all of her family on a list?” Germaine said.

“
We’d do it,” Adelaide said keenly.

“
Don’t you see?” Germaine said to Audrey. “They don’t care who they kill.” Her bravery and desperation were due to the fact that Germaine knew if she didn’t get Audrey to stop them that they would clash with her husband, who wouldn’t give Allan up without resisting with everything he had. Her instincts had been to cower, to faint or scream, but because she knew they’d be heading straight to James she found the strength to make a stand.

“
Of course not. They’re demons. The men who wronged me and Earl don’t have that excuse.”

Adelaide smiled at Audrey, stroking her arm, instantly healing the wound, and picked up the lungs and left with a backwards wave followed by Clemence. As soon as they were gone the maggots and flies disappeared and Germaine and Audrey were alone, both affected by the visit. Audrey thought of those two horrible nights again, of Larry Whitlow, whose death she celebrated, but one of the names that she had written on impulse troubled her, a man who had been the scum of the earth once yet did seem to have mellowed somewhat in recent years. Germaine thought of the shock that James was going to receive – there was no preparing for the spectacle that was Clemence Alieu, a female Quasimodo with a gargoyle’s face and grotesquely disfigured body.

Germaine was the first to speak, turning to Audrey and saying, “When is the next bus?”

“
Two hours time. Why?”

“
James is with Allan. I have to warn them.”

“
So I was wrong to trust you. You’re only here as his mouthpiece. You revealed that when they were here,” Audrey said, listlessly disappointed.

“
Of course my loyalties lie with him. Audrey, for God’s sake, how could you see that and be unmoved?”

“
I’m not made of stone. I am affected by it, just not in the way you two want.”

“
You can’t be pleased.”

“
Another chapter in that book is closed,” Audrey said, clinically cold.

“
You have to let go of the hate, Audrey. His lungs were ripped out! No one deserves that,” Germaine said, horrified at the sight and finding her sympathies drawn towards a murderous rapist.

“
Not many do. Larry Whitlow was one of the few who did. He killed my husband and held me down as his friends raped me as I screamed.”

“
Hate him, by all means, but this is wrong. I know you thought you couldn’t get justice, but you should have campaigned for it. Maybe eventually you could have had them locked up.”

“
What colour do you think I am? You might not be American and you might not be welcome in this nasty little town because of your nationality, but you’re still white. If I was white I would believe in justice,” Audrey said cynically.

“
There’s been no justice for my father, mother or little sister,” Germaine said, feeling tears well up as she mentioned them. “Their killer will never be punished, I know that. It grieves me so much still, so much I can’t say. Even so, I wouldn’t want their killer to have her lungs removed. She should be executed, not dissected. No creature on this earth could ever deserve such a punishment.”

“
I feel for you, child. I can see how distressed you are and I envy you because I am beyond tears. I am numb with grief. I left my parents and brothers and sisters for Earl – I could handle their passing, it was Earl who was my life. You have a husband and that gives you something to live for. Until he is gone, you will not understand what it is like.”

Germaine shook her head, crying as she did so. “I love James dearly, but nothing could ever hurt like the death of my mother and sister. We were still a family after my father’s death and even though that tore us apart, together we could have made it. We didn’t get a chance though because she threw a pig down the stairs and killed Mama and Carol. Not me though, I moved out of the way so quickly,” Germaine said, ashamed and forever regretful that she had not helped Carol pull their mother out of the way.

“
You weren’t at fault,” Audrey said supportively, putting a hand on her shoulder. “You have nothing to make amends for, and even if you did, you can’t make amends by saving a bastard. What exactly happened to you?”

Audrey’s concern for her seemed genuine and Germaine told her as much of the tale as she could without mentioning Eleanor. Audrey listened attentively, and once Germaine was finished Audrey cooked some soup for her and sat next to her stroking her hair as Germaine wiped her tears away.

“
I’ve never thought that I had the monopoly on pain,” Audrey said, doting over her despite Germaine’s betrayal, her partial pretence of understanding. “What happened to you is despicable.”

“
I agree. It still doesn’t give me the right to do despicable things,” Germaine said, clearing her throat as she spoke.

“
You don’t need to. Your life is going to improve anyway, I promise,” Audrey said solemnly. “Stay here tonight. It’s not safe out there at this time of night, especially not for a pretty girl like you.”

Germaine was tired and knowing that the Alieus couldn’t hurt James was enough to sway her. Audrey led her to her bed, where she quickly fell asleep, giving Audrey the chance to contact the Alieus again to solve all of Germaine’s woes.

The Alieus were busy, having entered Allan Whitlow’s house (how was a mystery to Grey, with the doors locked and the windows firmly shut) where they were enjoying terrifying their prey in his living room. Grey made the mistake others did momentarily and saw them as beauty and the beast, and quickly corrected himself – they were both foul beasts.

“
I won’t let you take him,” Grey said, standing up to them, manoeuvring Allan so that he stood in the corner of the room, as Grey blocked him in. “I know the rules. You can’t touch anyone who’s not on your list.”

Adelaide laughed. “You can’t know that much about us otherwise you’d never get in our way, you substandard spiritualist. Move before you eternally regret it,” she threatened with enough venom to make the hair on Grey’s arms stand up.