Authors: Richard Laymon
‘Less than five, probably.’
‘Lord.’ She rubbed her face with both hands. Then she lowered her hands to the black cape that shrouded her lap and thighs. ‘What’s this?’
‘A cape.’
‘Huh?’ She lifted it. ‘My skirt.’ She sounded puzzled, wary.
Marta glanced over. It was still spread open.
‘My skirt’s torn,’ Sue said, and flung the cape over her shoulder into the back seat. ‘Who went and tore my skirt?’
‘I had to leave you alone for a few minutes while I went up to Neal’s room. Somebody came along and did that.’
‘
What?
’
‘A caped crusader. He thought he’d found himself a girlfriend.’
‘Yuck! He tore my skirt? What’d he
do
to me?’
‘He didn’t rape you.’
‘Well, there’s a blessin in disguise. What in tarnation
did
he do?’
‘Kissed you and felt you up, I guess.’ Marta swung onto San Vicente. ‘Let’s not talk about it, now. We’re almost there. I’ll tell you everything later. What was going on with
you?
’
Head down, she put a hand between her legs. ‘Well, I reckon I was gettin molested . . .’
‘Were you
in
someone?’
‘I’m all sticky.’
‘Sue!’
‘Okay, yeah, I got in Vince. It’s just like we figured; he hired them guys to hit Glitt. Now Glitt’s got him in the bathtub, and he’s . . . doin stuff to him.’
‘What sort of stuff?’ Marta asked.
Sue didn’t answer for a few seconds. Then she said, ‘I don’t wanta talk about it.’
‘Torturing him?’
She gazed out the windshield, and nodded.
‘You were inside Vince while he was being tortured?’
‘I took it for as long as I could. I wanted him to pay . . . Ya know? For gettin Neal killed. I wanted to
feel
all the pain he was gettin. And I kinda liked it for a while. I mean, he was hurtin like ya wouldn’t believe. Deserves every bit of it, too. But then I just couldn’t stand it no more.’
‘I could tell you were suffering.’
‘Makes me sick, just thinkin about . . .’ She shook her head. ‘Glitt’ll do things to
us
, too.’ She faced Marta again. ‘If he gets the upper hand on us, we’re gonna wish we’d been born dead. I mean it.’
Marta slowed down and turned onto Greenhaven.
Almost there
.
‘Our gun’s loaded,’ she said.
‘Vince, he had himself a gun. But he only got off one shot, and all it did was scratch Glitt’s leg. And that was it. All she wrote. Vince was as good as dead after that.’
‘
Is
he dead?’
‘Nope. Or he wasn’t, anyhow. He was screamin his head off when I bailed out. Glitt’s not gonna finish him off any time soon, either. Havin too much fun playin around with him.’ Using both hands, she drew the edges of her skirt together. ‘Damn pervert,’ she muttered.
The headlights, pushing ahead, lit the rear of a white Subaru parked at the side of the road. Marta’s stomach seemed to fall.
She stopped behind the Subaru.
She shut off the headlights, the engine. Then she faced Sue. ‘So, they’re both in the bathroom?’
‘Yeah. Up till a few minutes ago, anyhow. And Vince, he ain’t goin noplace. He’s tied up in the tub. There to stay. Glitt was
standin in it, havin himself a ball. Still there, I bet.’
‘Ready?’
‘Never gonna be ready for this.’
‘I don’t think we can just leave,’ Marta said.
‘I know.’
‘We’ll never have any peace.’
‘I know.’
Marta slipped the key case into a front pocket of her shorts, then drew the pistol from between her thighs. ‘Let’s go,’ she said, and opened her door.
They met in front of the Jeep.
‘Where did Glitt get in?’ Marta asked.
‘I don’t know.’
They headed for the small front gate.
‘Does he have a gun?’
‘Don’t think so. Vince had that six-shooter, only I think it’s still in the den. Glitt’s got a knife. And . . . and some pliers. He got hold of Vince’s eyelids with ’em, and . . .’ She grimaced. ‘I can’t think about it. He’s got himself a screwdriver, too. And a cigarette lighter – been usin it to heat up the screwdriver . . .’
Marta led the way through the gate. Sue followed, close behind her.
‘He’s gonna use that stuff on us, we don’t kill him.’
‘We’ll kill him,’ Marta said.
‘We better. But look, I don’t wanta get taken alive. Not by him. So ya gotta promise to shoot me. Shoot me, and save a bullet for yerself.’
Marta wrinkled her nose. She would’ve liked to make a remark about sounding like bad movies – but she knew that Sue meant it.
Sue had been there.
It made Marta feel ready to throw up.
‘Nobody’s going to get shot except Glitt,’ she muttered.
‘Bullets don’t put him down.’
‘Sure they do. All it’ll take is one in the right place.’
‘I don’t know.’
Their voices went silent as they neared the front door. Marta tried the knob.
Locked.
They turned away and walked through the front yard. The soft
grass felt good to Marta. It was wet, and the bottoms of her socks were soon soaked.
The front windows of the house appeared to be shut and unbroken.
‘How’ll we get in?’ Marta whispered.
‘Maybe round back,’ Sue said.
They stepped around the corner of the house, then walked through the small orchard of fruit trees. Their feet made no sounds in the grass, but Marta could hear Sue’s quick breathing. And her own.
Though the night was mildly cool, Marta felt trickles of sweat sliding down her body. The pistol grips were slippery in her hand.
At the back of the house, she stopped, leaned forward, and peered around the corner. The surface of the swimming pool looked black except for a few shivering, silver specks of moonlight. Nobody swam. The diving boards at the far end stood abandoned. The concrete surrounding the pool was gray like a field of dirty snow. Nobody sat at the table.
Marta saw nobody anywhere.
She stepped onto the concrete. After the softness of the grass, its hardness hurt her feet. She felt as if it were trying to spread open every cut.
She heard Sue wince a couple of times.
When she came to the first glass door, she gazed into the house. No lights were on. She saw her own vague reflection as if looking at a black mirror. And she saw Sue at her side, slightly behind her.
She could see nothing of the living room.
‘Can’t see a thing,’ she whispered.
‘The drapes are shut.’
Marta almost found it amusing, but didn’t. She stepped over to the door handle, gripped it with her left hand, and gave it a sideways tug.
She expected the door to stay shut.
But it flew open so fast that it almost leaped from her hand. She held on and wrenched it to a halt.
Sue eased against her, put an arm across her back, and whispered close to her ear, ‘Don’t go in. Hang on a minute. I’ll kiss the bracelet and make sure Glitt’s still in the john.’
‘Don’t.’ Marta turned around. Face to face with Sue, she leaned
forward until their bodies met. ‘We shouldn’t split up,’ she whispered.
‘Stay with me. We’ll do it right here.’
‘But
you’ll
be gone, off in Glitt or something. I’ll be stuck alone with your
body
.’
‘Try and take better care of it, this time.’
‘Very funny. Just forget the bracelet, okay? Something could go wrong.’
‘We gotta know where he’s at.’ With that, Sue put both her arms around Marta and hugged her.
Marta kept the pistol down against the side of her leg. With her left hand, she caressed Sue’s back. ‘I don’t want to lose you,’ she whispered. ‘You’re all I have now.’
‘Ya got Neal’s baby.’
‘Maybe.’
Sue tilted back her head and gazed up into Marta’s eyes. ‘And maybe we still got Neal.’
‘We don’t,’ Marta said. Her throat was tight, and her eyes suddenly felt hot with tears. ‘You saw him. He’s dead. You said they weren’t even trying to save him.’
‘But what if he kissed the bracelet just before he died?’ In the moonlight, Marta saw Sue’s eyebrows rise. ‘What about that?’
‘But
you
had it.’
‘No,
he
did. I took it off him after he got hit. He
might’ve
kissed it.’
‘You didn’t see him do it?’
‘No. But he was outa sight after he got knocked through the glass. He could’ve done it then.’
It seemed far-fetched. But then,
everything
about the bracelet seemed far-fetched to Marta. She could hardly believe that such a thing worked at all. It sounded like complete nonsense. Obviously, though, it
did
work. Sue had proven that by knowing Marta’s two secrets. Neal had proven it by finding the hidden sack of money.
‘If he kissed it,’ Sue said, ‘he mighta gotten out and into somebody else. He might be in somebody right now. That’s if he didn’t get sucked back into his own self when I pulled the bracelet off him. But somebody was gonna take it, anyhow. I figured we oughta have it. Thing is, I wasn’t thinkin that he mighta gone off
on a body ride. Didn’t think of that till just now. So I didn’t figure it’d make any difference to him. Anyhow, maybe he was already dead by the time I took it off.’
‘What difference would that make?’
‘If he was dead, he
couldn’t
get back into his own body. He’d
have
to find someplace else to stay.’
‘Are you sure?’ Marta asked.
‘I ain’t sure of anything, comes right down to it. I’m just hopin he got out in time.’
‘Is there any way to find out?’
Sue shook her head. ‘I don’t know.’
‘Glitt was right there with him. What if he’s in Glitt?’
‘He wouldn’t go into Glitt on purpose. I don’t think so, anyhow. But it mighta happened by accident.’
‘If we kill Glitt, and Neal’s
in
him . . .’
‘I guess it’d kill off Neal. Or trap him, or . . .’
Marta groaned.
‘More likely he got in you or me. That’s what I’d do if I was him and knew I was about to go toes up.’
‘My God,’ Marta whispered.
Then neither of them spoke. They held each other. Marta felt Sue’s warmth, her heartbeat, the heat of her breath. And she wondered if Neal might actually be dwelling inside her own body, or inside Sue.
It didn’t seem terribly likely.
But it seemed possible.
If he’d been alert enough to think of the bracelet as the bullets were hitting him, he
would’ve
kissed it. Or at least given it a try. Maybe he’d wanted to kiss the bracelet, but hadn’t been able to bring it to his lips.
But maybe he did kiss it
.
Maybe Neal had bailed out – fled his body like a fighter pilot ejecting when a missile has blown a wing off his jet . . .
Maybe he’s in me right now
.
‘
Hi, Neal,’ she said to him in her mind
.
Or in Sue
.
If he’s in Sue, Marta realized, then he is holding
me
right now. He can see me, hear me. He can feel my body against him, just as if
he
is hugging me.
Marta’s tears returned. ‘We’ll never be able to know?’ she whispered to Sue.
‘I don’t think so.’
‘Then . . . we’ll have to live as if he
is
in one of us.’
‘I know.’
‘We’ll have to stay together.’
‘Yeah.’
‘And we’ll have to . . .
do
things for him. Make it so he has a really great time. Just in case.’
‘Yeah. It oughta be great.’ Sue hugged her very hard.
Marta tried to stop weeping. After a few moments, she said, ‘I just hope he
is
in you or me.’
‘I’ll bet he is.’
‘If he’s in Glitt . . .’
‘We gotta kill Glitt, no matter what. Neal’d want that, don’t ya think?’
‘I think so.’
‘Me, too. But look, I wanta make sure where the bastard’s at, anyhow. So the thing is, I’ll kiss the bracelet and pay him a visit. Maybe when I’m in him, I’ll be able to tell if Neal’s in there, too.’