Dark Illusion: A Psychological Thriller Novel (3 page)

T
he sun had set and it was safe to
leave. Kelly drove downtown with the remains of Julie safely stashed in the
trunk of her Mercedes, concealed inside a black trash bag. While her eyes were
searching for the perfect location to dump the body, her mind wandered almost
three years back to Mandy Sheldon, her first victim.

They met when Mandy had come for
a job interview at the bureau of Inner Beauty magazine, where Kelly worked as
the Editor in Chief. It was instantly clear that Mandy’s only talent was
looking good behind the reception desk. She had waltzed into the office,
beaming with the overconfidence of a stupid little girl who did not know her
place. The stench of vanity was exuding from her. Kelly was infuriated by the
audacity and assurance that Mandy had displayed in her ability to get a
desirable position, and in such a prestigious workplace to boot, without even
bothering to submit a resume. She just had to teach her a lesson.

Kelly had interrupted the
interview and told Mandy that she’d noticed right away that Mandy had higher
qualities than the role required. She had given Mandy her business card and
told her to stay in touch. Of course Kelly hadn’t actually thought about
calling Mandy and had just planned on ridiculing her if she tried to approach
her. That should teach her a lesson or two.

But as the hours went by, Kelly
felt it was not enough.
The little imbecile must be punished.

She had called Mandy that very
same day and had offered her to model for next month’s issue of Inner Beauty,
which would be featuring young and promising new discoveries in the modeling
world. Kelly might have even said that she was so impressed with Mandy that she
wanted her to be on the cover. Any reasonable person would have doubted such an
exaggerated offer, but Mandy’s arrogance had triumphed over her reason, if she
even had any, and she had immediately accepted it. After all, how could she
have refused such an offer, when the alternative would have been working as a
mere receptionist, away from the spotlight?

Kelly had set up a meeting with
Mandy at her townhouse, allegedly for a photo shoot in her basement studio. She
had convinced Mandy to keep everything a secret so she could surprise her
family and friends when they saw her photo on the cover at the local news
stands.

Actually, Kelly hadn’t planned to
take Mandy’s life that night. She had only wanted to humiliate the young girl
and crush her spirits, after which she would understand that she had no chance,
ever, to model for her magazine – or any other for that matter. She had wanted
to open this naive girl’s eyes to the bitter truth, but they had refused to do
so; therefore, they would remain closed forever.

Kelly remembered Mandy arriving
at her house, dolled up from head to toe. How she had stepped inside, striding
like a beauty queen, with her stiletto heels clicking on the hardwood floor.
Click-click-click
,
to this day she could still hear clearly their hollow sound.

Mandy had oozed confidence and
fake charm, admiring Kelly’s home and complimenting her great taste. Kelly
rolled her eyes inwardly: she couldn’t care less what this little brat thought
of her decorating skills.

  Then Mandy had turned to
Kelly and thanked her for making her dream come true. “I don’t know what I
would have done if I had to spend yet another year working a
desk job
,”
she’d spat out the last two words with disdain, oblivious to Kelly’s tense
expression. She had worked her butt off to become Editor in Chief. That was her
dream. But to Mandy it was nothing more than a springboard for getting what she
really wanted. “In fact,” Mandy had continued, failing to notice her hostess
growing hostility, “the real reason I applied for a job in Inner Beauty was to
make connections in the fashion world and finally get my big break; I just
never imagined it would happen so fast!” Her flawless grin had slapped Kelly
right in the face. How could Mandy think that she could star on the cover of a
famous magazine without any effort or audition, just like
that?
Kelly
had felt her blood boiling and a storm raging inside of her. She had been so
furious at this conceited girl for thinking that she deserved everything thanks
to her looks alone.

Kelly had wanted to change it.

In a moment of unbridled fury,
Kelly had erupted in rage and shoved Mandy with more force than she realized
she possessed. Mandy’s head had hit the coffee table and she lost
consciousness. Kelly had panicked for a few long moments, not knowing what to
do, but then it dawned on her that she had a golden opportunity. She could
finally get back at all the beauties who had looked down on her for years and
barely acknowledged her existence. She could finally get back at
her
.
She was calling the shots now, and she would not be ignored, not by the likes
of
her
, starting with Mandy Sheldon.

She dragged Mandy’s weakened body
down the stairs leading to the isolated basement, with her body taking a hard
blow on each step it pounded down. She had continued dragging her across the
dusty, wooden floor of the studio, the same place Mandy had believed so naively
she would perpetuate her beauty and start her new life as a model.

That’s “pretty” ironic
,
she’d joked with herself as her eyes focused on the defenseless girl.

Kelly had stopped once she stood
in front of the only mirror in the studio, a huge mirror reaching all the way
to the ceiling. She had begun to undress Mandy from her fancy clothes and
roughly wiped the makeup off her face.

“What are you worth without all
of this, huh?” Kelly had asked the unconscious Mandy while yanking out her
hair. But that hadn’t been enough. Her fingers had been tickling and wishing
for more.

She had begun to slowly scratch
Mandy’s delicate face, and relished hearing the fainted girl’s moans of pain.
Every time Mandy opened her eyes, Kelly had pounded her again until she blacked
out. Kelly hadn’t known how she was going to get out of this trouble, or even
if, but she didn’t really care. She knew she couldn’t let Mandy live, but she
hadn’t been sure that she would actually be able to kill her.

Perhaps the dark creature
inside of her could.

When Mandy had opened her eyes,
Kelly was standing in front of her with a gun. She had pointed the pistol at
Mandy with trembling, hesitating hands. Kelly felt the darkness overtaking her
yet again, but she couldn't fight it: “Do you want to live?” Kelly had asked,
her voice merely breaking. She’d almost wanted Mandy to say yes.

Mandy had stared at her with a
surprised, yet still terrified, look. She had opened her mouth, but then her
eyes noticed her disfigured image in the mirror. She’d let out a shriek of pure
fear. Instead of replying, she had begun to sob – tears of grief and bereavement
for what was lost and could never be regained.

“I have nothing left! Nothing to
live for, you’ve killed everything that I was,” the stupid girl had replied.

“
Do you want to live?
”
Kelly had screamed at her.

Mandy hesitated for a split
second. Kelly hadn’t given her another chance. She pulled the trigger.

Mandy had died almost instantly,
but that hadn’t stopped Kelly from talking to her lifeless body, which was
still warm.

“It’s your fault you’re dead, not
mine!” Kelly had slammed the words at her through tears of anger, shock, and
fear, mixed with a little bit of elation. “I gave you a chance to live and you
spat on it. You should have said yes. What kind of person waives their right to
live?” she demanded. “If you had shown me that you had passion for anything
else besides your phony cover, maybe I would have spared your life,” she tried
to justify herself, “but you are hollow from within, empty of all substance
and, therefore, not worthy of taking one more breath on this earth.” Kelly felt
wickedness coursing through her veins and an evil smirk had appeared on her
lips. “You got exactly what you deserved.”

She had realized in that moment
that she had unleashed a monster that had been lurking inside for nearly twenty
years, and it would not surrender until the bitter end; there was no turning
back. The fear and rage had morphed into total euphoria. It had been years
since she had felt so alive, like she had on that seemingly far removed day in
which her life had changed forever. She had tried to immerse herself in this
heavenly feeling; but then the euphoria had begun to fade as panic and reason
penetrated her mind and tainted her pure victory.

She had to pull things together.
Get the body out of her house. Erase any connection between her and the heinous,
but oh so sweet, act that had been done here. She had thought almost
instinctively about calling her mother, but she had burned that bridge a long
time ago.

When she was young, still an
innocent girl, her mother used to help her sweep all of her mistakes under the
carpet. But this had been no mistake. She wouldn’t tell a living soul; the
pleasure was all hers, a dark secret that would never be known.

Kelly had to act wisely and, just
as important, quickly. She’d gone out and bought black trash bags, the biggest
size available. Instinctively, she reached for her credit card but luckily had
stopped herself in time and paid in cash. On the way back, she’d parked her car
near the entrance and then sneaked back in, hoping that none of the neighbors
had seen her. Kelly had shoved Mandy’s body into the big trash bag and started
scrubbing the floor clean of  blood stains. She couldn’t stand the sight
of them. But first she had to get rid of the body.

Late at night, she had left her
house and started driving, not knowing specifically where. Miles away from her
home, on the other side of town, she had seen a large dumpster. She had
stealthily dragged the bag from her car and had managed to lift it up just
enough to heave it onto the bed of smelly black bags amassed within. She had
left in haste immediately afterwards, before anyone could have noticed her, as
if she had never been there. She’d started the car and had driven away from
there as fast as she could. Her heart had been racing as fast as her Mercedes.

After driving for a while, she’d
calmed down; a malicious joy had begun to pull aside the veil of uncertainty
that had cloaked her beforehand.

Mandy had indeed ended up exactly
where she belonged – among garbage.

Had this tragic stumble actually been a revelation of her
new destiny? The sense of remorse had faded and was replaced by a feeling of
fulfillment. Kelly had quickly realized that if she intended to pursue this,
she needed to change her tactic. Act more carefully. Make sure she did not
leave any trace of evidence that could lead back to her. Maybe Mandy’s death
had been a crime of passion, but not anymore. From then on she had vowed to be
cool and calculating, only acting with a strategic and precisely premeditated
plan. Her composure, along with her roaring sensation of internal vengeance,
had created the perfect killer: sophisticated, sharp, and ruthless.

Kelly always acted according to
the rules she had set for herself, never deviated from the plan she had so
carefully woven and, therefore, never got caught. She smirked with satisfaction
but then a slight crease of concern formed between her eyes. Her Achilles’ heel
had been concealed in the first murder, in which she had not carefully
calculated her steps. Now Kelly relished the panic she had created among all
the beauties each time another victim was found; but the first time, when
Mandy’s body had been discovered, Kelly’s blood had drained out of her heart
all at once upon hearing the news.

Apparently, and not very
shockingly, a human body weighs much more than the average garbage bag.

One of the garbage men had been
curious to know what was inside of the big bag, which was suspiciously heavy,
and had found the dead body of the former beauty. When the disfigured Jane Doe
had turned out to be none other than the striking Mandy Sheldon, all the media
channels had jumped on the story and had generated a media circus. Everyone had
pressed the police to find the killer; after all, America’s beauties could not
be exposed to such danger, Kelly had thought resentfully. She had prayed that
the cops would not find a fingerprint or a strand of platinum blonde colored
hair that would lead to her. God had somehow heard her prayers and nothing had
been found.

Sometimes Kelly wondered if
things would have been blown up by the media to such grandiose proportions if
the victims hadn’t been so beautiful. The bitter truth was obvious.

Nowadays, Kelly eagerly waited
for the disfigured bodies to be found. She already knew she would not get
caught. That was her time of victory, despite the fact she wasn’t able to share
it with anyone else. But there was something more. Kelly enjoyed the media
frenzy very much, but the real icing on the cake was far beyond the public’s
reach; that almost divine moment in which she relished the pure suffering and
terror that spread on the former beauties faces as they looked at themselves
for the first time in the mirror.

A
fter being
stuck for twenty-two hours on the plane (of course, Gloria flew first class
while Andy and Arthur settled for business class), they had arrived at the
hotel (no less than five stars, needless to say) located in Christchurch, New
Zealand. Gloria was a bit hazy from the flight and could not wait to take a
long, rejuvenating bath.

“Gloria, meet me in my room in
one hour?”

“Andy, it’s better not to mix
business and pleasure,” she provoked him, although she wouldn’t have minded
making this one an exception.

“Don’t worry, I can promise you
that it’s going to be strictly business,” he answered warily.

“Impatient, huh? We just got
here! Can’t it wait until noon? I need time to recover.” At her status, Gloria
could afford this kind of behavior. If it had been someone else, she would have
already been on her way back to New York. She knew very well that each minute
spent was money down the drain.

“I wanted you to come over and
try on the outfits for the photo shoot, but if you prefer not to wear anything,
that’s fine by me. This way we can really capture the true essence of beauty in
its entire embodiment.” Andy sent her a teasing smile.

“Tempting, but I think I’ll keep
my clothes on for the camera. I’ll be there in an hour or two.”

“One hour!” Andy called, though
he knew he was fighting a losing battle.

Two hours later, Andy heard Gloria’s knock on the door. She
walked candidly into his room and lay on the edge of the bed, her short singlet
revealing her shaped abs. Her hair emitted a sweet scent that filled the entire
room.

“You’re late,” Andy said.

“Exactly as I told you earlier. I
am very consistent that way,” Gloria flashed a perfect smile.

Andy did not argue. He knew
Gloria was not the type of person who was used to criticism. He ought to choose
his battles and hold his tongue when necessary.

And this was one of those moments
that he’d better shut up.

He watched her lying comfortably
on his bed, gazing at the view out the window. After a few moments, she looked
back at Andy and their eyes met. An awkward moment passed between them, and
then Gloria rose at once and sat up straight, supposedly checking her
reflection in the mirror. It was the first time he had seen her lower her eyes.

“So where are the costumes?” she
finally asked in a formal tone, renouncing any tension between them.

“I’m way ahead of you,” he smiled
and spread out three ravishing dresses on the bed beside her.

Gloria tried them on, one by one.
The first dress was a long, cherry-red strapless evening gown that made her
look like a movie star. But not like one of those modern actresses, who
appeared as though they were identical clones of each other; she looked as if
she’d stepped right out of Hollywood’s golden age, reminiscent of a dark-haired
Grace Kelly.

The second one was a backless
dress, in a shimmering light blue hue that accentuated the color of Gloria’s
eyes and made her look
mermaidesque
, like she was the
ocean’s incarnation on earth.

But after she tried on the third
dress, there was no doubt that it was the one. The nude color complemented
Gloria’s fair skin, and the glistening gemstones embraced her perfect silhouette
and made her shine. The fabric was so fine that it seemed like an inseparable
layer of her body and encircled her with a celestial aura. She was surrounded
by light and magic, like a mythical goddess, possessing a powerful magnetism of
beauty and allure.

“Wow!” Andy blurted. Gloria gave
him a satisfied look. He felt as if he could gawk at her for hours, but at the
same time he prayed she would change back into her jeans, so that he could
maybe regain his focus on what they were here to do.

Too late, all he could think
about was the vision of Gloria in that dress.  

Before Gloria returned to her room, Andy stopped her. “Wait,
there’s something I need to talk to you about before we start the photo shoot.”

“Why do I have to keep being
stuck with you in this room?” she complained and immediately felt angry at
herself. After all, she did want to spend time with him, and right now she was
ruining any chance of that happening.

Change the situation
immediately!
she  commanded herself.

“. . . That is, when I can be
stuck with you in a restaurant instead?” she added with her most charming
smile. “I remember a great restaurant from my last visit to Christchurch, trust
me. I’m exhausted, so we will talk about it tonight. I’ll meet you in the hotel
lobby at seven thirty.” She left the room without waiting for an answer.

Andy was slightly confused, but
after he realized what had just happened, he simply smiled.
Well, I’ll be
damned
.

All of Gloria’s confidence wore
off the second after she closed the door behind her. She just hoped she hadn’t
made a fool of herself.

                               
     * * *

While they were waiting for the main courses, Andy was
thinking that Gloria was right, the restaurant really was great. It overlooked
a peaceful, magical lake and had a warm and homey atmosphere, while still
remaining very classy. They sat in the balcony where the whispers of nature
blended with an old Sinatra song. The view was breathtaking.

Even what was around Gloria
didn't look so bad.

He was surprised to discover that
she was one of the most interesting people he had ever talked to, and he felt
like they could continue talking all night long. Gloria told charming stories
about her travels and proved to be genuinely cosmopolitan. She also shared with
him insightful ideas that made her, at least in his eyes, the essence of
sophistication. He wondered if having these feelings meant that he was crossing
a certain line that could possibly affect his work later on, but he quickly
realized he was not too eager to find out the answer.

Unlike the many women who envied
Gloria’s beauty, Andy believed it was actually a curse. After all, despite her
being such a desirable woman, she was still single, he concluded. And it was as
clear as day, even from the little time he had spent with her, that she could
win anyone’s heart easily.

Maybe even his.

He presumed that her tough
exterior had come out of necessity due to her high status, yet he was able to
see past it, and found that she was sensitive and witty as well. He simply
enjoyed her company. It was a shame that the men she had dated in the past were
so dazzled by her looks, that they had failed to notice her inner beauty.

The main courses arrived. Andy
was sorry that now they would talk less and focus more on their food. He had a
large lobster in a decadent cream sauce while Gloria had baked salmon and a
green salad with no dressing on the side. The only thing they had in common was
the bottle of Chardonnay.

“Wow, you sure went wild!” Andy
taunted when he saw her so-called dinner. At least in this aspect she fitted
the model stereotype.

“Yeah, maybe I should split it
with you since you barely ordered anything for yourself,” she replied with a
grin.

After dinner, they glanced at the
dessert menu, but ultimately Andy had to pass up the chocolate soufflé
in light of his companion’s hypercritical look. They were about to ask for the
check when Gloria suddenly remembered that there was supposed to be a reason
behind their dinner date.

“So . . . What did you want to
talk to me about?” she asked.

“Haven’t we talked enough
already?” he answered a little bit confused as he winked at her.

“Andy, you wanted to talk to me
about something important, remember?”

Andy had been having such a great
time in the last couple of hours that he was secretly disappointed when he
remembered that it wasn't a real date. He would have preferred not to ruin this
delightful evening by talking about work and wanted to put off the discussion
until tomorrow, but he knew Gloria would not let him do so.

“So . . .” Gloria leaned forward
and looked into his eyes.

Andy hesitated but then
continued. “I wanted to talk to you in more detail about the photo shoot. I
haven’t been completely honest with you.”

Gloria remained silent but gave
him a piercing glare in return.

“Or, rather, you can say that I
just didn’t tell you the whole story.” Andy attempted to placate Gloria since
he interpreted her silence as anger.

“What haven’t you told me
exactly?” she asked in a stoic way that did not betray her emotions at the
moment.

“Well, this project is financed
by Inner Beauty magazine. The Editor in Chief wants to devote an entire issue
to the universal concept of beauty and its many manifestations across the world
and over time. Your photo is supposed to be on the cover. Frankly, the editor
insisted on only you and wasn’t willing to settle for any other model, and I
totally agree with her,” he said, trying to flatter her.

Gloria, who had expected worse
news, was not overly disappointed. She had never planned to break out of the
boundaries of the commercial field, though it would have been nice to have seen
her picture displayed in a gallery. She had actually been excited to take part
in an artistic project and had made a note to herself to focus more on this
field in the future, perhaps by posing for a portrait like the Mona Lisa she
had adored so much.

The ultimate proof that
modeling is not about looks, rather inspiration.

There was only one thing that
bothered her. She had worked many times with Inner Beauty magazine in the past,
but ever since the current Editor in Chief had taken over, the job offers had
stopped coming. And even when she was finally mentioned, it was always next to
some hideous photo of her taken by the paparazzi. A few years had passed since
then, and now the very same editor was insisting that she be featured in the
magazine? And on the cover no less?

Maybe she finally came to her
senses
, Gloria told herself. But still, this whole thing left her with a
strange feeling. She had never met this editor, who had basically alienated her
from the magazine, and now this same person was asking Gloria to be the star.
It definitely made her wonder.

“She asked me not to tell you, at
least not at first, that the project is for the magazine, since you get dozens
of offers every day. She wanted to make sure that you accepted the offer,” Andy
interrupted her thoughts.

And she was probably right
,
Gloria figured. Chances were she would have declined the offer, but now, in
front of Andy, she felt no regret.

“Well, it’s not such a big deal.
We can settle the score if you let me have a bite of that chocolate
soufflé you wanted and don’t tell anyone,” she smiled flirtingly.

“No problem.” Andy felt a huge
relief. “But there is one more thing. Kelly Danes, the editor, is arriving in
New Zealand after the photo shoot ends in about a week or so, and she’s
interested in meeting you. Apparently she has a vacation home here and she's
invited us to stay with her.”