Blood Games

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Finley, shoulder deep in the small pool, glanced from Jim to Cora. ‘If we get enough booze into our friend here, we won’t have to worry about him running off. We might even be able to untie him for a while.’

‘Get him stumble-down drunk, you mean?’ Cora asked. ‘Exactly. Anaesthetize him.’

‘Forget it,’ Cora said. ‘I know what you’re thinking. It isn’t gonna happen.’

Finley’s face darkened. ‘What isn’t gonna happen?’

‘You know damn well.’

‘Oh, real nice. Real nice. Helen’s fuckin’ dead and you think I’ve got the hots for our friendly local hillbilly? For all we know, he’s the bastard that did it.’

‘It weren’t me,’ Jim muttered.

‘Sure, sure.’

‘I just wanta help ya.’

‘And he won’t be much help to us if we get him bombed,’ Vivian pointed out.

‘Why not? We’re just gonna use him for bait. He doesn’t have to be sober for that. Doesn’t even have to be alive.’

Jim raised his head slightly. He looked at Finley as if she’d just told him there wouldn’t be a Christmas this year.

‘That kind of talk isn’t necessary,’ Abilene said. ‘Jeez, Fin.’

‘We’re not going to do anything to you,’ Vivian assured Jim.

He tried to smile, but it was a miserable attempt. ‘She might,’ he said.

‘Dum tootin’,’ Finley said. ‘You just never know about the crazy Fin-man. Loses her head, she does. Maybe she’ll try to fuck you. Maybe she’ll kill you for kicks. You just never know.’ She bared her teeth like a lunatic grinning or ready to bite. ‘Neither do they. They all know I’m mad. No tellin’ what I might do.’

‘Cut it out,’ Abilene told her. ‘It’s not funny.’

‘Of course not,’ Finley said. ‘Madness is serious business. Deadly serious,’ she blurted. And bolted from her seat and charged through the water and reached up for Jim, yelling, ignoring the shouts of her friends.

Jim’s mouth fell open. His eyes bulged. He tried to drop away from her, but she sprang up in front of him and grabbed the rope at his chest and tugged. With a gasp, he jerked forward and plunged off the ledge. Finley disappeared beneath him as water exploded.

Abilene flung herself into the pool. Currents from the thrashing bodies buffeted her legs. Ducking below the surface, she saw Finley and Jim tumbling in a froth of bubbles. Finley, on top, shoved the kid toward the bottom by his rope suspender and the waistband of his cut-offs. He could do nothing but kick and squirm and shake his head. There was terror in his eyes.

Abilene grabbed Finley by the hair and pulled, dragging her head up.

Finley blew a spray of water from her lips. She blinked at Abilene. Her shirt had lost buttons in the struggle with Batty, and now it hung off her left shoulder, exposing her breast.

‘Let him up!’ Abilene snapped.

‘Join the fun, Hickok.’

Abilene slapped her hard across the face.

An arm darted up, flinging water, and Finley’s fist hammered Abilene’s cheek. The blow snapped her head sideways. She staggered backward a step and started to fall. Finley lunged at her. She cringed, expecting another punch, but Finley grabbed the front of her blouse with both hands and a rough yank stopped her fall.

‘You okay?’ Finley gasped.

Behind her, Vivian jumped into the pool.

‘You hit me,’ Abilene said.

‘You hit me.’

‘Knock it off,’ Cora snapped. ‘For Godsake. Give Vivian a hand.’

They both looked at Vivian. Who’d refused to let the pool water touch her since hearing Helen’s story about the headless body. But who’d jumped in to help Jim and was now completely submerged.

As they waded toward her, she broke the surface. She pulled Jim up by the same rope Finley had used to haul him off his perch. His emerged face first. Water spewed from his mouth.

Vivian scowled at Finley. ‘Just stay there. Haven’t you done enough?’

Finley didn’t come back with a crack. All she did was lift her shirt back onto her shoulder.

Vivian helped Jim to his feet. He stood in front of her, gasping and coughing. She put her arms around him. She drew him against her and patted his back. ‘It’s all right,’ she soothed him. ‘You’ll be all right.’ Still embracing him, she looked over her shoulder at Abilene. ‘Come over here and untie his hands.’

‘Hey!’ Finley blurted. ‘Fuck that!’

Abilene ignored her. She made her way through the water and stepped behind Jim. She fingered the rope around his wrists and began to pluck at the knot.

‘Don’t do it,’ Finley warned.

‘Go ahead,’ Cora said.

‘Are you nuts! ’

‘I’m not gonna leave him tied up,’ Abilene said, ‘so you can jump him every time you get the urge.’

The knot loosened. Jim worked his hands free and Abilene lifted the twisted rope out of the water.

He put his arms around Vivian.

‘Isn’t that sweet,’ Finley muttered.

Abilene tossed the rope out of the pool. She stepped backward and sank down onto the submerged shelf. She fingered her face, wincing as she touched the knot of swelling at her cheekbone.

Finley didn’t do this to me, she realized. It had been Batty’s work with the skull.

But Finley had struck her in the same place.

It felt hot and sore.

I hit her first, she told herself. I had it coming.

As she gently rubbed the sore lump, it occurred to her that Finley, though right-handed, had punched her with the left. Just a matter of convenience? she wondered. Or had Finley swung with the left to spare her a stronger punch?

If she was taking it easy on me, why’d she use a fist?

Finley sat down beside Abilene. ‘Are you all right?’

‘I’ll live.’

They both watched Vivian and Jim. They were still embracing. Jim was breathing hard, but no longer coughing.

‘Sorry I slugged you,’ Finley said.

‘I hit you first. I’m sorry, too. But what were you doing, trying to drown him?’

Finley didn’t answer for a while. Then she muttered, ‘I don’t know.’

Then Vivian eased Jim away from her. He didn’t resist. She guided him to the side of the pool, and he lowered himself onto the shelf. Vivian sat next to him.

Meeting Finley’s eyes, she shook her head.

‘Okay, I was a bad little girl,’ Finley said. ‘So crucify me.’

‘Just leave him alone from now on,’ Vivian said.

‘We’ve got enough to worry about,’ Cora added, ‘without having to keep an eye on you.’

‘Yeah. Right.’ Finley climbed out of the pool. Without another word or a look back, she started striding away toward the corner of the lodge. Her sneakers made squelching sounds.

Or yellow foot, Abilene thought, and felt a rush of sadness.

‘Where are you going?’ she called.

‘That’s my business.’

‘Come on back. Jeez.’

Finley kept walking.

‘Let her go,’ Cora said.

‘She’ll be all right,’ Vivian said.

Probably, Abilene thought. Hank won’t be coming along till after dark. If Jim’s been telling the truth.

Still, she didn’t like the idea of Finley going off by herself. ‘We’ve been kind of tough on her.’

‘She’s been acting nuts,’ Cora said. ‘Ever since Batty’s place.’

‘It freaked her out, being grabbed like that.’

‘You’d think she would’ve enjoyed it,’ Cora said. ‘Being Finley.’

‘Hey, come on.’

Jim raised his head. He frowned at Abilene. ‘Ya had a run-in with Batty?’

‘Did we ever,’ Cora said. A corner of her mouth turned up. ‘Broke his arm, killed his cat, stole his shotgun and boat.’

‘Do you know him?’ Vivian asked.

‘Or her, as the case may be,’ Abilene said, and realized it was the sort of remark Finley might make.

I oughta go find her, she thought.

‘Batty does conjure stuff,’ Jim said. ‘Ya don’ wanta make him mad at ya.’

‘Too late for that,’ Vivian said.

‘Batty’s the one let us know about Juniper. My sister? Hunters from the lodge here, they done killed her dead. We didn’t know nothing ’bout it, but Batty saw it all in a vision and come over ’n let us know. Then he made us up a poison we used on them folks.’

‘We?’ Abilene asked. ‘Were you in on it? Were you with them at the lodge that night?’

A sick look on his face, he nodded. ‘They made me. I was only just a kid, but they made me go along. I didn’t hurt nobody. But I was there. It was… just the awfulest thing. Seein’ what they done. ’N how Hank carried on with the gals. How he cut ’em up ’n how he… done stuff.’

Cut ’ em up. Done stuff.

Helen. Oh, Helen.

Abilene, suddenly feeling trapped and suffocated by the hot water, shoved herself up. She sat on the granite ledge and scooted backward, lifting her legs from the heat.

Vivian looked at her, then at Jim. ‘You weren’t with Hank last night, were you? When he killed our friend?’

‘No! Honest! He shut me up in the shed out back. After he beat on me. I begged him not to do nothin’, but he just laughed ’n tossed me in the shed ’n locked it up. I guess he knowed I’d try ’n interfere. But I couldn’t get outa there. Then he come back just before sun-up, and told me what he done. It just made me plain sick.’

‘What did he say?’ Cora asked.

Vivian gave her a frantic look.

I don’t want to hear this! Abilene thought. Jesus, no.

‘He told me all how he done her, but…’ Jim glanced at Vivian, at Abilene. He shook his head.

‘Tell us,’ Cora said.

‘I’m gonna go see about Finley,’ Abilene said.

‘Don’t you want to know?’

Scowling at Cora, she shook her head. She started to stand up. ‘I’m not sure. And besides… if we’re gonna hear something like that, Finley should be with us.’

‘You’re right,’ Vivian said.

‘I want to make sure she’s okay,’ Abilene explained. She took a step away from the pool, then looked back, wondering whether her two friends would be safe, left alone with Jim. His hands were free. What if he went for the shotgun?

‘Go ahead,’ Cora told her. ‘We’ll be fine.’

‘I ain’t gonna do nothin’,’ Jim said.

Abilene started away. Stopping beside the drainage channel where she’d washed the blood off her legs, she picked up her socks. She stepped into her moccasins, then walked alongside Finley’s trail of wet dribbles and shoeprints. As she stopped at the stairway leading down from the rear porch, she looked back and saw Cora boost herself out of the pool.

Even from here, she could see Cora’s nipples through the thin wet fabric of her tank top.

Jim’s sure getting an eyeful, she thought.

Cora’s legs came out of the water, Abilene’s blouse knotted around her left ankle.

Which is just where it had been when she’d chased down Jim and wrestled with him on the ground. God, she’d been all over him.

She felt a blush heat her skin.

No wonder the kid wants to stay.

The first time he laid eyes on us, all of us were naked. Except Helen.

Jim must figure he’s died and gone to heaven.

Maybe he’s not interested in that kind of thing.

Could be gay, she supposed.

Could be he’s very interested, secretly thrilled by the whole thing, but smart enough to act oblivious to it all.

She watched Vivian wade across the pool and stop at Cora’s feet. With her back to Jim. Cora, braced up on her elbows, had no view of him either.

The kid stayed put.

Vivian tossed Abilene’s blouse aside.

She’s unwrapping the ankle.

By the time the belts were off and Vivian was lifting away the makeshift splints, Abilene decided that Jim had no intention of jumping her friends.

She stepped around the porch stairs, turned the corner of the lodge, and began to climb the steep pavement toward the rear end of the Wagoneer.

No sign of Finley.

Not until she’d trudged higher and she spotted her friend through the windows, sitting on the hood.

When she came up beside the car, Finley said, ‘Can’t a gal have any privacy around here?’

‘Nope.’ Abilene dropped her socks to the driveway, then hopped up and sat on the hood.

Finley’s legs dangled over the front, her feet on the bumper. Her hand was wrapped around the neck of a tequila bottle. She glanced at Abilene, then hoisted the bottle and took a drink.

‘I wanted to make sure you’re all right.’

‘What’s that, your goal in life?’

‘Hey.’

‘I’m fine. Just fine. Why don’t you go back to the pool before Jim kills our trusting pals?’

‘They can take care of themselves.’

‘And I can’t, huh?’ She gulped some more tequila.

‘Save some for the fishes, huh?’

‘If I wanta have a drink, it’s my business.’

‘It’s my business if you hog the whole damn bottle. Gimme.’ Finley looked at her, smirked, let out a quick laugh, and handed it over.

Abilene took a few swallows. She shuddered. She took a deep breath and gave back the bottle. ‘It’s better with mixers.’

‘Yeah. I just didn’t feel like wasting time with ’em.’

‘You don’t really think Jim’s the killer, do you?’

Finley shrugged. ‘Hell, I don’t know. I guess not. That shit about his brother’s pretty hard to buy, but… I guess I believe him. Sort of.’ She took a drink and passed the bottle to Abilene. ‘I guess if I really thought Jim was the bastard that murdered Helen, I would’ve gone ahead and killed him by now. But the kid pisses me off.’

‘So I gather.’

‘It’s mostly his fault, even if his brother is the guy who actually did it.’

Abilene took a sip of tequila. ‘We never should’ve come to a place like this.’

‘It was Helen’s pick.’

‘We didn’t have to go along with it.’

‘Sure we did. That was the deal. Besides, nobody knew what was going to happen. And if we’d gone somewhere different, she might’ve gotten killed anyway. No place is safe. We might’ve had a head-on, and all gotten wiped out.’

‘Coming here is what did it, though.’

Finley took the bottle from her, tilted it up and drank. ‘Sooner or later, something was bound to happen. Five gals going around looking for adventure.’

‘Yeah.’

‘Looking for trouble. Taking all kinds of risks. The surprising thing is that nobody ever nailed any of us till now.’

‘We were pretty lucky.’

‘Damn lucky.’

‘I guess the luck stopped here.’

‘For Helen, it sure did.’

They were silent for a while. They passed the bottle back and forth. It was Finley who finally capped it. ‘Don’t want get so polluted I miss my chance to waste Hank,’ she said. ‘Gotta buy him a farm.’

‘We gotta keep alert,’ Abilene agreed. She was feeling a bit numb.

‘I used to keep a lert. Had a little cage for it. They make damn fine pets.’

‘Wonder if we oughta head on down, see what’s happening?’

‘Left my camera down there.’ She leaned forward, braced her elbows on her knees, and hung her head. ‘Guess it doesn’t matter. The epic’s all done. Gone with the fuckin’ wind. Never even got around to adding last year’s stuff. Figured it’d just remind everyone of… what I did with that surfer guy. As if they need reminding. Shit. And now… nobody’ll ever want to look at the thing again. Me included. Wouldn’t be able to stand it. Daring Young Maids. Minus one. Maybe I’ll bum the whole fuckin’ thing.’

‘Naw. Don’t.’ She patted Finley’s back. ‘We might wanta see it again. Someday. Just to see how we used to be.’

‘Maybe won’t be any of us left to watch it, anyhow. Just be a bunch of dead gals on the thing.’

‘Cut it out. We’ll be fine.’

‘Sure.’

‘Come on, let’s go on down with the others.’ Abilene stood

on the bumper, jumped to the driveway and staggered forward, waving her arms for balance. She managed, just barely, to stay on her feet. She turned around carefully. ‘Rough waters,’ she said.

Finley didn’t jump. Instead, she lowered her legs and slid down the front of the car until her feet found the pavement. She stood up straight. She wobbled a bit. ‘I’m afraid we’d better not attempt to descend the treacherous dri…’

‘They’re gonna save us the trouble,’ Abilene interrupted as the others appeared at the bottom of the slope.

Jim was carrying Cora piggy-back. A good trick, Abilene thought. A very good trick, especially since he had a leg injury himself and Cora must outweigh him by twenty or thirty pounds. But he seemed to be doing just fine.

Cora kept her right arm across the top of Jim’s chest to hold herself tight against his back. She gripped the water bottle in her left hand. Both her legs were hugging Jim’s hips. He held them there, hands hooked beneath her knees. Her dangling feet swayed. Her right ankle was wrapped with an Ace bandage, and the splints were gone.

Jim looked as if he might lose his cut-offs. Heavy with water, supported by the single rope, they sagged at such an angle that Abilene could see matted pubic hair. The crease at the side of his groin showed, too. He paused a moment, huffing, then resumed his trudge up the slope.

Vivian walked behind the pair, carrying the shotgun and Finley’s camera. Her clinging white polo shirt was nearly transparent. The two belts that had been used to secure Cora’s splints hung across her chest like bandoliers. Abilene’s blouse was tucked under the waistband of her shorts.

‘You got everything?’ Abilene called.

‘No thanks to you two,’ Cora said.

‘You could’ve waited for us.’

‘We did. We figured you weren’t coming back.’

‘Just on our way,’ Finley said, coming over to Abilene’s side and flinging an arm across her shoulders. With her other hand, she waved the bottle at them.

Cora, her face bobbing above Jim’s head, frowned at them. ‘Are you two drunk?’

‘Had a few wee sips,’ Abilene said.

‘We’re perfectly fine ’n dandy,’ Finley added.

‘Terrific,’ Cora muttered.

Abilene stepped out of Jim’s way and took the water bottle from Cora’s hand.

Finley met Vivian and took the camera.

Where the pavement leveled out in front of the car, Jim eased Cora down. She clung to him and stood on her left leg. Abilene, hurrying forward to help, saw a patchwork of Bandaids on her neck and back and shoulder. The worst of the scratches and bites were covered.

She set down the water bottle and clutched Cora beneath the armpits. With Jim’s help, she lowered her friend to the concrete.

He pulled up his drooping cut-offs, then bent over and held his knees as he struggled to catch his breath.

‘I’ll have some of that,’ Cora said, reaching up toward Finley.

‘Don’ overdo it,’ Finley warned, and gave her the bottle. ‘Moderation in all things. Thas the secret to a long ’n happy life.’