Nightshade

22

‘Are you okay, is she making you happy?’ asked Candy, watching Eric’s face carefully for any sign of disapproval. Eric kept his feelings to himself most of the time. He never said if he was happy or sad, excited or worried, but sometimes, if she watched his eyes, she could get a clue to what he was thinking.

He smiled at her, but she knew from experience that a smile from Eric Lucas meant nothing. Smiling was his camouflage. He smiled to get his own way. He had several smiles, like an archer with a quiver of arrows, each one slightly different to the next.

‘She’s good,’ said Eric. ‘You made a good choice.’

‘I did, didn’t I?’ said Candy, nodding enthusiastically. ‘I knew she’d make a perfect princess for you.’

Eric reached out and slowly stroked Candy’s hair. ‘You did good, Candy. You did real good.’

Candy smiled and felt her cheeks flush red. They were sitting at the kitchen table. She had made them cheese omelettes with toast and a pot of tea. The girl was asleep in the bedroom. Candy had given her a sleeping tablet to keep her quiet, but had tied her to the bed just in case the tablet wore off. Not that the girl could do anything even if she could move around the room. They had nailed boards over the bedroom window. The blinds were between the glass and the boards, so from outside no one could see that the window was boarded up, but there was no way that the girl could get out and no way that anyone would hear her screams. When they had first boarded up the window Candy had stood in the room and screamed her lungs out while Eric had paced around outside. He’d heard not a sound.

It was Sunday and they’d had the girl for two days. She knew that Eric enjoyed the first day the most and that his enjoyment decreased day by day until the fourth day, by which time it was over. Candy hated the fourth day, but she loved Eric so she helped him do what had to be done and then she helped him bury the bodies because without the bodies they would never get caught. That was what Eric always said and Eric was always right. Eric would never say how many girls he’d done it to over the years but Candy was sure there had been some. He was her only helper, that was what he said, and she didn’t think that he was lying.

‘You do love me, don’t you, Eric?’

‘Of course. More than anything.’

‘And the girls. They’re just for fun.’

‘That’s all it is. Fun. And you want me to be happy, don’t you?’

Candy nodded. ‘More than anything.’

‘And you know that after I’ve had fun with the little princesses, things between us are so good, aren’t they?’

‘Yes.’

‘So it’s a good thing we’re doing. Anything that makes our relationship stronger is a good thing.’

She reached over and held his hand. ‘No one loves you like I love you, you know that?’

‘Of course I do.’ He squeezed her hand. ‘You’re one in a million. A billion maybe.’

‘And we’ll be together for ever?’

Eric grinned. ‘For ever and ever.’