Scratch, page 21
Carol gritted her teeth against the pain. There was still not enough air to scream. His weight on her back was preventing her from breathing deeply.
“If you…” she whispered in a choking sob, “had any… idea what being… a parent is… you’d know I’d ra-rather die… than give up my daughter… or grandchild.”
She couldn’t see his eyes, or the rage that filled them just before they went cold. It was all he could do not to slice the knife across her throat and end it. But he couldn’t, not until he knew where Michaela was. This was all for her, so they could live like father and daughter, so she could have a happy life with him. This was the only way he could find out where Holly had taken her.
Carol tried to buck him off her back, and the beginnings of a weak scream broke from her throat. Billy tightened his grip on her hair and shoved her face into the carpet, wedging himself more tightly against her back.
“Easy or hard, Carol?” he said into her ear. “Up to you. I have all day to…”
The phone rang. He flinched at the interruption, momentarily afraid he had been caught. Carol’s eyes rolled up in sudden hope. No one called her this time of day, usually. Her one or two friends knew she watched General Hospital. So were they, a little vicarious drama to spice up their lives.
After the third ring the answering machine clicked on.
“Mom? You there? Pick up.” Billy smiled at the sound of Holly’s voice. He was tempted to answer, but that would warn her. That wasn’t good.
“Mom? Are you watching your story?” Holly continued. “Okay, I guess you aren’t there, though I can’t figure out where else you’d be. Anyway, I called to ask for some advice on cooking. I’m making dinner for a few of the new neighbors, and thought you might have some ideas what these West Virginia folk like to eat.”
Carol tried to shake her head, hoping to somehow stop Holly from talking.
“Nothing too elaborate though,” Holly said. “I’m pretty well stocked on the basics. Adam and I made a trip to Bakersville on a major food shopping expedition. As you probably know, the Canaan General Store is pretty thinly stocked.”
Billy smiled and looked down at Carol. She was silently crying, and in his eyes, no longer necessary. As the knife slide across her throat, Billy noticed how much easier it was this time. Not as messy either.
“Anyway,” Holly said, “I wanted your noodle recipe. Call me when you get this. Mike, say Hi to Grandma.”
“Hi Gran’ma,” came Michaela’s sleepy voice from far away.
“Bye.”
The answering machine clicked off and the tape rewound.
Half an hour later Billy filled his tank with gas and bought a West Virginia road map.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Shelley sat on a low broken wall of bricks. She wanted a cigarette, but not here. Never here.
The bricks were smudged black with the soot of a long ago fire. A few burned timbers still dotted the overgrown lot. Weeds and late spring flowers carpeted the ground. Ivy climbed the remains of a brick chimney, rising out of the ground like a monument. If you knew where to look you could still see the outlines of the house that had stood here once, not so very long ago. The living room was here, the kitchen there, the little playroom where Shelley used to have a handmade dollhouse right where she was sitting. The dollhouse was destroyed by the fire, just like the real house had been. Just like Shelley’s life had been.
Her face was red, but she was finished crying. The tears that slipped down her face as she stomped out of Canaan were tears of anger and embarrassment. Jim had been nasty all morning, the result of a fight with April that Shelley had overheard a part of. He took it out on Shelley, yelling at her for little things that normally wouldn’t matter. When he saw that she was getting really pissed off he tried to turn it into a joke, then began to flirt with her. She tried to stay mad, but he was persuasive. The next thing she knew she was blowing him in the back room. She felt dirty, and guilty, and strangely excited about betraying her sister.
Jim stopped her before he came, which was unusual. He pulled her to her feet and put his hand between her legs. Before she knew what was happening he had pulled her jeans down and bent her over the desk. She felt his cock pressed between her butt cheeks, hot and hard. They had never gone all the way before, and though she wanted to, she was afraid.
Do it! something seemed to whisper in her ear.
Jim was kneading her breasts roughly, and pressing against her with all of his weight. He pressed the tip of his dick against her vagina and began to push.
It’s not you he wants, the voice scratched in her head.
“This will teach April,” Jim said.
The words penetrated before he did.
“What?” Shelley shouted, and pulled away from Jim. She turned around and saw his surprised reaction.
“What’s the matter with you?” he asked.
“What did you say about April?”
“Nothing. What’s the matter? You been teasing me for months. I thought this was what you wanted.”
“I do… did,” Shelley said. “But I want you to want me, not just use me as a replacement for my sister.”
“Baby, I do.” Jim reached a hand out toward her crotch. She slapped his hand away and pulled her panties and jeans back up.
“Bullshit!” Shelley screamed. “Are you ready to take me out of this damn town, cause if I fuck you, there’s no way I can go back home. If you’re gonna sleep with me then you gotta stop fuckin’ April. I want to be your girlfriend. I want you to take me away from here. Do that, get me away from all of this, and I’ll do whatever you want.”
“You’ll do that anyway, you little bitch,” Jim said, and tried to grab her arm. She dodged to the side and ran out into the main area of the store. The pants around his ankles slowed Jim down. By the time he got them fastened she was out the front door, where she had run into Adam and Michaela.
From there she had just run.
She didn’t come here often. The memories and the pain associated with this spot were too fresh. She was afraid they always would be. She had cried again when she arrived. Cried for her mother and father, who hadn’t made it out of the house when it burned, cried for everything she had lost, cried for the cigarette butt that she had thrown in a closet when she was afraid her mom would catch her smoking, the butt she thought had been snuffed out.
The cigarette no one else knew about.
She was thirteen at the time. It was hard to believe it had only been five years. Grief turned some days into eternity, yet their faces were fresh as yesterday. Mom had kissed her goodnight, and if she had noticed the tobacco on her little girls breath she hadn’t said anything. Shelley rolled over and went to sleep, unaware of the smoldering hidden deep in her closet.
She woke in the middle of the night, surrounded by smoke and flames. Frozen in the face of the fire, all she could do was scream. The bedroom door crashed open and a large shadow entered the room. Jim scooped her out of the bed and carried her through the burning house. He smelled of burnt hair and sweat, and something else that had reminded her of April.
Sometimes, in her dreams and memories of that night, Shelley could see a dim figure, dancing in the flames, dancing and laughing.
They said her parents didn’t suffer. They died in their sleep from smoke inhalation long before the flames consumed them. Shelley didn’t know how anyone could know that. She hoped it was true, but there were times when she knew they had died in searing agony, screaming her name.
Blaming her.
She certainly blamed herself. How often had she heard a voice in her head saying, It’s your fault?
She had screamed for them to bring Gabrielle. The angel would save her parents, but no one moved. No one helped. She knew now that Gabrielle couldn’t have done anything. She could heal, but not resurrect. Her parents were beyond any help long before the fire truck from Bakersville arrived.
Shelley wiped her forearm under her nose and stood. It was late enough for April and Raz to be gone. She didn’t want to go back to her sister’s house; she would never think of it as home. But there was nowhere else to go. She would have liked dinner with the Mansfields. She liked both Adam and Holly, and Michaela, of course. They weren’t like anyone else in the valley. They had experienced more, had been places she could only dream of. Their stories gave her hope that there was more to life than what she had here. But she didn’t know how she could face Adam after the scene he had witnessed earlier.
A damp wind had begun to blow and a tower of dark clouds were uncoiling over the mountain range to the west. She brushed dirt from the seat of her pants and walked across the wet green floor of her childhood. A few, scattered drops of rain spattered the foliage as she made her way back to the road.
* * * * *
Scratch stretched in his chamber. He had nibbled on Shelley’s anger and frustration earlier, and had stuck around to taste the old guilt she carried. Now, as she pushed her feelings back down into the darkness he prepared to sleep.
But, just as he began to withdraw, something new entered the valley. Scratch felt a wave of tension, like a storm cloud ready to burst. A car crossed the covered bridge.
A car filled with death and madness.
* * * * *
Shelley needed to get away from Canaan. She didn’t know how, but she had to leave. As she walked she tried to make plans. She knew where Raz kept his extra money. She would pack a few clothes and just go. It was late, but someone would give her a ride. She would get somewhere and catch a bus, or hitchhike, and go… anywhere that wasn’t Canaan. Pittsburgh, or New York, or Hollywood. She could work, she had four years experience in a general store, and how hard could it be to find a job?
Her feet moved faster as her resolve strengthened. She was only a mile and a half away from Canaan when the strange car pulled up behind her on the road. She had been so involved in her own thoughts that she hadn’t heard it coming. She was startled when she noticed it, but stepped aside and waved, assuming it was someone she knew from town. Her hand froze as the car stopped and she saw a strangers face outlined in the window.
Though he looked tired, he was handsome. A muscular arm leaned on the door. He had short blonde hair and a smile that didn’t touch the vivid blue eyes that ran over her body like liquid.
“You’re getting wet,” he said.
“Unh, yeah,” Shelley muttered through an embarrassed laugh. She hadn’t even noticed that the rain had become a light sprinkle. She wiped a damp strand of hair away from her forehead. “I guess I am.”
“So,” the man said, “is this the way to Canaan? I saw a road sign, but I’ve been driving on these back roads for hours. I hope I’m not lost.”
“Nope,” Shelley said. “You’re not. Canaan’s just up the road a piece. I’m heading there now.”
“Want a ride?”
“Well…” Shelley said, common sense beginning to replace her impetuousness, “I don’t know.”
“Come on. You’re gonna get soaked. I won’t bite. I don’t look like a serial killer to you, do I?”
“No,” Shelley laughed. “Okay.” She ran around the car and jumped into the passengers seat. The interior of the car had the scent of beer and marijuana. There was something else she couldn’t quite identify, something that reminded her of rotting meat, or roadkill.
“I’m Billy,” the man said and extended his hand. “Billy Haught.”
“Shelley Tanner.” She shook his hand.
“Well, Shelley,” he said while putting the car into gear. “Maybe you can help me out.”
“I’ll try.” She was already making plans. If she helped him, maybe he would take her away from here when he left.
“I’m looking for some friends of mine,” he said. “Holly Evans, though I guess it’s Mansfield now. She just moved down here recently.”
“Yeah,” Shelley said. “Holly and Adam. And Mike. Yeah, they haven’t been here long.”
“They invited me down to visit whenever I wanted,” Billy said. “I was on the road before I realized I lost the directions they gave me. We go way back, me and Holly. And Adam, of course. You know where they live?”
“Yeah,” Shelley said. “It’s not far. I’m supposed to be there right now, actually. They’re having a dinner party.”
“You didn’t go?”
“Nah,” she said. “Didn’t feel like it. I…” She paused and looked at him, weighing her options, and coming to a decision.
“I was going to pack some things and leave town while my sister was away,” she confided.
“Running away from home?”
“No, I’m eighteen,” she said. “It’s not running away if you’re eighteen. I’m just sick of this small town and want out. My sister, I live with her and her husband, she don’t get it. They want me to just grow old and die here like everyone else does. I just need to live my own life for awhile.”
“Any plans?”
“Not really,” Shelley admitted. “I just need to go. Maybe you could help me? Nothing big, I got money, just a ride somewhere?”
“Well. ” Billy’s face turned into a distant smile. “As long as you’re eighteen. I wouldn’t want to do anything illegal.”
“I am, really,” Shelley said, her hopes rising.
“I might be able to help you in other ways too. I have some connections. I know a place that’s short a dancer right now. Nothing glamorous, but the money is good.”
“That sounds great!” Shelley was oblivious to what he was really suggesting. “You’d really help me out?”
“Sure. Maybe you could help me too. You good with kids?”
“Yeah, I guess. Why?”
“I have a little girl that I’m going to need some help taking care of soon.”
“Yeah,” Shelley said. “I baby-sit for people around here all the time. I’ve watched Michaela for Adam and Holly.”
“Good. We can work something out after I get what I came for. We almost there?”
“This is Canaan,” Shelley said as they pulled into town. “See why I want out?”
“Holly’s place nearby?”
“Up that road to the left about two miles,” she said. “Can I stop home and get the stuff I need first?”
“I guess.” Billy parked the car next to the store. “But don’t take long. I really want to see the Mansfields.”
“I won’t.” Shelley glanced at the store as a wicked idea came to her mind.
“Come with me?” she asked.
“Sure.”
Shelley came around to his side of the car as he got out and took his arm. Together they walked past the front of the store. She slowed down and turned her head to look inside. As she had expected, Jim was still there. She saw the cold mask come over his face when he saw her with a stranger. Satisfied that she had been seen Shelley turned her head and led Billy toward the parsonage. They were just stepping onto the wooden planks of the footbridge when Jim spoke from behind them.
“Shelley,” he called. They stopped and turned to face him. Jim walked toward them, wiping his hands on a dirty red handkerchief. He shoved the rag into the back pocket of his jeans then stopped in front of them.
“Who’s your friend?” he asked.
“Billy Haught,” Billy said, and thrust a hand out. “Who are you?”
“Shelley’s friend.” Jim took Billy’s hand into his own. He squeezed a little too hard, and stared directly into Billy’s eyes. He didn’t like what he saw there. There was emptiness behind the blue, an emptiness that gave the madness lots of room to play. Jim had seen the look before, on the streets and in prison, on men who had nothing left to lose.
“This is Jim.” Shelley stepped between the two men as the handshake ended. “He’s… my friend. Billy here is a friend of Adam and Holly. I’m showing him where they live.”
“Then what’re you doing taking him to your house?” Jim asked.
“Just gonna change my clothes,” Shelley retorted. “Like it’s any business of yours. I’m wet and I don’t wanna go to the dinner party dressed like this.”
“Thought you didn’t want to go at all.”
“I changed my mind,” Shelley spat. “If that’s all right with you.”
“I don’t care what you do,” Jim says. “But maybe Billy oughta stay here with me while you change. I don’t think Raz and April would like a stranger in their house, no matter who he’s friends with.”
Shelley opened her mouth to protest, but Billy interrupted.
“It’s okay, Shelley,” he said. “You go ahead. I’ll wait here. I don’t want to cause any problems. I’m just in a hurry to see Holly and Adam.”
“You sure?” Shelley said, her mistrust of Jim on her face like bad makeup.
“You go on, girl,” Jim said. “He’ll be fine here.” Shelley’s face contorted into a pout, but she turned and stomped across the bridge.
Jim and Billy eyed each other warily, two rogue wolves trapped in a cage of silence. Jim had seen nothing specific to cause the suspicion he felt. Billy had been accommodating, even pleasant, but there was an air of danger about him.
Billy felt surprisingly calm. Jim was the type of man who would have terrified him in the past. To be honest, in spite of his calm, he could still feel threat emanating in palpable waves from the big man. But Billy’s two acts of murder, and the nearness of his goal, had instilled a false courage. He couldn’t blow it now, not when he was this close. Michaela was within his reach. To get into an altercation with this monster now would only interfere with his purpose.
* * * * *
Scratch stood on the tightrope of tension that stretched between them. He wanted to push them. He wanted to whisper into Jim’s ear. The slightest suggestion would cause the man to explode, and it would taste so fine. But Scratch had seen into Billy’s mind, had followed him through the twisted paths into the dark woods of his soul. Billy was a prize, and if Scratch were patient, there would be many more rewards before this night were through.
