After Midnight

54
WIRES

Lowering the saber until its tip met the ground, I slouched and huffed for air and didn’t go any farther.
My lungs ached from the hard run.
My legs felt heavy, as if loaded with granite.
My heart raced like crazy.
I was drenched. A combination of sweat and pool water, probably. It spilled down my body, dribbles sliding down my skin, all over, tickling me. Drops fell from the tips of my nose and chin and breasts. I used a hand to wipe my face, but it wasn’t much help.
I was worn out.
Vulnerable.
Saber or no saber, I would’ve been easy prey for Steve if he doubled back and jumped me. I was too exhausted. And much too close to the edge of the woods.
When I’d recovered a little, I trudged backward. I was too tired to move quickly, but I put more and more distance between myself and the woods.
I wanted to lie down on the grass.
The grass would make me itchy, though.
So I kept moving, and didn’t stop until I reached the apron of the pool. There, I eased myself down and stretched out on the warm concrete. It felt awfully hard against the back of my head. It didn’t feel that great under my heels, either. Otherwise, though, it felt okay. I liked that it was solid and dry.
I held on to the saber, my right arm on the concrete by my side, the blade resting across my thigh.
This isn’t so bad, I thought. This is pretty nice.
But what do I do now?
Steve got away.
I got away.
We both escaped from each other.
After such a close call, Steve probably wouldn’t be coming back. And he wasn’t likely to tell any tales, since he’s the one who’d murdered Elroy.
Just let him go. Call it even.
What about Judy? She’d promised to keep her mouth shut about me. I couldn’t completely trust her about that, but she would probably never get a chance to do any damage. If she wasn’t dead already (and I figured she might be, even though Steve claimed otherwise), Steve would almost certainly kill her sooner or later. She knew too much. He couldn’t just let her walk away.
Maybe I can rescue her.
Yeah, right.
For one thing, you can’t exactly rescue someone who’s already dead. For another, supposing she isn’t dead, why would I want to save her? Dead gals tell no tales.
Besides, I probably wouldn’t be able to find the campsite, anyway.
And if I did, I’d end up facing Steve again.
I’d been damn lucky to survive this encounter with him. Next time, he might win.
Forget it.
Forget both of them. They’re out of the picture.
And I’m almost home free. Just a few little matters to take care of…
Such as?
Elroy’s head was still in the swimming pool, and the rest of him was locked inside the trunk of his car.
I needed to get rid of them.
Fish out the head, take it around to the car and throw it into the trunk and…
Steve’s got the keys!
Out front by the car, I’d seen him drop them into a pocket of his shorts.
Without Elroy’s keys, I wouldn’t be able to open the trunk.
Or drive his car away.
When I realized that, I suddenly went all hot and squirmy inside. I sat up. And sat there, head down, groaning.
Doesn’t it ever end?
My God, my God.
Killing Tony had been an accident!
All I ever wanted to do was get out from under it—make it go away so I could get on with my life.
It had seemed so simple, at first. Clean up the mess and drop off the body somewhere else. So simple.
But some things aren’t simple, and some things can’t be undone.
Maybe nothing can ever be undone.
That’s probably more like the truth.
Once you’ve done it, it’s been done forever and there’s no making it go away.
Because too much is attached.
You might think you’re dealing with just one matter—like Tony’s body—but then it turns out that the body has a dozen wires attached to it. Or a hundred. And every wire leads off into the unknown. One’s attached to Judy. Another to an answering machine. Another to poor Murphy. You go to cut those wires, but run into more. Elroy, for instance. And Milo and Steve. Always more wires leading off somewhere.
I guess this might sound like I’m talking about “loose strings.”
I don’t see them as strings, though. Strings are soft and you can usually break them with your bare hands. What I mean are thin, steel wires. If you try to break these with your hands, they’ll cut into you.
They’re everywhere, attached to every word out of your mouth, to your every action, to every person you encounter—and they all lead off somewhere else and drag new stuff into the picture—new stuff with wires leading off…
Sitting there by the side of the pool, I felt lost and desperate.
There has to be an end to it, somewhere!
Oh, yeah?
I’d gone through so much. I’d cut so many of those wires…A few more, and maybe I’d be free.
Fat chance.
There’ll be more. Always more.
It’s hopeless.
So what’ll you do? I asked myself. Just call it quits, take a nice bath, go to bed, pretend everything is fine?
And go out for the newspaper tomorrow morning and find Elroy’s car in the driveway?
I had to do something.
Start with Elroy’s stupid head.
I sprang to my feet. Standing at the edge of the pool, I spotted his head deep in the water, migrating toward the drain again.
After scanning the grounds to make sure Steve wasn’t sneaking toward me, I put down the saber and dived into the pool. The cold of the water shocked me. But then it felt good.
And I felt much better than before.
My despair had gone away.
Apparently, it had been shoved away by the mere act of making up my mind to get on with things.
F*ck the wires.
Take care of business.
You know the mistake I’d been making? Why I’d felt such despair a little earlier? Because I’d been looking at the Big Picture. It’s the biggest mistake you can make.
F*ck the Big Picture.
Deal with one problem at a time, take care of it, move on to the next.
That’s my advice. Take it from me, the deep thinker.
Speaking of deep, I went plunging down through about ten feet of water to reach Elroy’s head. He happened to be face up, at the time. I would’ve preferred to grab him by the hair, but it wasn’t convenient so I stuck my hand in his mouth and picked him up by the jaw.
Then I kicked for the surface. I rose at an angle, and came up close to the side of the pool. Holding the edge with one hand, I swung Elroy’s head up with the other and set it on the concrete.
I’d left the saber on the other side, so I quickly swam the width of the pool, boosted myself up and climbed out.
As one who learns from her mistakes, I didn’t attempt to swim back across. Not with the saber. Instead, I ran around to the side where I’d left Elroy’s head. I snatched it up by the hair. With the head swinging by my left side, I jogged over to the garage.
At the side door, I set down the saber. I plucked the keys out of my panties, fumbled with them until I found the right key, then unlocked the door. Inside the garage, I slipped the keys back inside my panties and hurried past my car.
I knew right where to find everything. First, I put on a pair of gardening gloves. Then I went to the cupboard where Serena and Charlie kept their box of plastic garbage bags. I pulled one bag out of the box, shook it open, and dropped Elroy’s head inside.
Unfortunately, I should’ve been holding the bag higher. Its bottom was resting against the concrete floor, so Elroy’s head didn’t have a nice, soft landing. It made such a nasty THONK! that I had to cringe.
Good thing he was already dead.
Anyway, I shut the top of the bag with its plastic drawstring, closed the cupboard, and hurried on out of the garage. I kept the gloves on.
After retrieving the saber, I ran to Elroy’s car.
I had no idea whether I would find the doors locked.
But I set down the bag and tried the driver’s door. It opened. The car’s ceiling light came on. I flicked the lock switch to make sure all the doors were unlocked, then stepped to the back door and pulled it open. I picked up the bag and swung it in. After dropping it onto the floor, I stepped back and shut the back door.
Just for the hell of it, I put down the saber and climbed into the driver’s seat to search for keys. You never know. Some people hide a spare set of keys in the glove compartment or under a floor mat or in a magnetic device underneath the dashboard.
Not Elroy, apparently.
And I had not the slightest idea about how to “hot-wire” a car. It sure looks easy in the movies. I’d tried it a couple of times in the past, though, and knew I couldn’t do it. So I didn’t bother fooling with the wires under the dash.
Unable to find any hidden keys, I used my gloved hands to wipe any areas inside the car that I might’ve touched on the ride over. Then I climbed out. I left the door unlocked, and shut it.
After picking up my saber, I hurried to the other side of the car and wiped the handle of the passenger door.
Then I whirled away from Elroy’s car and ran for the back of the house.
As fast as possible, I gathered up all my clothes. You don’t want to be leaving home on an excursion in nothing but thong panties. I carried everything over to the table. I set the saber on top of the table, its handle in easy reach. Then, keeping an eye out for Steve, I got dressed.
Jeans and a dark top would’ve been more appropriate for the next stage of my plans, but they were upstairs in my room. I was in a hurry. So I wore what I had: my red bra, my bright yellow blouse and long green skirt with the slit up the side. Also, of course, my white sneakers.
All dressed, I picked up the pitcher and treated myself to a few gulps of margarita.
I took a couple of steps toward the switch panel, intending to kill the outdoor lights. But I changed my mind and decided to leave them on. They might help me find my way back, later.
Anything else?
A flashlight? Maybe an extra weapon of some kind?
I glanced into the house through the sliding glass door.
Don’t waste any more time. Every minute counts. Get going!