After Midnight

55
INTO THE WOODS

Gasping for air after my sprint across the back yard, I stopped at the edge of the woods. Stopped and listened.
Steve was probably long gone.
But you never know.
He could be sneaky.
Last night, after pretending to run off, he’d circled around to the front of the house and spied on me. He’d actually bragged about it.
So I figured he might be just about anywhere.
After catching my breath and listening for a while, I entered the woods. I moved along as quickly as I dared.
No reason to sneak. If Steve was near enough to hear me tromping through the foliage, the noise wouldn’t matter because he was probably already watching me.
I hadn’t brought a flashlight, though. A little moonlight came down through the trees, speckling some areas and throwing patches of snowy brightness onto others. But mostly the forest was dark. All around me were dim shapes of gray and black.
Last time, I’d fallen plenty of times in the darkness and even crashed into that broken branch. I didn’t want any more accidents like those, so I walked fairly fast but not too fast.
I soon managed to find a trail. It was a trail I’d probably used many times in daylight. In the darkness, though, it didn’t seem familiar at all. I had only vague notions about where it might lead. All I knew for sure was that it was taking me deeper into Miller’s Woods.
Good enough.
I didn’t know how to find Steve’s campsite, anyway.
And if I somehow found it, he might not even be there. I had no guarantee that he’d returned to his camp after getting away from me.
Maybe he’d gone there, packed up…finished off Judy…and hit the road in his van.
Taking Elroy’s keys with him.
I’d be screwed.
What if I can’t get my hands on the keys?
There must be another way to get rid of Elroy’s car. That’s all I really need to do—move it out of the driveway, leave it somewhere else. Just about anywhere, so long as it’s a fair distance from Serena and Charlie’s house.
I tried to think of a way.
It helped take my mind off other things.
How heavy the saber felt, for instance. It seemed to grow heavier every minute. Now and then, I had to switch it from one hand to the other.
How hot and sweaty I was, for another instance. I’d been better off without my clothes. They kept the air away from my skin. They clung to me, and seemed to hold the heat in. I didn’t have socks on, so the shoes felt slimy under my feet.
I tried not to think about any of that, and concentrate instead on my real problem.
What’ll I do with Elroy’s car?
Can’t get it started without the key. So how…?
There must be a way.
Call a tow truck? That’d open a whole new can of worms. I’d have to contend with the driver, his company records…who knows what else? Forget that.
How else can I move it?
I’m not exactly capable of pushing the car myself.
Hire some workers to push it away? But then I’d have them to worry about.
Kill them all. Ha ha.
I lifted my blouse and wiped sweat off my face.
So damn hot.
The heat was fine if you happened to be in an airconditioned house, or sitting around outside or enjoying cocktails or swimming in the pool. But when you’re trudging through the woods with a saber in your hand…
I took off my blouse. That helped quite a lot. I didn’t want to lose it, so I tucked it under the waistband at the back of my skirt and it hung behind me like a tail.
I kept my bra on. Even though it felt wet and uncomfortable, it stopped my breasts from bouncing and swinging all over the place. I kept the skirt on, too. It was wet and clingy against my rump, but otherwise okay. Besides, I figured it would be easier to wear than to carry. I also kept my shoes on. You don’t want to go walking through dark woods barefoot.
With the blouse tucked behind me, I tried to focus my mind again on the problem of Elroy’s car.
There must be a way to get rid of it!
How about pushing it with my car? That might work. Push it backward out of the driveway. Once it’s on the street, tow it away.
Yes!
Of course, I’d have to do it at night to lower the chances of being seen.
Out on the street in front of the house, I could fasten my rear bumper to Elroy’s front bumper with some rope or electrical cord—or even pick up a chain at a store tomorrow, and save the job for tomorrow night. Tow Elroy’s car into Miller’s Woods. Leave it near the picnic area, maybe.
Fantastic!
It would mean a lot of work, and a whole new series of risks, but the plan should succeed fine if I didn’t get caught in the act.
I was glad to have a back-up plan. But it sure made me want to find Steve and get my hands on Elroy’s ignition key.
So where are you, Stevie boy?
I’d been walking for long enough to be fairly deep into the woods. I might even be somewhere near the camp.
Maybe fifty yards away from it.
Or half a mile.
Or a mile.
It might be dead ahead. Or somewhere to the left or the right.
For that matter, where was the creek? What about the picnic grounds? The parking area?
I’d be glad to find any familiar place. But even if I could get my bearings, I still might have trouble locating the campsite. I’d only stumbled onto it by accident, last night. With such a dim notion of where it might be, I probably had no chance at all of finding it again.
There’s always some chance, I told myself.
Fat chance.
Maybe if Steve has an enormous bonfire…
Or if Judy screams…
Or I scream?
Shaking my head, I muttered, “How nuts am I?”
Nuts enough, apparently.
I stopped walking, then took a deep breath and shouted, “HELLO! IT’S ME! I CHANGED MY MIND! DON’T GO AWAY WITHOUT ME! I’M COMING! CAN YOU HEAR ME? I WANT TO GO WITH YOU!”
In the quiet of the woods, my voice must’ve carried awfully far.
I listened for an answer.
After a minute or two, I realized that Steve wouldn’t call out, even if he’d heard me.
He might come for me, but he wouldn’t call out.
“WAIT FOR ME!” I shouted.
As I walked on, I was still worn out and sweaty and breathing hard, but now I had fear mixed in.
By yelling, I’d probably improved my chances of meeting up with Steve—but I’d lost any chance of taking him by surprise. From now on, the element of surprise would be on his side.
“Idiot,” I muttered.
Just keep quiet and maybe he won’t find me.
And I for damn sure won’t find him, either. Or Elroy’s key.
The key isn’t worth dying for.
So why am I doing this?
I realized that I could turn around right now and hurry silently away, find my way back to the house and not have to deal with Steve tonight—or maybe ever again. I could take a bath and go to bed. Tomorrow, clean the house. If I couldn’t get the blood off the carpet, I’d cut myself and make up a story for Serena and Charlie. They would probably believe whatever I decided to tell them. After dark, I’d tow away Elroy’s car with his body in the trunk and his head in the back seat and be done with all this.
I could do that.
But even as it went through my mind, I kept on walking deeper into the woods.
I’m not sure why.
Maybe it was something inside me that didn’t like to quit, that needed to see it through to the end, no matter what.
Something that needed to cut the last wires.
Not only did I keep walking, but I started shouting again. This time, I used his name.
“STEVE! HEY, STEVE! WHERE ARE YOU? CAN YOU HEAR ME? I DON’T KNOW WHERE YOU ARE! COME AND GET ME!”
Even if Steve wanted to keep clear of me, I figured he might be tempted to come looking—to stop me from shouting his name through the woods.
No telling how far my voice might be carrying.
Or who might be listening.
More than likely, we weren’t the only two people within the sound of my voice. There might be a couple of campers, or someone out for a jog or stroll, maybe some lovebirds or a dog walker or a wino, maybe even a criminal or two using the forest as a place to hide from the authorities or hunt for victims.
Or there might be only the two of us.
I didn’t know, and neither did Steve.
“WHERE ARE YOU, STEVE?” I called out. “COME AND FIND ME! DON’T YOU DARE LEAVE ME BEHIND! I’M NOT GONNA LET THEM NAIL ME FOR THIS. IF THE COPS GET ME, I’LL TELL EVERYTHING! I’M NOT GONNA TAKE THE FALL FOR YOU, STEVE! YOU’RE THE ONE WHO MURDERED HIM, NOT ME! I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. YOU DID IT ALL, AND I’LL TELL THE COPS THAT.”
I knocked off the yelling for a while, and just walked along and listened. I heard nothing except the usual sounds you hear on a hot summer night in a forest, such as birds and bugs and frogs and the breeze creeping through the trees and bushes.
“I SWEAR TO GOD, STEVE, YOU’D BETTER NOT LEAVE ME HERE! I’LL SPILL MY GUTS! I’LL TELL THEM ALL ABOUT HOW YOU CUT OFF ELROY’S HEAD! I’LL TELL THEM ABOUT YOU AND MILO, TOO! THE FBI WILL LOVE TO HEAR ABOUT YOU GUYS!”
I had a sudden inspiration.
Just in case a stranger might actually be listening to me and paying attention—
“I’LL TELL ABOUT HOW YOU CHOPPED UP TONY ROMANO, TOO! AND HOW YOU SNATCHED AND RAPED JUDY! AND MURDERED HER! I’LL TELL THEM EVERYTHING I KNOW IF YOU DON’T GET ME OUT OF HERE!”
I wondered if I should throw in Murphy for good measure.
No. Why drag poor Murphy into this? He was my own business, my own private loss.
Anyway, I was tired of yelling. I was out of breath and my throat hurt.
And I’d already shouted more than enough to draw Steve’s attention—and wrath.
If he’d heard me, he would probably be on his way.
In a rage.