Hollywood Sinners

40



Belleville, Ohio, 1999

‘We’ve got to go to the police.’

Robbie was slumped against the door to the trailer, his head in his hands.

‘No.’ Laura shook her head fiercely. ‘No cops, no way.’ Indecision was a luxury they could not afford–there would be time for weakness later. For now they had to think straight, and if there was one thing she was certain of, it was this: Lester Fallon had taken enough of her life already, there was no way she was giving him more.

‘Laura, I killed him.’ Robbie shook his head. ‘Do you hear me? I killed him.’

Laura thought she was going to be sick. ‘It was self-defence,’ she said at last, her voice cold. ‘He was trying to rape me. ‘

They had no idea how much time had passed since the fatal blow. It felt like hours. The smashed bottle lay on its side at her brother’s feet, staring back at them, accusing. The words ‘murder instrument’ looped in Laura’s mind.

‘I need some air,’ she said. ‘We have to get our heads together, come up with a plan.’

Robbie looked up at her. ‘No police?’

She shook her head. ‘No police.’

He closed his eyes. ‘OK.’

Outside they sat next to each other, not speaking. It was dark and late and there was no one around. Robbie took Laura’s hand in his and held it.

This was the only boy she had ever loved. It was her fault they were in this mess and there was no way she was letting him take the rap for it. He had a bright future and he’d give that up over her dead body. Not Lester’s.

Eventually she turned to him. ‘It’s our only chance.’

‘What?’

‘My brother keeps a can of gasoline out back.’

Robbie held his hands up, as if he could repel the force of her suggestion. ‘Laura, no.’

‘Just think about it a second—’

‘No.’

She touched his face. ‘Don’t you get it? My brother’s so drunk most of the time he doesn’t even know who he is. He could burn this place down all by himself. Nobody around here would ever know … Robbie, they’d expect it.’

She paused. ‘Do you hear what I’m saying? We have to destroy the evidence, all of it–it’s the only way.’

Robbie shook his head, but she could see him flipping it over, feeling its edges, trying it out.

‘We can’t.’ His eyes were black, serious. ‘What about the future? What about Vegas? How could we ever live with ourselves—?’

Laura kissed him. He kissed her back and for seconds they forgot. Tonight wasn’t happening; it was just a terrible dream from which they would soon wake up.

‘We will live, Robbie. And this is how. I’m not letting him ruin the rest of my life. I’m not letting him ruin us.’ Her voice cracked. ‘I’m not.’

He kissed her again. I’d do anything for you,’ he said, and she believed him. ‘But I know you and I know how you think. I can’t walk into this now if it means you realising in a year’s time that we made a mistake—’

‘That won’t happen.’

‘It might. ‘

‘It won’t.’

He shook his head and laughed emptily. ‘You can’t be sure of that.’ He held her shoulders, forcing her to look at him. ‘We go to the police—’ When she opened her mouth to object, he put a finger to her lips. ‘We go to the police and explain what happened. It was self-defence, just like you said. We’ve done nothing wrong.’ He swallowed, turned away. ‘You haven’t, at least.’

Laura shrugged him off and got to her feet. He would never convince her, however hard he tried. She knew he would carry the weight of the punishment and if there was anything in her power that could stop that happening, she would do it.

He followed her round the back of the trailer, watched in silence as she rummaged in a heap of cans.

‘Don’t,’ he said. ‘It’s not the right decision. You can’t see it now, but I promise you, it’s a mistake.’

‘Forget promises, Robbie.’ She found what she was looking for, freed it with a violent tug and unscrewed the cap. A sweet, stinging smell rose up from its neck. ‘You promised me we’d get away from here, you promised me that, too, remember?’ Fighting tears of panic, she wiped a sleeve across her nose. It left a sooty black mark. ‘I’m not letting you go down. This is our only way out and I’m taking it. For once, I’m fighting back. Just tell me: tell me you trust me.’

His answer came straight away. ‘I trust you.’

Laura took a deep breath, bolstered by his confidence even though she knew he would have played it differently. ‘You don’t have to be a part of it,’ she said.

He reached for a pack of matches on a decrepit ladder of wooden shelves behind her.

‘I am a part of it.’

When she took them from him, they both knew there was no going back.