“Are you? A threat, I mean?” She told him she hoped so. “Good. I need me somebody like you. I got me a few buds and we’re making some plans. I got me a bastard stepson that killed me, and I want him dead too. I figure I can have a shitload more fun with him if’n he’s dead.”
“Slow down there, buddy. What do I get out of this? And if I learned nothing else while locked up, it was to always look out for number one.” Ellen watched his face. He really was stupid. As he worked out what she was talking about, Ellen made a list of things she was going to need. Food was a must. She could go a long time without most things, but no food would kill her. And she had to find a way to bring people out here. There was no way she could show her face around the area for a while yet, if ever.
“I got me a crew.” She nodded and looked around the room. “They’re like me. They have an ax to chop up, and we’re going to get all that done before somebody comes and zaps our asses away.”
“And this crew of yours, what do they want? Another stepson to kill? Or perhaps someone that I might have some fun with?” He looked around the room, then back at her. She wanted to get up and hit him, but knew that other than pissing him off more, he’d still be dumb. “I have to have something from them as well. What is it that they plan to give me for helping them with their little…problems?”
“Nick, he’s got money I bet. That kid would have a stash all the time. Took me months to find some of them, but he had them. Him and that sister of his would hide shit from me all the time. And me giving him all that I had.” Ellen would just bet he did. “And that mother of theirs was just as bad. She’d be hiding her stash too, but hers were more of the dope kind. I had that too, but I couldn’t have controlled her much if she had her own, now could I?”
Ellen had no clue what he was talking about. She knew about dope, of course. Living where she had, it would be hard not to. But the rest? Why any woman would want a man like this one to control her was beyond Ellen.
“So you want this Nick person dead. And the others? Who is it that they want? And you should know, I’m going to take the names, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to act on them all. I have needs too. More than you dead can give me.” He nodded, the smile on his face showing her that he’d not been a very cleanly guy either. “I like to cut and see it bleed. But they have to be able to feel it, beg for their lives before I kill them. I’ve been without for a very long time, and I need to make up for lost time.”
“Yeah, we can bring the living to you. No problem.” Ellen watched as he looked around the room. She was sure the others were asking him how the hell he was going to do that. “We’ll have to work on it some. I’ll give you the list and you think of the payment. And we’ll work on getting you paid. That’s a good partnership. You and me, we’re going to do a lot together.”
No they weren’t, but she said nothing to him. The list of names started then and she had to write quickly. There were families that were named, a few of them even named a couple of cops. As the list grew, she thought of all the things she was going to need to make this happen. First of all, how was she supposed to get rid of all these bodies once they started to pile up? A bulldozer she’d seen on television once would work out. When Dane told her that was it, she counted them.
“Twenty-four. How many are in your crew?” He told her. “Christ, that’s more than three each. Seven dead men and you want me to take care of twenty-four.”
“Twenty-five. Don’t forget my stepson.” She added his name to the list. “And once you start killing them off, we can turn them to help us. That’ll make it more and more all the time. The dead don’t got nothing else to do, they might well join us.”
“Sounds like a plan.” A stupid one, but he did have a plan. If these people had avoided being killed by the idiots with her for this long, there was little hope of her getting to kill them all. And she was looking forward to having some fun. “I need some food. Meat, potatoes. And a pizza. I want you to have one delivered to here. I’m going to give him a nice tip when he gets here.”
Dane laughed again. She was sure he didn’t get it, but she didn’t care. Ellen was going to have fun and the sooner the better. When he started cursing, a nice string of them, she stood up and looked in the direction that he was looking. And there she saw him. Christ almighty. The dead guy was gorgeous.
~~~
Joel watched the woman stare at him like he was a lean steak. He felt…well, he wondered if he had ever felt less like a person and more like a thing in his life. He had no idea how he’d managed to get here, but all he’d done was think of Dane and there he was. And the woman standing on the front step looked like she’d been expecting him. Dane, however, didn’t look happy at all.