Blood Games

    ‘I think he told the truth,’ Vivian said. ‘He admitted throwing our stuff in the pool last night. He said it was to scare us away so his brother wouldn’t get us.’

    ‘Where was this “brother” then?’ Cora asked.

    ‘Back home,’ Jim explained.

    ‘The thing is,’ Abilene said, ‘the brother apparently didn’t know we were at the lodge until later last night. He caught Jim with Vivian’s bra.’

    ‘Fuckin’ pervert,’ Finley said.

    Jim stood there with his head down, his hand clasped to the back of his leg.

    ‘I never even noticed it was missing,’ Vivian said. She sounded apologetic, as if she blamed herself for luring the killer to the lodge.

    ‘The brother took it from him,’ Abilene continued, ‘and made him tell where he’d gotten it. Apparently, he beat Jim up.’ She flapped a hand toward the dark blotches on Jim’s stomach. ‘That’s how you got those bruises, isn’t it?’

    ‘Yeah,’ he murmured.

    ‘How do we know Helen didn’t do that to him?’ Finley said.

    ‘I never hurt nobody.’

    ‘That’s what you keep telling us.’

    ‘What were you doing at the lodge in the first place?’ Cora asked him.

    ‘Isn’t that obvious?’ Finley said.

    ‘It’s… I just like to go there. It’s quiet ’n nice ’n… I go there all the time. Just to swim and stuff. Ain’t nobody ever there. Till yesterday.’

    ‘And you liked what you saw,’ Finley said, ‘so you came sneaking back last night.’

    ‘That ain’t it. Figured ya’d be gone. But when I seen ya was still there, I tried to scare ya off. Hank, he goes there sometimes. He’s crazy. He’ll go and stay the whole night, sometimes. It’s ’cause he done stuff there when he was just a kid… killed some folks ’n… done stuff to gals. He likes to… stay in the lodge ’n run it all through his head. Ya hear him, ya’d think it was just the finest thing ever… what he done that night. So I knowed what he’d do if he come across ya. That’s how come I thrown your things in the water. Just to spook ya off.’

    ‘If you were worried that way,’ Abilene said, ‘why didn’t you just come out and talk to us, explain the situation?’

    ‘I don’t know,’ he muttered.

    ‘He was having too much fun,’ Finley said.

    ‘Were you afraid of us?’ Vivian asked.

    ‘Not much. I… liked ya.’

    ‘I’ll just bet you did.’

    ‘Quit it, Finley.’

    ‘Oh, come on. The kid’s a voyeur. He was getting his jollies spying on us.’

    ‘That may be,’ Abilene said, ‘but I think he’s telling the truth about his brother.’

    ‘Brother or not, he got Helen killed. If he hadn’t been spying on us and decided to fuck around with our stuff, we never would’ve lost the car keys and we would’ve gotten outa this shit-hole last night and Helen’d still be alive. If he hadn’t swiped Viv’s bra, his fucking brother wouldn’t even’ve known we were here.’ She suddenly lunged at Jim. Arms outstretched, she rammed her hands against his chest. He staggered backward, dropped, and landed on his rump. As he looked up with surprise and pain in his eyes, Abilene sprang at Finley. She grabbed her friend’s arm and tugged, but not quick enough. The toe of Finley’s sneaker punched Jim under the chin. The kid flopped backward, his head bouncing off the ground.

    ‘Christ, Fin!’

    She yanked her arm free of Abilene’s grip, but didn’t go after Jim again.

    Vivian hurried over to him. She crouched by his side. His eyes were shut. For a moment, Abilene thought he might be dead. Then she detected the rise and fall of his chest. Vivian looked up at Finley. ‘Good going,’ she muttered.

    ‘He had it coming.’

    ‘You could’ve killed him.’

    ‘Tough. Serve him right.’

    ‘You didn’t have to do that,’ Cora said, ‘but maybe it’s just as well. Let’s tie him up before he comes to.’

    ‘What the hell for?’ Abilene protested.

    ‘So he doesn’t run off.’

    ‘He came with us on his own.’

    ‘But I don’t think he’d want to stick around for what I’ve got in mind.’

    Finley didn’t need any more urging. She dropped to her knees beside Jim and plucked at one of the ropes that was knotted to a belt loop at the front of his jeans.

    ‘What do you have in mind?’ Abilene asked.

    ‘We keep him till we’re outa here.’

    ‘Keep him prisoner?’

    ‘I believe “hostage” is the appropriate term,’ Finley said. ‘Good plan, Cora. Wish I’d thought of it. Nobody’s gonna fuck with us as long as we’ve got the kid. Give me a hand,’ she told Vivian. Together, they rolled Jim onto his stomach. He moaned quietly, but didn’t struggle. Finley picked at the other knot.

    ‘I’m not sure it’s such a good idea,’ Abilene said.

    ‘Sure it is,’ Finley said. She got the knot loose and started to bind Jim’s hands behind his back.

    ‘He’ll be our insurance,’ Cora explained.

    ‘The brother might come looking for him.’

    ‘That’ll be just fine,’ Finley said. ‘We’ll blow his head off. That’s what we wanted to do in the first place. Now we’ll have Jimbo for bait instead of one of us.’

    ‘What if the whole family comes?’ Vivian asked.

    ‘They won’t attack us if we’ve got Jim,’ Cora said. ‘We’ll threaten to kill him. They’ll leave us alone.’

    ‘Not if we shoot the brother, they won’t,’ Abilene said. ‘Not if Helen’s story was true about what they did to the lodge people.’