Blood Games

    ‘It was true, all right,’ Vivian said. ‘You heard what Jim said. Hank was one of them. So this is the family that did it. We oughta just leave him and get outa here.’

    ‘How do we go about that?’ Cora asked. ‘I’m not going anywhere. Not unless somebody comes up with the… check his pockets!’

    ‘We already asked him about the keys,’ Abilene said.

    Check!’

    Finley, done tying his hands, patted the seat pockets of his jeans. Then she jammed a hand under his right thigh while Vivian did the same on the other side. ‘Nope,’ Finley said. Vivian shook her head.

    ‘Shit,’ Cora muttered.

    ‘Maybe Hank’s got ’em,’ Finley suggested. ‘He took the bra from the kid. Maybe he took the keys, too.’

    ‘Jim told us he never saw the keys,’ Abilene said.

    ‘You believe everything he says, Hickok?’

    ‘My God, he admitted taking the bra, and that embarrassed the hell out of him. He doesn’t know anything about the keys.’

    ‘Hank still might have them,’ Cora said. ‘If he didn’t take them from Jim, he could’ve gotten them when he… found Helen.’

    ‘We’ll find out when we bag him.’

    ‘And suppose he doesn’t have the keys?’ Abilene asked. ‘Then we’ll be stuck here and the whole damn clan’ll want our blood.’

    ‘Not to mention Batty,’ Vivian added.

    ‘This really sucks,’ Cora muttered.

    They were all silent for a while. Jim raised his face off the ground, pulled a bit at the rope around his hands, then lowered his head again and didn’t move or speak.

    ‘I still think we should keep him for insurance,’ Cora finally said. ‘We’ll find a good hiding place in the woods. Abilene and I, we’ll hang onto him just in case while you two go for help.’

    ‘Who two?’ Finley asked.

    ‘You and Viv.’

    ‘No way. I’m not leaving you guys here. Not a chance. I aim to be around when Great Big Billy Goat Hank comes looking. I wanta be the one to drop him.’

    ‘For Godsake, Finley, the important thing is getting out of here alive.’

    ‘Speak for yourself. I’m not going anywhere till Hank’s dead.’

    Cora sighed. ‘All right. Then you stay with me, and we’ll have

    Abilene and Vivian go for help. Somebody's got to, or we’ll be here forever.’

    ‘We’ll have a better chance if we all stick together,’ Vivian said.

    ‘Fuckin’-A,’ Finley said.

    Vivian nodded. ‘I’m not leaving.’

    Cora looked at Abilene.

    ‘Me neither. I don’t want to come back with the cops and find you guys… hurt. We can worry about getting away from this damn place after we’ve… taken care of business. When there isn’t any more threat.’

    ‘If we go down,’ Finley said, ‘we all go down together.’

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

    Jim made no effort to escape as Vivian, holding his aim, led him across the field toward the lodge. The other three followed them, Abilene walking along with the water bottle while Finley supported Cora.

    Jim’s cut-off jeans, held up only by the single rope over his shoulder, hung at a slant that bared the top of his left buttock. The way he looked reminded Abilene of the guy in New York City. Wade? Wayne. That guy had been shirtless, too, with his jeans low. She remembered how Wayne had led them back to the hotel, how she’d suspected he might try to pull something, and how upset Helen had been when they’d refused to let him into their rooms. Only Helen had trusted the guy. Only Helen had been right about him.

    She wondered what Helen would have to say about their treatment of Jim.

    He just wanted to help us, and look what we’ve done to him.

    Hell, maybe he actually saved our lives. We’d fully intended to spend the night in the lodge. And that’s where we would’ve slept if he hadn’t thrown our stuff in the pool. Maybe Hank would’ve come along, just as Jim had feared, and gotten us all.

    Instead, we hid in the woods. And he only got Helen. And she would’ve been okay if she hadn’t gone back on her own to grab a snack and go looking for the keys.

    Maybe we should be thanking this guy.

    Instead, I nailed him with my knife and tried to choke him and Finley knocked him down and now we’ve got him limping along with his hands tied and his leg bleeding.

    To ease her feelings of guilt, Abilene told herself that Jim might’ve lied about everything.

    He might not even have a brother.

    Jim could be the one who butchered Helen.

    His story had certainly sounded true, but he might’ve made up the whole thing.

    We’d be fools to trust him.

    But we didn’t trust Wayne that time. We should’ve.

    At last, they entered the shadow cast by the lodge. ‘Let’s stop at the pool,’ Cora said. ‘I wanta soak.’

    Vivian kept Jim standing while Abilene and Finley helped Cora sit on the edge of the pool.

    ‘I’m not sure hot water’s the thing for swelling,’ Abilene said as Cora lowered her feet into the water.

    ‘Maybe not. But it feels good.’

    Finley jumped in.

    ‘What about us?’ Vivian asked.

    ‘He’s not getting in here with all that blood,’ Finley said. ‘We need to do something about his leg.’

    ‘I’ll watch him,’ Abilene offered. ‘Why don’t you go up and get the first-aid kit?’

    ‘Not alone,’ Cora said. She plunged the muzzles of the shotgun into the swirling water. ‘Finley, go with her.’

    ‘Let him bleed.’

    ‘I’ll go by myself.’

    ‘No. Finley!’