Blood Games

    ‘That’s what the cops thought. But they didn’t have any evidence against him, so he was never prosecuted. They never found the body. They never found out who she was. They never even found evidence that the murder had taken place, at all. Henderson’s story was all they had to go on. So he was never even arrested.’

    ‘But Henderson said they killed her?’ Abilene asked.

    ‘Yeah. And they raped her, too.’

    ‘Jesus,’ Cora muttered.

    ‘Henderson was pretty sure they did. When he came to, his buddies were both naked. So was the girl. And the girl was dead by then. Her throat had been slashed. And the guys were busy opening her up and stuffing rocks into her. You know, so she’d sink.’

    Vivian groaned. ‘I knew I didn’t want to hear this.’

    ‘I’m surprised they didn’t kill Henderson,’ Abilene said.

    ‘It’s only his word,’ Cora said, ‘that he didn’t go along with the whole thing. He might’ve had at her, just like his two buddies. Maybe he was even the one who killed her.’

    ‘What he claimed,’ Helen explained, ‘was that he was afraid they would kill him. Guys get shot all the time in hunting accidents. So Henderson acted as if he’d had a change of heart and approved of what they’d done. They were still afraid he might turn them in, though. So they had him shoot her. That way, if the cops found her body, there might be ballistics evidence that Henderson’s rifle had been used on the girl.’

    ‘Pretty smart,’ Abilene said. ‘Or smart of Henderson, making that part of his story.’

    ‘Well, that was when they stopped being smart. Their idea was to swim out into the lake with the body and let it go. They figured the rocks would sink it, and it’d never be found. But one of them went down to the shore for a look around. They were on the far side of the lake, but apparently it isn’t very large. And the guy who went to scout around noticed some people from the lodge swimming off the dock on the other side. They were afraid they might be seen. So what they decided was to hide the body and come back after dark to take care of sinking it. They covered it with some bushes, then went back to the lodge.’

    ‘Henderson made up a story about falling down and hitting his head on a rock. He told his family he was still feeling dizzy and sick, and that he thought he’d better check into a hospital. So they all packed up and left. They drove into town. They found an emergency room, and he was being examined right at about the same time that everyone back at the lodge was sitting down in the dining room for supper.

    ‘Nobody at the lodge was alive the next day when a fellow and his wife showed up to register.’

    ‘My God,’ Cora said.

    ‘There were twenty-eight bodies, including the owner and his wife and three kids.’

    ‘What happened?’ Abilene asked.

    ‘Somebody found the girl, obviously,’ Finley said. ‘And got pissed.’

    ‘I mean, how the hell do you kill twenty-eight people?’

    ‘Well, there was poison in the Mulligan Stew. Apparently, no one died from the poison, though. Not everyone ate it, for one thing. A lot of the kids were served hot dogs and hamburgers. Mostly just adults ate the stew. The thing is, though, that the killers didn’t wait around long enough for the poison to kill anyone. Maybe they just kept watch until people started getting sick so there wouldn’t be much of a fight. Then they stormed the place. With guns and knives and hatchets and axes.’

    ‘They killed most of the people right there in the dining room. But some got away, at least for a while. Bodies were found all over the place: behind the registration desk, on the stairs, a few in the upstairs hall. A headless body was even found in there,’ she said, nodding toward the archway entrance to the inside pool.

    Vivian grimaced. ‘In the water.’

    ‘Floating.’

    Abilene’s skin suddenly felt crawly. ‘Oh, yuck.’

    Vivian was already on her feet, turning around and climbing out.

    ‘Thanks for telling us,’ Abilene said.

    ‘Oh, calm down,’ Cora said. ‘This was twelve years ago, for godsake. It’s not like we got any on us.’

    ‘Even so…’ Abilene muttered. The hot water caressing her skin suddenly seemed thick and foul. She saw Vivian standing on the concrete, arms lifted away from her body, head down -inspecting her body as if she expected to find something hideous clinging to her skin.

    Abilene was tempted to follow her example. But Helen and Cora were still in the water. And it was ridiculous to think that the pool could still be tainted after all these years. Besides, she’d already spent a lot of time in it. The harm was already done.

    ‘This,’ she said, ‘is like eating an apple and being told later that it had a worm in it.’

    ‘You’re grossing me out, Hickok.’

    ‘You mean you aren’t already grossed out?’

    ‘So the pool had a stiff in it. Big deal.’

    ‘I knew we shouldn’t have come to this place,’ Vivian said.

    ‘Pussies,’ Finley said.

    ‘It’s ancient history,’ Cora pointed out. ‘I don’t know why anybody’s getting upset.’

    ‘I need a shower,’ Vivian said.

    ‘Good luck,’ Finley told her.

    ‘Why don’t you just sit down and relax,’ Cora said. ‘I want to hear the rest of Helen’s story.’