by Amy Cross
***
“Hey,” she said, shielding her eyes from the sun as she stood by the pool and looked down at Didi, who was flat on her back as she sunbathed topless with sunglasses covering her eyes.
No reply.
“Hey,” she said again.
Silence.
“Hey,” she said a third time, leaning down and nudging the younger woman's shoulder. “Didi -”
“Jesus Christ!” Didi yelled, almost leaping off the sunbed, and knocking over a small table in the process. “What the hell are you doing sneaking up on people like that?” she continued, seeming far more manic and nervy than over the previous few days. “Christ on a bike, you almost gave me a goddamn heart attack!”
“Sorry,” Kate replied, genuinely stunned by the reaction. “I didn't realize you were asleep.”
“Is he here?” Didi asked, looking toward the house as if she was nervous that Edgar might be around.
“I don't know where he is,” Kate told her. “I haven't seen him all day. Actually, I was wondering if you -”
“I'm just having a day off,” Didi replied, still sounding highly strung and nervous. “Can't a girl take a day to just relax every so often?”
“Sure,” Kate said, although she couldn't quite work out what Didi was taking a day off from, since her entire life seemed to revolve around the pool, sunbeds, and alcohol. “Actually, I was hoping to get a word with you,” she continued. “Were you there last night when I was found and brought back to the house?”
“Yeah,” Didi replied cautiously. “Why?”
“I want to know what happened. So far, all I've managed to work out is that I was hurt somehow, and...” She pulled her sleeves up, in order to display some of the cuts. “Jacob said that a doctor came, and that Edgar's going to tell me the whole story, but I can't find him and I feel...” She paused, trying to come up with the right word. “Weird. Wrong. Just... different somehow.”
“Eddie found you in one of the maintenance huts,” Didi explained, eying her with suspicion. “I swear to God, when I first saw you last night, I thought you were...”
Her voice trailed off.
“What?” Kate asked.
“You know.”
“Dead?”
“Uh-huh. There was so much blood, and I could see how your skin had been torn open. When Eddie carried you through to the study, there was literally blood dribbling out of you. Made a horrible noise on the marble.”
“Seriously?” Kate replied, shocked to learn that her injuries had been so extensive. She looked down at her arms again, but although the cuts were certainly severe, they didn't seem as if they could account for the kind of thing that Didi had described.
“I really thought you were dead,” Didi continued, “and I think Eddie did too. He yelled at Jacob to get hold of the doctor and then he carried you through to the next room, and then...” She paused. “And then he closed the door. Wouldn't let anyone in, not even me, not even Jacob. He just told us to let him know when the doctor arrived. It was, like, half an hour before the old guy got here, and by the time Eddie came out of the room, he was much calmer, like he wasn't worried about you anymore.”
“But Edgar's not a doctor, is he?” Kate asked.
“Hell, no.”
“So...” Kate paused, her mind filled with questions as she tried to work out what the hell had happened. “I don't get it,” she said finally. “What happened between the time he brought me up here and the time the doctor arrived?”
“Beats me,” Didi replied. “You're sure looking pretty perky, though. Whatever he did, it obviously did the job.”
Kate smiled uneasily, but deep down she was more than a little worried. The past few hours simply didn't make sense, and Edgar's sudden disappearance was another factor that was making her worry. Turning back to look at the house, she found herself wondering if he was watching her from one of the many windows that looked out over the patio. Somehow, she felt that even if he wasn't physically at a window, in some strange way he was still close by, still keeping track of her every move.
Looking down at the scars on her arm again, she heard – for just a fraction of a second – an echo of her own voice. Screaming.
III
“Ephram!” he called out as he pushed the door open and stepped into the shop. “Hey, old man! Where are you? Not still up and drinking, I hope!”
Stopping for a moment, Doctor Burns listened to the silence. After a moment, he heard a scratching sound nearby, and he looked down just in time to see Ephram's chicken hurrying across the floor. The sight was something of a surprise, since the doctor was fully aware that the chicken had been kept in a coop lately so that it wouldn't be attacked by rats. Figuring that Ephram must have been too drunk the night before to even remember to close the coop's door properly, he made his way past the chicken and over to the counter, sniffing at the fusty smell in the air. Finally, he spotted Ephram slumped down on the floor in the corner, evidently having passed out.
“Jesus Christ,” Doctor Burns muttered as he grabbed two metal pan lids from a shelf and walked over to the corner, before leaning down and banging the lids together. “Wake up!”
Almost jumping out of his skin, Ephram scrambled to his feet in a state of blind panic, staring around frantically for a moment until, finally, he seemed to remember where he was.
“This is why drinking the best part of a bottle of whiskey is not to be advised,” Doctor Burns said with a smile as he set the pan lids down. “I imagine your head is not a nice place to be right now.”
“How did I...” Ephram paused, clearly still a little confused.
“Let me guess,” the doctor continued. “You were up all night in that cantina with your co-conspirators, fantasizing about how the bunch of you are going to set the world straight. Am I right, or am I right?”
“I don't...” Ephram made his way to the sink and poured himself a glass of water, which he downed quickly before pouring another. He muttered something inaudible under his breath.
“So tell me,” Doctor Burns added, “what did you decide?”
“About what?”
“When I left you last night, you were starting to talk about... Well, about things that I didn't want any part of. Ms. Cavaleri was advancing some rather strong ideas, and I noticed that you didn't exactly run a mile.” He paused for a moment, aware that this wasn't the best time to be prodding Ephram for answers. “Promise me, old friend, that those flights of fancy were dismissed as the evening drew to a close. I really don't want to think that any of you were taking that stuff seriously.”
Nearby, the chicken clucked as it hurried back across the room.
“Gertrude?” Ephram said, shocked that the bird was out of the coop. “What...” He turned and looked toward the back door.
“Miracle, huh?” Doctor Burns asked. “Maybe she's has learned how to fight off the rats.”
“I don't remember much from last night,” Ephram replied after a moment, reaching up and rubbing the back of his neck. “Did I...” He paused. “We were up late. It was almost sunrise when I got home, we were talking about ways to deal with Edgar Le Compte.”
“Ways that don't involve murder, I hope.”
“Murder?”
“When I left, Cavaleri was suggesting that Le Compte needs to be done away with. I'd like to think that she was on the sauce, but I suspect she was stone cold sober. I must admit, to hear that kind of suggestion from a police officer is something that troubles me, but I can only assume that she was caught up in the moment.”
“I'm tired,” Ephram replied, reaching down to try to grab the chicken, only for the bird to hurry out of the way. “I need to take a shower.”
“I thought I'd check up on your grandmother while I'm here,” Doctor Burns replied, “and then we have to talk, Ephram. I've had a very interesting night myself, and I think it's time we put our cards on the table.”
Waving him away, Ephram staggered through to the back of the building, leaving Doctor Bu
rns to watch as the chicken started pecking at the ground. After a moment, struck by the realization that he hadn't seen a rat all morning, the doctor wandered through to the back yard, only to see a neat set of undisturbed garbage bags that hadn't been torn apart. With a faint smile, he realized that it was almost as if all the rats had suddenly disappeared from Thaxos.
