by James Cole
“Why are you lying to me, Tavalin?”
“I’m not.”
“Then why is your butt not wet.”
“Huh?”
Tavalin’s dry pants indicated he did not enter the gulch by way of the underground stream.
Jeremy scanned the vicinity on the far side of the pool for any sign of Jinni. Apparently, she was just as suspicious of Tavalin as was he. He hoped she meant to stay concealed, at least until Tavalin’s motives could be unmasked.
Jeremy repeated his question from before. “How did you get in here?”
Tavalin evaded the question. “That’s for me to know and for you to find out.”
It seemed obvious that Tavalin had a secret, barely concealed. Building on his suspicions from before, Jeremy turned the subject to June’s murder. One way or another, Jeremy meant to find out which of his trusted companions killed June.
Jeremy forced the issue with Tavalin with the question, “Why did you wash your clothes at my place the night of the murder?”
A sly look came and, just as quickly, left Tavalin’s face. “If you’ve got something to say, Jeremy, just say it.”
“Could it be you were washing blood – not vomit – out of your clothes that night?” Jeremy’s gaze was unflinching though he had no hard evidence to back up the accusation. “Tell me now, Tavalin – did you kill June?”
“You know what the police said – the mutilation took a long time and I was right there at your condo.” Tavalin turned uncharacteristically cool and collected. “You know as well as I do, I could not have mutilated the body. You are my alibi.”
“Yes, but…”
Jeremy’s words trailed off as he tried to assimilate the clues. Everything Tavalin said was true but, tellingly, he failed to deny killing June. Tavalin had sufficient time to kill June before he came over to Jeremy’s condo; he just didn’t have the time or the opportunity to conduct a two-hour mutilation session. Putting it together, Jeremy hit upon a novel idea: What if Tavalin killed June and an accomplice did the rest? Tavalin could have passed Jeremy's lab key to his collaborator while he waited downstairs in the foyer for the pizza to arrive. The new theory made decent sense, but who was so loyal to Tavalin that they would assist him in the commission of a murder? As far as Jeremy knew, Tavalin had no other friends. Jeremy could think of no one with whom Tavalin had recurring contact, with one exception – his mom. Jeremy had never met the woman, but Tavalin spoke to her on a regular basis on the phone. Could his mother be the accomplice? Though this did not seem likely, Jeremy supposed it was possible.
Whoever the accomplice might be, Jeremy felt confident with his new insight. The time had come for everyone present to acknowledge that Tavalin killed June. Like some swash-buckling pirate, Jeremy went to draw his machete, but Tavalin brandished a weapon of his own. Tavalin held the gun sideways, gangsta’ style, and, just as rock beats scissors, firearm beats blade and, apparently, gangsta’ beats pirate.
“Take that thing off and throw it to me,” snarled Tavalin.
“You don’t have the guts to shoot me.” Jeremy spoke louder than he had to so Jinni might hear and understand that Tavalin had a gun.
As it turned out, it didn’t matter if Jinni heard his words or not, for she certainly heard the gun’s retort. The bullet tore into the soft ground directly in front of Jeremy’s feet. Dirt showered his front side, including one small clod that landed in his open mouth.
“I’m not kidding, Jeremy. Lose the sword or, I swear, I’ll shoot you.”
“It’s a machete, you idiot,” muttered Jeremy, even as Tavalin’s choice of words jarred his memory of the painting on the cave wall and how it happened to include a sword – a flaming sword.
Jeremy spat out the last of the gritty mud, removed the holster and tossed it at Tavalin’s feet.
“So tell me,” Jeremy asked, “who did you give my lab key to? Who helped you?”
Tavalin picked up the machete. “Walk,” he said, and with the gun motioned in the direction of the river.
Jeremy could only hope that Jinni could somehow rectify the situation. He thought that her best option might be to set off the explosion. A well-placed rock toss could sink the jar in the pool and trigger the blast and, hopefully, divert Tavalin’s attention long enough for Jeremy to make a move for the gun.
Per Tavalin’s directions, they ascended a rocky path that terminated on a flat shelf high up on the lip of the gorge. When Jeremy peered cautiously over the other side, it was the rapids of the Devil’s Crotch he saw swirling far below. The three ropes that hung down the cliff face and the miscellaneous climbing equipment on the ground answered one of Jeremy’s many questions.
“This is how you got in?”
Tavalin ignored Jeremy’s question. “Sit down,” he said.
That Tavalin did not follow them in by way of the underground stream meant he must have had prior knowledge of this place. But how was that possible? Besides Grady, Jeremy was aware of only one other person who knew of the King’s Pinnacle and the Source it hid.
That person was Monika.
Although Jeremy would have hoped that Tavalin would be loyal to him, why else would he be here now except on her behalf? No doubt Monika meant to find Jeremy and exact her revenge after he reneged on her at the ceremony. What better way for Monika to track him down than through Tavalin? But was Tavalin so fickle that she corrupted him during the two days that had passed since the ceremony? It actually didn’t seem such a stretch, considering Monika’s charisma and power of persuasion. Jeremy, too, had been victim to her cunning ways, beginning with the serendipitous meeting and impromptu kiss at the Singe show.
But, Jeremy wondered, were the circumstances of their meeting really as they seemed? Considering that Monika always seemed to be working toward some enigmatic end, could it be that their meeting was connived? Jeremy thought back to how Monika approached him at the Singe show and how she so boldly snared him with a kiss. She had also passed him the five dollar bill with the repeated words, burn baby burn baby burn…, around all four edges, front and back, a message she later claimed was a secret message for him. But if that were true, when did she transcribe the words onto the bill? She certainly did not do it while she was waiting for him to buy her drink, which meant their meeting was anything but happenstance. Someone must have informed Monika ahead of time that Jeremy would be in attendance.
Besides Jinni, only Tavalin had prior knowledge of Jeremy’s plans to attend the Singe show. Tavalin could have, therefore, helped set up the meeting, which led rather quickly to Jeremy’s intimate involvement with Monika. Had Tavalin and Monika been in cahoots from the beginning?
The next stop on Jeremy’s train of thought was this: What if Monika was the accomplice? What if Tavalin killed June and Monika did the rest? All along, Jeremy assumed Monika was unconnected to the Biotech Facility and June’s death when, in fact, she must be the crucial missing link, the center piece on this table of deception and evil deeds. Tavalin alone could not have killed June and dissected her body and Monika working alone did not have access to Jeremy’s lab. How could he have been so blind? They worked together, a tag-team of dishonesty and trickery, with Tavalin as the traitor-murderer and Monika as the seductress-mutilator.
Laying his cards on the table, Jeremy asked, “How long have you and Monika been allies?”
Tavalin replied nonchalantly, “We go back a good little ways.” Looking over Jeremy’s shoulder, he added, “Speak of the devil.”
The full expanse of the gulch, including the still-standing lotus tree, was plainly visible from their perch. Dark shapes, two of them, crept across the midst of the valley floor.
Tavalin called out, “Is everything under control down there?”
Jeremy’s spirits sagged as the seductress-mutilator’s voice rang up from below.
“Relax,” replied Monika, calling up from the floor of the gulch. “I’ve got her.”
*****
Tavalin squirted a copious amount of lig
hter fluid on the pile of sticks previously gathered and stacked on the lip of the gorge. Without taking his eyes or the gun off Jeremy, he bent down and lit the fire with a Bic lighter. The fire took hold quickly and bathed the perch with heat and light.
A subdued Jinni appeared first on the rock shelf. Monika, gun drawn and hammer cocked, followed closely behind.
As Jinni shuffled by, she mouthed the words, “I’m sorry.”
“Sit down,” instructed Monika.
Dutifully, Jinni sat next to Jeremy on one side of the fire while Monika and Tavalin stood on the other side, keeping a close watch on their prisoners.
“Do either of you lovebirds care to tell me what you were doing down there?”
Jeremy wasn’t about to confess their plans to blow up the tree. “We came here looking for the Source,” he replied.
“How did you get in?” asked Monika.
“We climbed up, the same as you.” Jeremy lied in the hope that he and Jinni might yet manage to somehow escape through the tunnel.
“That’s not what he said a minute ago,” tattled Tavalin. “I’m pretty sure they came in some other way.”
“Tell the truth,” demanded Monika. “How’d you get in?”
“You first,” countered Jeremy. “Why did you and Tavalin have to kill June?”
“Ask him.” Monika pointed to Tavalin. “It was all his idea.”
“Why would you do such a thing?” Jeremy glared at Tavalin through the smoke.
“June caught me snooping in her lab,” replied Tavalin. “I guess I just panicked, but it didn’t matter. We would have had to get rid of her eventually anyway.”
“Why?” begged Jeremy.
“Because she knew the structure of the Unreal. We couldn’t let that information get out.”
“So why didn’t you kill me?” asked Jeremy. “I also knew the structure.”
“Because that’s just his excuse.” Monika jumped into the fray. “Tavalin didn’t kill June to keep the structure of the Unreal secret. He did it because she accomplished in short order what he couldn’t do in two years – and she rebuffed his advances. He killed June because her existence highlighted his impotence.”
“You’re the one who beat it into my head how important it is that we keep the structure of the Unreal a secret,” argued Tavalin. “We had to kill her.”
“Even if it eventually came to that,” Monika said, “we could have done it inconspicuously. We were supposed to keep everything on the down low, but your temper tantrum put the spotlight of the world on us. But then again, you always screw everything up.”
Much to Jeremy’s satisfaction, Monika was now waving her gun at Tavalin. Perhaps they would shoot each other.
“Must you dog me all the time?” Tavalin was distraught. “I do the best I can.”
Jeremy listened intently to the exchange. He was not surprised that Tavalin killed June but he would never have guessed the role played by the Unreal. By asking for June’s assistance in the analysis, Jeremy had, essentially, placed June in the cross hairs.
As if reading his mind, Monika turned to Jeremy and said, “You know, June’s death was really your fault. You’re the one who involved her.”
“And you’re the one who involved me,” said Jeremy, miserable in his newly discovered culpability. “What I don’t understand is why you targeted me in the first place. Did you really want me in your group so badly or was there some other reason?”
“Once again, it was your good friend Tavalin’s idea,” replied Monika. “You know, he didn’t even tell me at first that he had been bringing you out here to Reefers Woods.”
“Oh, he showed me more than you can even imagine,” said Jeremy, hoping to refocus Monika’s wrath on Tavalin. “Tavalin helped me find the hippie queen’s grave and he even insisted we eavesdrop on you at the secret beach that night.”
“Liar!” Tavalin exclaimed. “That’s not true at all! I did everything I could to get him to go home.”
Monika glared at Tavalin before addressing Jeremy again. “Tavalin wasn’t supposed to bring you or anybody else out here, but you befriended him when no one else ever would. He wanted to return the favor. He asked me if I’d let you join my circle of friends and be a part of Claire’s Way. Against my better judgment, I agreed to give you a chance. And, thorn in my side that you have been, I must say you helped our cause more than I ever could have imagined. If it weren’t for you and June, we still wouldn’t know the structure of the Unreal. And, after looking for years and years for this place – for the Source – it was through you that I finally found it.”
“Glad to have helped your cause,” muttered Jeremy sarcastically, “whatever it is.”
Monika laughed cynically. “Isn’t it tragic how close you came, yet you were never quite able to really figure anything out?”
“I know more than you think.” Jeremy didn’t know why he even bothered jousting with Monika, but he couldn’t help it.
“Like what?”
“Like Grady.” Jeremy had long suspected that whoever killed June also killed Grady. “Grady didn’t kill himself. One of you did it, am I right?”
“I did it,” admitted Monika, “but do you know why?”
“Probably because your original plan failed.” Jeremy articulated his thoughts as they streamed to him. “Wasn’t the whole purpose of the symbol carved into June’s forehead to throw off the police, to make them believe she was murdered by some random Cocytus fan?”
“Go on.”
“But when the cops found June’s hair caught in the lab window, they knew the murderer had keys to the building and to my lab, proving the murder was an inside job. Grady had keys to my lab so you chose to frame – and kill – him.”
“That’s fairly accurate. I had originally hoped that the police would believe that the murder occurred outside of the Facility, but I also needed some way to exonerate Tavalin,” explained Monika. “If not for the time requirement of the mutilation, Tavalin had no alibi.”
“That’s what threw me off for so long.” Jeremy couldn’t help noticing that his comment seemed vaguely complimentary. He had not meant to defer to Monika’s deviousness.
“You also seem ignorant of the essential role you played in Grady’s death,” Monika added.
“Which was?” asked Jeremy, dreading the answer.
“Please,” chimed in Tavalin, “let me. Remember, Jeremy, our conversation at the Chevron, after we chugged all that beer at Cooter’s?”
Jeremy shrugged.
“Two words-” said Tavalin. “Blue eyes. I called my partner here as soon as I thought you were gone – only you came back and caught me, remember?”
“I remember you said you were talking to your mom,” interjected Jeremy.
“And do you remember when Grady died?” asked Tavalin.
Jeremy shook his head.
Tavalin was happy to oblige the information. “He died three days later. Your loose tongue gave him away.”
“And,” added Monika, “like you said, it wasn’t suicide. I killed him and placed the heart I cut out of your friend’s chest right in Grady’s hand. How’s that for a dramatic pose?”
Jeremy had thought he wanted answers, but not these. Grady had warned Jeremy not to betray his unusual blue eyes but he told Tavalin anyway. Not only had Jeremy placed June directly in the line of fire, his indiscretions had apparently led to Grady’s death as well. But there were a couple of things he still did not understand.
“How did my mention of Grady’s blue eyes give him away?” asked Jeremy.
“A person never forgets eyes like his,” replied Monika. “When Tavalin relayed the information to me, I knew exactly who he was.”
“You had prior dealings with Grady?” asked Jeremy.
“Do you still not get it? Can’t you figure it out?” Monika was taunting him now. “Come on Jeremy, this is the big kahuna.”
“Just tell me, why don’t you?”
“Grady’s the one who turned me on
to the Source to begin with.”
“What do you mean, Grady turned you on to the Source?” asked Jeremy. “I don’t understand.”
Monika did not address Jeremy’s question but chose instead to revisit an earlier query.
“You asked me why we targeted you,” she began, “and I told you it was because of Tavalin’s recommendation. What I didn’t tell you was that you stirred up something in me that I haven’t felt in years. I wasn’t kidding when I offered to be your girlfriend. I liked you, Jeremy – I really did.”
Jeremy could not believe what he was hearing. He had assumed that every aspect of his relationship with Monika had been a deception.
“And,” continued Monika, “if you really want to hear something funny, I still do. Come with us, Jeremy. Take the vow, drink of the Source and all the world will be yours. It’s not too late for us to be together.”
Besides being floored by Monika’s proclamation, Jeremy saw this as a golden opportunity. “What about Jinni?” he asked.
“What about her?” Monika’s tone was cold. “I’m sure she would never be a party to Claire’s Way.”
“You’ve got that right!” exclaimed Jinni. “I won’t and Jeremy won’t either!”
Until now, Jinni had let Jeremy do all the talking.
“He’s made his choice,” added Jinni.
“It’s not over till the fat lady sings,” remarked Monika. Turning to Tavalin, she said, “Can’t you shut her up?”
“Don’t listen to her, Jeremy,” pleaded Jinni. “You said it yourself – she’s evil.”
Tavalin tied Jinni’s hands behind her back and taped her mouth shut with a patch of duct tape, but not before she managed to spit on him.
“Now maybe we can talk in peace,” Monika said. “Would you consider joining us, Jeremy?”
“Why would I want to come with you?” he asked.
“If you knew the details of Claire’s Way, you would want to come.”
A certain look passed between Tavalin and Monika.
