by Imogen Nolde
“Do you want to fucking die?” I whispered.
“No.”
“Then let the fuck go.”
She backed away.
Zoe tried to sit up. “Where’s Mr. Redthorn?”
“I don’t know,” Vera mumbled.
“He’s not paying,” I declared. “He doesn’t give a flying fuck about either of you. But it doesn’t matter. I’ve got new buyers. They’ll take good care of you.”
“James, are you crazy or something?” Vera spouted. “That’s Zoe on the floor there. We’re your friends. What are you doing?”
I shook my head. “You’re not my friends. You never were.”
“Come on. You know that’s not true.”
“Fine,” I conceded. “We used to be … sort of friends. What difference does it make now? What? Do you think it’s any coincidence I’m back in your life? This is the reason. This is what I do now.”
“You kidnap women? To sell? Are you a sex trafficker or something?”
“No,” I said sternly. “I’m not a sex trafficker.”
“Well, what are you doing then?”
“That’s just cause I need money. You think my fucking salary takes care of me? Fucking forty k a year? Fuck me. Meanwhile scum like that Redthorn guy break the law and make millions. So what if I wanted a little bit for myself.”
“But why us then?” Vera challenged. “Why not some random people? Why go after your friends?”
I chuckled to myself. “Because I get off on it. What, do you think this is my first time? I’ll tell you right now I was ready to fuck you up the night of our date. Instead of going back to mine I could have driven you here, made you suck my cock, then buried you out in the fields. That was Plan A after all. But you were so into me it was hardly worth it. So I let you off. Silly me.”
“You’re saying you killed other people out here. So you’re a serial killer.”
“That’s a rather gratuitous term, don’t you think? Nobody was referring to Redthorn as a serial killer. Yet he’s probably killed more people than I have.”
“You need to let us go,” Vera said. “I mean, please. You know you have to.”
I put the gun to Zoe’s head. “Get undressed Vera. Get back in front of the camera.”
“You won’t do it. You need us alive.”
I closed my eyes. Pressed the gun harder into Zoe.
She let out a whimper.
“Alright!” Vera shrieked. “Gees! I’m going…”
Vera went to the camera and started to get undressed.
I bent down towards Zoe. “What about you then? Got any strength left in you?”
She spat in my face.
I felt myself go red. “Alright. You want to play it that way.”
I dragged her off the ground and to her feet.
Pushed her in front of the camera with Vera.
“You guys always thought you were too good for me,” I said. “That’s why I looked you up. That’s why I had to inject myself into your lives.”
I noticed Vera hadn’t made it further than her underwear.
“Hey,” I said. “There’s no need to be shy. I’ve had it already. There’s nothing new here … only… I wouldn’t mind some girl on girl action. What do you say?”
They stared back at me.
I could see they were thinking about ganging up on me.
“Do it,” I said. “Do it, I swear I’ll kill you. You mean nothing to me. You … you never knew what the fuck ever went on in my head… I…”
Thoughts were now in a spiral.
I was saying stuff that wasn’t true.
But I had to do this.
I was compelled.
I couldn’t afford to identify with them. I couldn’t afford to remember them as friends.
Only as hot girls who never gave me the –
Click.
A sound from behind me. Was it just the building making that noise? I mean after all, there’s no way we could have been followed here. No one was watching us when we left.
There was only one way there could have been.
And he didn’t care about her that mu –
24 Redthorn
I shot James in the back of the head and he scalp burst apart spraying blood everywhere. The girls shrieked and hugged one another as I approached. My clothes hadn’t changed. My helmet was the same one as earlier. And yet it was like she didn’t know it was me. She didn’t know she didn’t have to be afraid.
I stepped forward, passed the serial killer’s withering corpse, and picked the camera up off the tripod. In a fit of anger I raised it over my head, and smashed it to pieces on the floor. The girls were collecting up their items of clothing, backing away from me.
I kept my eyes trained on Vera, though she couldn’t see where I was looking.
“Who is that?” I heard Zoe ask quietly.
“I think it’s Mr. Redthorn.”
Mr. Redthorn.
Like I was some kind of monster. That was what she called me after all.
I put the gun in the back of my pants and made a gesture to let them know I meant them no harm.
“Girls. Please. A moment of your time.”
They froze where they were.
“I want to thank you both for being excellent employees for me. You are both beautiful people, both on the inside and the out. I want to thank you for putting up with my tiresome quirks. My strange and sometimes inappropriate requests. I never meant anything bad to happen to you. I wish you the best of luck with your future endeavors. I hope your next boss appreciates you as much as I know I have. Thank you again for your service.”
I was thankful for the helmet at that point, as neither could see the tears in my eyes.
I bowed my head and walked quickly away from them. My heart was pounding in my head.
A minute later and I was outside, gearing up the motorcycle.
There was a car on the top of the hill.
Both the driver and front seat passenger were still in the car, shot multiple times. The other passenger was on the road where I left him.
There would be no more horror for Vera or Zoe.
No one would be coming after them.
As much as I hated the twisting manipulations of Greenstar, in the end all I cared about was Vera and making sure she was okay.
I had done that now.
My mission was complete.
25 Vera
It’s going to stay with me forever. The worst feeling I’ve ever had. And it wasn’t when James turned around and started shouting at me. Or when he smashed Zoe on the back of the head with his gun. My worst moment came after Mr. Redthorn has shown up to save the day again. When we had our clothes back on. When we were free of our assailant.
Zoe and I put our heads underneath the roller door and made our way outside just in time to see Redthorn riding his motorcycle off into the sunset. There was no looking back. No final goodbyes. It was over. And in that moment, it was the last time I’d ever see him.
The pain initially was unbearable. But after days and weeks of deliberation, I gradually began to get over it. I started seeing a therapist once a week. There I was able to get it all out. I was able to cry. I didn’t see much of Zoe, who was also broken up by her ordeal understandably. I knew we’d always be friends but I was scared it would never be the same as it was before. Being together I knew would remind ourselves of the pain.
For a long time I thought he’d given up on me. That I’d just become a faraway memory for him. A footnote on the past one would never return to. I walked around my apartment for days saying my thoughts out loud, wondering if there was a secret camera in here I hadn’t found yet. That maybe he was still watching me. That his voice could be in my mind.
But that was merely fantasy.
No doubt he was out of the country, staying low, until the police and FBI forgot about him for a while. I wondered if he’d show up then. Maybe he’d call in for an appointment at my new office. I could be sitting opposite him discussing finan
ces without even realizing who I was talking to.
But of course that wasn’t true, now was it?
I’d never forget his voice.
Six months went by. Six long, arduous months.
Things about that time seemed smaller now. As my therapist had managed to convince me, Mr. Redthorn had taken advantage. He’d used his powers of manipulation to get what he wanted from me and that was it. His heroics were incidental. At heart he was the same as James.
A killer.
But things didn’t stay the same forever as I said. Around six months after it happened, when I hadn’t seen Zoe in a while, she popped up in my inbox out of the blue, asking me to go for a drink. I thought what the hell, maybe it’ll be like old times, and I accepted her invitation. We set a date the following week and I met her at a bar on a Wednesday night. If I had known what she was to tell me, I would have organized it sooner.
“Vera,” she beamed, upon my arrival.
“Zoe.”
We hugged, kissed each others cheeks, giggled a little, then sat down across from one another. The attendee took our drink order and then we looked at each other face to face trying not to fall to pieces.
“It’s been too long,” she said.
“I know right. Just been busy.”
“Busy?”
I shrugged. “And maybe afraid too.”
“I knew you felt weird about it. All that fucked up stuff we went through.”
“I went through nothing compared to what you did,” I said quickly. “You were held there for an entire night. I can’t imagine what you were thinking.”
“Neither can I.”
The attendee brought us our drinks.
I took the olive out of mine and sipped it slowly.
“So how is work and everything?” I said trying to change the subject.
“Okay,” Zoe said. “Could be better. But listen, I didn’t just call you here for the obligatory catchup.”
“What is it?”
“Don’t be alarmed. Or excited. I don’t know how you’ll react.”
“Well go on, Zoe, spit it out.”
“I think I’ve tracked down Mr. Redthorn.”
It was the last thing I was expecting to hear.
My heart quickened at once.
“Where is he?” I murmured.
Her eyes flashed a moment and I looked over my shoulder.
“Oh no, he’s not here or anything,” she said quickly. “I haven’t actually spoken to him. Or seen him for that matter.”
“So…”
Zoe put her drink down and leant forward. “I was talking to Jill from the gym – yes I still see her sometimes – and as a favor, she reached out to her celebrity trainer friend – you remember him?”
“Yes.”
“His name’s Chester. You remember. Anyway, Chester somehow got into contact with that billionaire Thomas Greenstar. And he passed on a message to Chester, who passed on the message to Jill, who passed it on to me. Now I’m passing it on to you.”
“What message?”
“It’s from Mr. Redthorn. He says he still cares about you. That he wants to see you again –”
“When?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then what else?”
“Just that. I think.”
“Okay,” I said. “I want to see him. What do I do?”
“Mmm. Not sure,” Zoe said. “Guess you’d have to talk to the billionaire.”
“Well how do I do that? Are we passing messages along again or…?”
“You’ll kill me for suggesting it, but Jill is actually hosting a dinner party at a friend’s place and she said Redthorn might be there.”
“When is it?”
“Like, right now.”
“Well, then let’s go.”
“Are you serious?” Zoe said. “What will you do when you see him?”
“I don’t know. I guess I’d have to…”
“Look him in the face?” Zoe laughed.
For some reason I didn’t find that funny at all.
The party was being held on estate up in the mountains. Who knew why Jill knew so many rich people who or why they let her host their parties, but I immediately felt disgusting and underdressed before we’d made it through the front door.
Everything in the house sparkled. Colors glowed off the walls.
There were so many people here too – fifty, a hundred maybe? And here Zoe and I are tipsy off one drink and looking to gatecrash their to-do.
“Waiter,” I said signaling one of the gentlemen moving around carrying trays of champagne. I plucked two glasses off and gave one to Zoe.
“Thank you,” she said, sipping it.
I sipped mine.
My eyes darted around the room in search of Redthorn.
Instead the only person I recognized was Jill’s friend Chester, making eye contact with me from across the room. I remembered there was a time I’d been captured by his hypnotic gaze.
But now it was nothing in comparison to my beloved.
“My, my, my,” a voice pricked up in my eyes from behind. “You actually came.”
I turned around face to face with a man in a silver tux with a green tie. I suddenly realized who it was.
“Yes, it is I, Thomas Greenstar, the one and only,” he mused. “You of course must be Vera.”
“How did you recognize me?”
“I’ve seen you on television. Both of you. Mr. Redthorn has impeccable taste.”
“You’ve spoken to him then?” I said. “Recently?”
“As recent as can be,” Greenstar grinned.
“Is he here?”
“I think he was earlier. But I’m not sure. As soon as I told him you might be coming he panicked a little. And I don’t think any of us have seen him since.”
My head fell. “You’re saying he ran away?”
Mr. Greenstar shrugged.
I looked down at the floor. “I don’t feel well.”
“Are you going to be sick?” Zoe asked.
“No, I… I just need some air.”
“I’ll come with you then –”
“No,” I said. “You two… Talk amongst yourselves. I’ll try to mingle in.”
“Okay, if you’re sure.”
“It was lovely to have met you,” Mr. Greenstar said.
I nodded and went on my way.
He wasn’t here. Somehow I knew. This wasn’t the right time for us to meet again. Not around all these people. It was too busy, too noisy. Besides, he’d have to wear a mask or something. And then he would look foolish.
I found myself wandering the garden out back. It was enormous. You could get lost out here, with all its plant-life and displays. I was trying to understand how I felt about him after all this time, and how he might feel about me. There was every chance he’d moved on. Who was I supposed to trust to carry his message? That shifty billionaire inside? Who knew if he’d even spoken to Redthorn since everything had happened. It was very convenient after all how he just magically disappears when I show up –
“Ow!”
I’d just put my foot through a bush in anger.
I crouched down nursing my leg and watched as a small animal emerged from the bush.
It gave me a start.
Then it kept on moving towards me as I shifted along the grass.
“Oh,” I murmured.
It was just a harmless pussy-cat. Rubbing his face against my leg. Trying to make it better.
Come to think of it, he looked an awful lot like –
“Milo! Milo, what are you doing?”
I sat up in alarm as a tall, brooding figure moved across the lawn towards me.
When I saw that it was Chester from inside, my heart sank again.
He picked up the cat and cradled him in his arms.
“Your cat’s name is Milo?” I said. “That’s funny.”
“What is?”
“We used to – well my friend Zoe used to own a cat named Milo.
But we … sort of lost him…”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
I stood facing the cat in better light. “And I have to say if he isn’t the spitting image –”
NO
No, it couldn’t be.
Chester stared at me smiling.
Slowly he put Milo down and then his smile widened. “Of course.”
He turned away a moment. Then turned back.
The purple eyes.
“It’s YOU!” I shouted. “You’re HIM? You’re YOU!”
“So now you know,” Mr. Redthorn said.
“But your eyes –”
“I wear contacts for Chester. So no one comments on my ‘deformity’.”
“They’re not deformed, they’re beautiful. You shouldn’t be ashamed.”
“I’m not,” he said quietly. “I showed them to you, didn’t I?”
“Yes, I do remember.”
He made a gesture. “So what do you think? Home sweet home.”
“So this is what killing people pays for.”
“Vera. Please don’t push my buttons.”
“Sorry,” I said. “It’s a lovely place. I’m happy for you. And happy … happy you rescued Milo. How did you manage that?”
“I said I got rid of him. I didn’t mean I threw him out a window.”
I couldn’t resist the urge. I wrapped my arms round him and kissed him on the cheek.
Mr. Redthorn grinned and seized me further into his grasp. “You have no idea how long I’ve looked forward to this.”
“Then why did you wait so long?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “With time apart I wasn’t completely sure about you.”
“And now?”
“And now I want this night to last forever.”
He kissed me passionately. Never.
Ever.
Have I felt as loved as I did now.
“Maybe it will,” I said.
ZOE & THOMAS GREENSTAR
RETURN IN
FLOOR 69
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