All the Lovely Creatures

by B. C. Sirrom

FIVE

  Bonnie waved to Todd from the window of the single-engine Sesna as it touched down in Dutch Harbor the next morning. Detective Kirk had left shortly after four a.m. and she’d immediately showered and scheduled a charter to visit Geoff before the next crab season started the following morning. Todd was looking well from what she could tell, he’d shaved off all of his lovely dark brown hair and had finally traded in his L.A. sense of style for some more practical Alaska attire; donning jeans, work boots, and a thick blue wind breaker with a matching baseball cap.

  As she climbed carefully from the plane he opened his arms for a hug and she obliged, enjoying the sensation of being genuinely appreciated by someone that wasn’t under her spell. Russ appreciated her, of course, but Todd had harbored a little crush on her ever since his mother had sent him to Alaska so that his grandfather could straighten him out – and by the looks of it, she’d made the right decision.

  “Hey Scooter, long time no see.” She said when he finally released her.

  “No bags?” He asked looking to the charter pilot who was now cleaning his windshield.

  “No I can’t stay. I just came to chat with the old man for a few hours and then I’m heading back tonight.”

  “That’s too bad. I was going to challenge you to a duck fart competition.”

  Duck farts were the favored drink of the locals; a mixture of whiskey, Irish cream, and amaretto. The whiskey caused the cream to congeal in the bottom of the glass making the power-packed shooter look like liquid shit in a pool of dirty water.

  “Oh please, you’ll never win. Remember last time when you ended up almost falling off the pier…”

  By that time they were both laughing so hard at the memory that she didn’t even have to finish her sentence. He wrapped an arm casually over her shoulders and led her toward his grandpa’s dingy red truck. Crab fishermen generally made some great money and Geoff was certainly no exception but he still lived in a run-down little house and drove a beat-up old pick-up everywhere.

  Bonnie and Todd chatted idly all the way back to the house where Geoff was waiting for them in a plastic lawn chair on the front porch. His ear-to-ear grin wasn’t nearly as sincere as Todd’s had been but it still felt good to see him again. When Bonnie had first met Geoff he’d requested a private visit with her in the lap-dance room but once she’d closed the door he’d given her fifty dollars to please herself while he watched. He’d insisted that she take her time and truly enjoy herself, so she did – forgetting that he was even in the room as she’d fantasized about someone else and when she’d finally climaxed, it had been the real deal. When she’d finished he’d simply thanked her, and left without ever laying a hand on her. From that moment on he’d been her all-time favorite customer, until last night with Kirk.

  “Hello beautiful. Need some money?” He asked the moment that she climbed out of the truck.

  She smiled and declined the offer; she’d stopped taking money from Geoff years ago when he’d stolen a little place in her heart for being a genuinely kind old man. Sometimes she even wished that she could have freed him from her magic but once the damage was done there was no way to reverse it.

  “No sir! I’m here for you, not your bank account.” She called back, crossing the tiny yard and taking the front steps two-by-two.

  They hugged and he quickly invited her in out of the cold.After a few minutes of catching up Bonnie finally decided that she needed to get down to the reason for her visit.

  “Geoff, I’m sure you know that I’m here about Walter’s murder.” She said gently, holding his hands in both of her own as they sat together on his moth-eaten sofa.

  “I didn’t do it.” He said sadly.

  “I know you didn’t sweetie, but I need to find out who did. Those cops in Anchorage are doing a piss poor job and they’re starting to look at me for it because it’s easier for them than finding out the truth.”

  “Well I told that Detective Kirk fella everything I know.”

  “Did Kirk go through Walter’s room?” She asked, hopeful that he’d missed something important.

  “Yes, even took half of it with him.” He said slowly.

  “Damn.”

  The fact that Kirk had taken some of Walter’s things might be a good sign, that meant they might have other leads to follow once they went through it, but the fact that he had still shown up at the club the night before, after his trip to Dutch Harbor, didn’t bode well.

  “Was there anything that he might have missed?” She asked, refusing to give up easily.

  “Oh hell I don’t go through other people’s stuff –” Geoff started to explain but Todd poked his head in the doorway and interrupted.

  “He has a trunk on the Caramina.”

  Bonnie sat up straighter and turned to Todd. “Did Kirk see it?” She asked.

  “I don’t even think he went near it.” The young man answered.

  “Excellent, I need to take a look at it right away.”

  “That’s probably not a good idea.” Todd answered.

  “Why?” She asked, concerned.

  “Well if Kirk is considering you as a suspect it wouldn’t be good for anyone to see you down at the boat poking around, especially if the pig decides to come back.”

  Bonnie nodded in agreement, Todd did have a point.

  “I’ll go get it for you.” Geoff offered quickly.

  “I’ll go grandpa.” Todd countered.

  “I’ve got paperwork to sign for tomorrow anyway, I’ll go. You stay here and keep Bonnie company.” The old man stood and stretched out his legs.

  “How long do you think the paperwork is going to take? Bonnie said she can’t stay the night.” Todd asked, handing his grandfather the keys to the old truck that he’d picked her up in.

  “Oh not more than … twenty minutes I’d guess. I’ll be back within the hour.”

  “Thank you.” Bonnie said sincerely just before her old friend stepped back out into the cold.

  “Can I get you something to drink while you wait?” Todd offered once he’d gone.

  She nodded, still lost in her thoughts and he disappeared back into the kitchen but Bonnie was too preoccupied to hear him lock and bolt the door.

  “Here you go.” He set two beer bottles on the small, flimsy coffee table in front of her and sat next to her on the sofa.

  “Are you really upset over Walter or just worried that they’ll find a way to pin it on you?” He asked, brushing the tail of her scarf away from her shoulder.

  “Both.” She sighed, wringing her hands.

  “It’s going to be ok; I know you didn’t do it.” He said, lowering his voice and reaching up to gently stroke one of her horns.

  She pulled back, brushing his hand away lightly. “What are you doing?”

  “It’s ok, no one else is here. You don’t have to pretend anymore.” As he spoke he leaned closer, forcing her to lean away.

  “What are you talking about Todd?”

  “I know why you really come here. Walter and the old man both think it’s for them but I know the truth. You don’t have to hide it from me. I want it too.”

  “Todd, stop it.” She spoke sternly as he leaned in farther but her words only lit the fuse for the young man’s delusions.

  With a single jolt he was on top of her, pinning her wrists painfully to the sofa and pressing the weight of his body on hers. In a heartbeat she could break both of his arms and send him flying across the room but she didn’t want to expose her strength if she didn’t have to. She wanted desperately to talk him out of this instead – the last thing that she needed right now was another scandal.

  “I’m a better fit for you. We’re closer in age, for one thing, and I appreciate your …” his gaze raked over her horns and facial piercings before he ducked his head and deeply sniffed at her chest, inhaling her scent “…uniqueness.” He finished in a seductive whisper.

  “Todd, this is not going to
happen. Get off me.” She ordered, speaking softly but with a firm quality to her tone.

  “You want me Bonnie. I know it, you know it. Why not just give in to it?”

  “Todd, I’m warning you.”

  “With Walter out of the way there’s nothing left to stop us right? The old man doesn’t have to know; I won’t tell him if you don’t and I can come to Anchorage as often as you want me to.” He was pressing his face into her chest as he spoke, nipping at her through her white cable-knit sweater.

  Her anger roiled at his words. “Todd, did you kill Walter?” It was all that she could too to keep from snapping his neck.

  “Only because you asked me to.” He replied, pressing his hips against her thigh.

  “What? I did not!” She practically shouted, enraged by the accusation. Her mind reeled as she tried to remember if there’d ever been a time when she could have accidentally infected him. Could she have ever gotten too drunk to control herself?

  “Todd, I am ordering you to get off of me right now!” She barked.

  He shoved his weight against her wrists, making them ache.

  “No! You want me, I know it!”

  As he spoke, angry spittle flew from his lips and spattered her face. He definitely wasn’t under her spell or he wouldn’t have been able to defy her like that.

  “You’re wrong, Todd. I don’t want you and I never have.”

  “Fuck you!” He screamed so loudly that she was sure the neighbors could hear him. “I’ve been living in hell for the past six months because I can’t stop thinking about you! The way you come in here and flirt with me for days at a time and then you fuck my grandpa and just leave! Fuck you bitch!” He’d pinned both of her wrists with one hand and was now using the other to yank at her scarf and sweater in an attempt to remove them.

  “That’s it, I warned you.” She grunted.

  Todd was flung backward and to the side with enough force that he tumbled over the coffee table, tipping it over and knocking the beers to the floor in the process. Bonnie sat up quickly, hoping that her actions would have knocked some sense into him.

  “What the fuck was that?” He screeched, scrambling to his feet.

  “I’m sorry Todd but you wouldn’t listen.” She bent to right the coffee table and pick up the spilled beer bottles. “Bring me a towel from the kitchen so I can clean up this mess.” She continued, not looking up at him.

  She didn’t see that his face was a twisted mixture of rage and terror or that he’d pulled a knife from the back pocket of his jeans and flipped it open. She didn’t realize that it wasn’t over until she heard him scream before he began rushing toward her. She lifted her head and put her hands up to stop him. A brief moment before the impact she even saw, in his eyes, that he tried to stop himself, but it was too late. She felt the tension in her neck and heard the sickening squish as he gored himself on her horns. His body started to sag as he went into shock and she quickly pushed him away and then scrambled to his side as he fell back on the floor.

  Blood gurgled from his lips and tears welled in her eyes as she pressed her hands against his wounds, desperate to stop the bleeding, but there was nothing that she could do.

  “Todd nooooo. C’mon kiddo. Don’t die.” She cried softly.

  Her nostrils flared as a long forgotten, yet familiar scent wafted through the air, reminiscent of an old gym bag and a field of lilacs at the same time. Humans couldn’t smell it but Bonnie knew exactly what it was. As Todd’s soul began leaking from his nostrils in thin, white tendrils of smoke that were invisible to the human eye, Bonnie leaned close to him and allowed her lips to part hungrily after almost ten years of sobriety.