It was almost dawn when there was the sound of running feet outside. Amanda sat up as Mr. X came stumbling into their hut.
“What the hell are you doing?” Steve leaped to his feet and grabbed the man. “Get out of here.”
“They’re after me. I’ve got to hide.”
“Well, you’re not hiding here.” Steve shoved him out the door and Mr. X landed on his back in the sand.
“You don’t understand. I’ll share them with you if you’ll help me. I know they like you and they’ll not hurt me if I’m with you.” He scrambled to his feet.
“What are you talking about?” Steve demanded.
“This.” Mr. X reached into his pocket and pulled out a stone the size of a small acorn.
“Where did you get that?” Amanda demanded as she came out of the hut.
“Where do you think? I got it out of the cave. Those walls are covered. I pulled out as many as I could before I heard somebody coming.”
“You idiot.” Steve couldn’t restrain himself. He landed a right hook on Mr. X’s jaw.
The man went sprawling as Ray came out of his hut. “What’s going on?”
“This fool has robbed the burial cave of some of its stones,” Steve explained. “He’s going to get us all killed.”
“You better not have stolen my baby’s stone,” Joanna came out screaming at him.
“Shut up, bitch.”
Ray punched him in the gut and he went sprawling again.
“Don’t you crazy people see we can all be rich?” Mr. X got up clutching his abdomen. “There’s enough there for everybody.”
By now everyone else was out of their huts and gathered around the greedy man.
“What good are those stones going to do us on this island? They’ll only serve to get the natives riled up against us. How could you be so stupid?” Phyllis was yelling.
“You’re just another dumb bitch. Can’t you men keep your women in line? They don’t understand how rich this can make us all.”
“Don’t you dare call my wife a bitch!” Curtis landed a blow to the side of Mr. X’s head.
Mr. X put his hand in his pocket as he tried to stand. “Look you fools. Look at these. There’s plenty more there for the taking. Why can’t you see we need to work together and get all of them?”
“Give those to me!” Amanda demanded. “Maybe if I give them back to Queenie, we’ll be safe.”
“You stupid old white-haired bitch. I’m not going to give you anything except—”
He didn’t have a chance to finish because Steve hit him with an uppercut to the chin and he fell on his back again. This time he stayed on the ground, panting.
“Let’s get those stones for Amanda,” Tony said as he put his foot on Mr. X’s chest. There was no way the man could get up.
When all the stones were recovered they filled a small basket Amanda had made. “Well, here goes. Say a prayer,” she said and headed toward the jungle.
“Wait, honey, I’m coming with you.”
“No, Steve. I’ll do this alone.”
“I’m sorry, Amanda. I won’t let you go in there alone.” He looked directly in her eyes letting her know there was no use to argue with him.
“Okay, if you insist.”
Steve took her free hand and turned to the group. “Maybe you’d better restrain him.” He nodded at Mr. X. “We’ll do what we can to prevent an uprising.”
“Love all of you,” Amanda said and turned her back to them.
“God speed and we’ll be praying,” Tony said.
“We all will,” Wilma added.
As they stepped into the jungle, they were immediately surrounded by natives with spears. Though she was afraid, Amanda said in a steady voice, “Queenie.”
Two natives escorted them deeper into the jungle. It wasn’t long until they met Queenie and King. When Amanda handed her the basket of jewels, the native frowned.
One of the escorts began to talk in an animated tone. The other joined in occasionally. Queenie would nod and they would continue talking. When they finished she turned and said something to King.
Amanda reached for Steve’s hand. She didn’t know what was going to happen, but she knew whatever did, he was with her.
Queenie motioned for them to follow. They cut across the jungle and soon found themselves at the cave. Inside they stood back and watched as King went through the stones, choosing one and placing it in an empty spot on the wall. He seemed to know which stone belonged in which hole. It took a long time, but finally every vacant spot was filled.
He nodded and pointed at Steve. He began to talk in the native language. Queenie seemed to listen intently. When they were through conversing, she turned to Amanda and made some motions with her hand then indicated they were to follow again.
In a little while they came to the lagoon. Amanda expected her to fall back and let them proceed alone, but she and King continued to walk with them to the beach.
When they reached the others, everyone except Ray and Curtis ran to meet them. “Oh thank God you’re alright,” Debbie cried. “We were so worried.”
“So far, so good,” Steve said with a smile.
Almost instantly a group of natives surrounded them.
“Oh, Lord, what now?” Phyllis said.
“Where’s Mr. X?” Amanda asked.
“Over there.” Wilma nodded to the palm tree where Mr. X had been tied with vines. “Ray and Curtis are guarding him.”
The natives escorted the others over to join the two men guarding Mr. X. Everyone was clinging to their partner. Mr. X looked at them. He was petrified.
One of the natives cut the vines on his wrist with his spear. Two others grabbed his arms and pushed him down to the ground. They laid his right arm on the bent portion of the palm tree.
King moved forward. A native handed him a crude machete-like weapon. In one swift motion, he lopped off Mr. X’s right hand. The man was wild-eyed as he screamed. He then passed out.
Phyllis screamed. Debbie almost fainted and Gene had to grab her to keep her from falling to the ground. Amanda buried her head on Steve’s chest and the other women clung to their men.
Two natives brought some remedies from the jungle and Queenie tended the stub of an arm. The bleeding stopped almost instantly and she put a concoction on it much like the one she’d used for Steve’s snake bite. She then bound it in a large leaf and tied it with vines.
The natives began to withdraw. Queenie started toward the jungle. King picked up the severed hand and followed her.
For a long time, the group stood there in stunned silence.
* * * *
August 28—5:00 PM
Wendover, GA
Amanda turned from the phone. “That was Bernard. He said the publisher’s thrilled with the manuscript and has already sent the check to him. They told him they’d have an ARC ready for distribution in a couple of weeks. He wants to start setting up interviews for me.”
Steve laid down his newspaper and looked over his reading glasses at her. “That’s fine, but tell me, honey. What’s an ARC?”
She smiled. “Sometimes I forget you’re not part of the writing world. ARC stands for ‘advance reading copy,’ or ‘advance review copy.’ They’ll send them out to reviewers and such. They’ll send me some and I’ll pass them along to the group.” She moved to the lounge chair where he was sitting.
He moved over and motioned for her to sit with him.
She did. “By the way,” she said as she cuddled next to him. “I made those changes you suggested before I sent the book off.”
“Good. I want the world to know those things.”
She looked up at him. “You don’t think our kids’ll be embarrassed do you?”
“Of course not. I think it made it more entertaining to let the world know about the first time we went for a bath and got naked.”
She giggled. “I did have to do some jiggling around a bit. I had to make us be scared out of the water by a wild animal
since I couldn’t mention the natives.”
“Smart girl.”
There was a sudden crash in the kitchen. They both jumped out of the chair and went running down the hall.
Wanda was crouched behind the kitchen bar and the makings of a salad were scattered all over the floor. Pieces of a crystal bowl were mixed among the greens.
There was another explosion, then the glass front of the kitchen cabinet holding cookbooks shattered.
“Get down, Amanda. That’s a gunshot.” Steve grabbed the portable phone off the wall as he knelt beside the two women.
“Oh, Lord Jesus, help us,” Wanda was praying. “Keep us safe, dear Lord.”
Steve punched numbers in the phone. In a minute he said, “Dave, I think your mother’s here and she has a gun. Shots are being fired into our house. I’ll call Warner. I know you’ll head up here, but be careful. I’m not sure where she is.”
He hung up and dialed another number. After relaying the message to Warner, he glanced at the women. “Are you both okay?”
“Fine,” they said almost together.
He started moving toward the end of the counter.
“Where’re you going?” Amanda demanded.
“I want to see if it’s really Janet.”
Amanda grabbed the back of his shirt. “Don’t you dare go out there! She might shoot you.”
“It’s okay, darling. I’ll stay down.” He moved away.
At the same time more glass shattered. He knew it was the glass door leading to the terrace. As he started to stand, he heard the sound of a car in the driveway.
In a mater of moments a male voice said, “Mom, what are you doing?”
“I’m going to kill that bitch!” Janet screamed.
When Steve heard his son’s voice he pulled loose from Amanda’s grip and ran toward the glass door. Pushing it open, he stepped out onto the terrace and his blood ran cold.
Janet was pointing the gun at Dave’s head.
He tried to keep his voice even when he said, “Janet, it’s good to see you.”
She looked around at him with a puzzled look on her face. “Really?” She didn’t lower the gun.
“Yes, really. Won’t you come in?”
“I don’t understand. Why are you being nice to me?”
“I’ve always tried to be nice to you, Janet.”
The gun began to waver. “But I watched you the other night when you and your whore had the family for dinner. You acted as if you were having a good time.”
“I was thinking about you all the time.”
“Really?” She frowned again. “But what about yesterday? I saw you with your arms around her and today, you were sitting in the big lounge chair together.”
“It was an act, Janet. I was waiting for you.”
She raised the gun again. “I don’t believe you. You’re just trying to keep me from shooting your precious son.”
“Of course, I don’t want you to shoot him, Janet. If you do, they’ll put you in prison and we can’t be together.”
“Oh. I didn’t know that.” She lowered the gun again. “But what about her? You know I have to shoot her.”
“Why don’t you let me have the gun, Janet?”
“No! I don’t trust you to shoot her. I have to do it.”
“You don’t really want to shoot anyone.” He saw Dave edging closer to his mother. Steve knew if he could keep her talking, Dave could grab her.
“Well I can’t smother her like I did Warner’s mother. I can’t get into your bedroom at night.”
Steve was stunned. “You smothered Warner’s mother.”
“Sure. The old bag kept telling Warner to divorce me. I couldn’t have that.”
There was the sound of a car in the driveway.
Amanda heard it from inside the house. She told Wanda to stay where she was and then ran to the front door. She opened it as Warner was getting out of his classic Mustang convertible. “She’s on the back terrace, Warner. Maybe you should slip around the side of the house.”
He nodded and headed around the house.
Amanda moved back inside so she could hear what was happening on the terrace.
Steve was saying, “Janet, Warner loves you. He’ll forgive you anything.”
“He wouldn’t forgive me for killing his old fat mother. Bless his heart. He thought she died in her sleep.” She giggled. “Of course she did die in her sleep. I crept into her room after everyone was in bed and smothered her with a pillow. It had one of the cases she’d embroidered little flowers on years earlier.” She laughed. “Maybe I shouldn’t have done it. The old bag was getting on in years and she was sick a lot. She probably would’ve died naturally before many more months.”
Steve stared at the woman before him. How could he have ever thought he loved her? He knew from the start her mother had spent the last years of her life on an insane ward.
He remembered plainly twelve years ago when he’d stood with Janet in the hallway of the hospital the evening her mother had died. “It’s a heredity disease,” the doctors had said. “Mothers pass it to their girl children. The boys seem to escape it.”
“Will it happen to me, Doctor?” Janet had asked.
“Probably not, Mrs. Brookshire. If you were going to inherit the disease, it would be showing up by now.”
“Oh, thank God for that,” Janet had said.
Steve had said nothing because he’d already begun to notice the little things Janet was doing which weren’t quite right. He’d closed his eyes at the time and hoped it wouldn’t get any worse. But of course it did.
“Got her!” Dave shouted and brought him back to the present.
Dave had his arms around his mother’s waist and was struggling with her for the gun. Steve stepped across the terrace and wrenched the weapon from her hand.
“Why are you doing this to me?” She cried. “All I wanted to do was kill one more person. Just one and then I promise you Steve, I’ll never kill anyone again. Please let me kill the bitch.”
Warner walked up. “Did she hurt anyone?”
Steve looked at him and shook his head. “No. We’re all fine.”
“Good.” He looked at Janet. “Come on, dear. Let’s go home.”
“Oh, Warner, I’m so glad you’re here. Steve and his son were kidnapping me. They wanted me to do some awful things.”
“I know, dear. Let’s go.”
“But I need to kill her first.”
“I brought the convertible, Janet. I know how much you like riding in it.”
“Oh, I do. It makes me feel young again.”
“Then let’s go.” He nodded at Steve and mouthed, “Thanks.”
Steve nodded back, but was struck by the dark look in Warner’s eyes as he took Janet’s arm and led her around the house.
Amanda came running out the glass door. She flung an arm around Steve and reached for Dave with the other one. “Oh, darling, I was so scared she’d hurt you or Dave.”
“We’re fine.” Steve smiled down at her. “I’m just glad she never got you in the sights of her gun.”
Dave squeezed Amanda’s hand. “I’m glad she didn’t get to you either, Amanda. It’s hard to comprehend my mother’s a murderer. I can’t believe she killed Warner’s mother.”
“I hope Warner didn’t hear that.” Steve turned back to the house. “Come on in Dave. I think we both probably need a drink.”
Wanda got up from her crouched position when they entered the kitchen. “Thank the good Lord everyone’s okay.”
“That’s right, Wanda. Thank you for the prayers. I’m sure God listened to you.” Steve smiled at her.
“I’m sorry about the salad. I had it sitting on the bar and it exploded right there.”
“It doesn’t matter, Wanda. We can eat without a salad tonight.” Amanda moved to the refrigerator and took two beers out. “It’s time for you to go home anyway,” she added. “I’ll finish up dinner.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Brookshire. I’l
l sweep up this mess and then be on my way.”
Amanda got herself a glass of tea and followed the men to the sitting area of the family room.
Steve sat on the sofa and held his arm for her to join him.
“I hope they can do something for your mother, Dave.” Before sitting down with Steve she went over and hugged her stepson. “I know it breaks your heart to see her like this.”
He reached out and took her hand. “Thanks, Amanda.” There was a worried look on his face. “I just hope I never get the disease she has.”
“You won’t, son. The doctors assured me the gene carrying the disease can only be passed from mother to daughter. I’m just glad she and I never had a girl.”
“Could I pass it to my daughters?”
Steve smiled at him. “No. As I said, it can only be passed by the mother.”
“That takes a lot of worry off me.”
At eleven o’clock that evening Amanda and Steve were in bed. The television was turned to the news and the announcer said: “We’re starting our broadcast tonight with some breaking news. Around seven o’clock this evening a fatal accident occurred on I-26 approximately ten miles south of Wendover. According to witnesses a car traveling at a high rate of speed crossed the median and collided head on with a tractor-trailer rig. The driver of the truck escaped with minor injuries. The driver and passenger in the Ford Mustang were both pronounced dead at the scene. Names are being withheld pending notification to the family. The accident is still under investigation.”
“Oh, Steve.” Amanda sat up in bed clutching her chest. “That dark ominous feeling I get just descended on me.”
Chapter 30
Fifteen Months Earlier
Curtis and Tony carried Mr. X to his hut and put him on his mat. Gene checked on him periodically, but nobody wanted to be around him.
The group gathered for a quick supper before night fell. They decided not to build a fire. They ate fruit, nuts and raw sea purslane.
“Well,” Ray broke the silence. “I guess our native friends have their own code of punishment for crimes. If you steal, I suppose you lose a hand.”
“They probably always mutilate the offending body part when a crime occurs. I know it seems cruel to us, but I guess it makes sense to them.” Wilma was eating the slice of orange Tony handed her.
The Island Page 24
