by Brett McBean
He opened his eyes slightly and had to squint. The light – sunlight? – was very bright. He tried to move, but found that his hands were tied.
I’m tied up?
He began to cry softly. Judging by the sound of the wind, and lack of it, Simon guessed that he was indoors.
And the soft mattress underneath. He was obviously bound, naked, to a bed.
With the little strength he had, Simon tried to wrestle free from the ligatures. They were too tight. He quickly gave up trying.
He lifted his face off the pillow and turned his head in the direction of the voice. Through the narrow slits of his eyes, he saw a large man lying down on a bed. He had a grotesque grin on his round face.
Who is he? Simon thought. And what is he going to do with me?
When the large man hopped off the bed, a maniacal glee planted on his face, Simon knew he was about to find out.
He squeezed his eyes shut and prayed.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
2:24 a.m.
“Are you sure it was him?”
Morrie nodded. He was grinning, which made Judy feel uneasy.
She couldn’t believe it. In her mind, it was too much of a coincidence. She didn’t doubt that Morrie had seen a boy tied to a bed, naked and covered in blood. She was still in mild shock from hearing that. What she doubted was that it was the same boy who had run away from their house.
“I don’t know. Are you positive? It was dark and it all happened so fast.”
“What, you don’t believe me?”
Judy shrugged. She had to put this as delicately as possible. “It’s not that I think you’re lying, Morrie. But the night was very dark and he had been wearing sunglasses.”
Morrie’s grin spread into a smile. “That’s where you’re wrong. Just before I shot the other boy, he took them off. I don’t know why, but it was then that I saw his face. It was only for an instant, but I saw it, Judy. And it was the same face that looked up at me in the cabin.”
Judy closed her eyes and shook her head. She desperately wanted to cry, but the tears would not come. Her mind suddenly flashed to a picture of the two men (not men, boys!) standing by the front door. They were lighted by the door lamp. They had turned and looked at her. She got a look at their faces. Their eyes were hidden by the sunglasses, but she had still seen their faces.
“I want to go over there and see for myself.” She opened her eyes and stared at Morrie.
“Why?” he chuckled. “You didn’t see his face.”
“I did. Remember?”
He frowned. After some thought, he nodded. “But you only saw them with their glasses on.”
“That was enough. If I saw his face again, I’d remember it.”
“Okay,” Morrie said. “I’ll take you over there, but we have to hurry. I don’t know where the fath...the man is. He could be back at anytime. He could already be back.”
“Didn’t you say that they were father and son?” Judy asked as she stood up.
Morrie shrugged. “So the man told Madge when he booked in. But I don’t think he is. I don’t see how a father could do that to his son.”
Judy took Morrie by the hand and pulled him up off the bed.
He gave her a flash of a smile, then picked up his soaking jacket. Judy strolled over to the table where her jacket, the exact same one as Morrie’s, only slightly smaller, was draped over one of the chairs. She picked it up and slipped it on.
“Is he...really bad?” Judy said.
“It’s certainly not a pretty sight. Are you sure you want to see? Can’t you just take my word for it?” He joined her by the door. He had already slipped on the hood.
“You’d think seeing one dead body tonight would last me a lifetime. Or maybe I’m becoming used to it.”
Morrie grimaced. “That’s not funny. People should never get used to seeing a dead body. Besides, this boy’s not dead, remember?” Morrie paused, then added, “yet.”
Judy didn’t respond to Morrie’s comment. She placed the hood over her head, opened the cabin door and stepped out into storm.
Morrie closed the door behind him and caught up with her.
They powered through the wind and rain until they reached the cabin. Morrie leaned in close to Judy. “Wait a minute. I’ll check to see if the man’s back.”
He went up to the right-side window and peered in through the curtain.
He soon hurried back over to Judy. He took her hand and led her over to the other window. “You can see him through the gap in the curtain. It might take him a while to look up, if he does at all. I’ll keep a lookout. Be careful.”
She knew what the last comment meant. He knew her well. She had been preparing herself all this time for what she would see inside the small cabin.
Morrie let go of her hand and she wandered up to the window. She put her face to the window and looked into the room.
She hadn’t expected the room to be in candlelight – Morrie had neglected to mention that. She didn’t know why, but the candlelight made her more unsettled. She wished the room was in total brightness.
And there he was. Bound to the bed, his slim pale body covered in dark blood. His knees and feet were bandaged.
Why are they bandaged? she wondered.
She felt heartache for this poor boy, but kept telling herself that this could be the one person who could put them at the time of the murder. He was, in a sense, their enemy.
Feeling ill looking at his beaten and bloody body, Judy looked around the small section of the room she could see. She could just make out the side of the second bed, the sink and the fridge. She gazed down at the floor and saw some clothes crumpled by the foot of the boy’s bed.
Must be his clothes.
As she studied the clothes, tears crept down her cheeks.
Although the boy who had gotten away posed their biggest threat, she didn’t want this boy to be him. She just wanted to leave this godforsaken motel.
But there was no doubt, now. She didn’t need to see his face, nor did she want to. She left the window and tapped Morrie on the shoulder. He jumped a little, turned around and she nodded for them to go.
They jogged back to their cabin. Judy was glad to be out of the cold and rain.
“Well?” Morrie said softly. “Are you convinced?”
She nodded.
“You recognised his face.”
“No. He never looked up.”
Morrie frowned. “Then how can you be you sure it was him?”
“I saw his clothes on the floor. It was a dark suit. The pants, the jacket, the white shirt; exactly what the two boys had been wearing at our house.”
“I never noticed that,” Morrie said.
Judy sighed, took off her jacket and placed it on the table. She went over to the bed and sat down. “It was him all right. I suppose we can count ourselves lucky, though.”
Morrie took off his wet jacket, placed it next to Judy’s, then went over beside her. “I know you want to leave. Hell, so do I. But we have to take care of him. He’s the only person who can connect us to the murder.”
“I know,” Judy sighed. “It’s just that I told myself no more dead bodies tonight.”
Morrie put his arm around her and gently squeezed.
He started to whimper.
Judy noticed this and put her arm around him.
“Come on, Morrie. I know how much you don’t want to do this. I know we have to. Don’t blame yourself for any of this.”
Morrie suddenly stood up and rushed into the bathroom, slamming the door.
Judy remained on the bed and listened to her husband vomit.
She knew he had it twice as bad; he was the one who had killed the boy, and he would be the one to kill the boy in the cabin.
He must be going through hell, she thought.
She hopped off the bed and went over to the sink. There she filled a cup with water. That was the least she could do for her husband. He needed her now more than ever. She wandered back t
o the bed and sat down, cradling the cup of water. Morrie’s retching resounded through the room.
She began thinking about the boy.
Tears formed in her eyes.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Wayne was silent the whole time Al recounted their story. He stood nodding, his hair flat against his scalp, rubbing his bandaged hand gently.
When Al finished, Wayne shook his head. “So you don’t know who killed him? You haven’t any idea how he got in the boot?”
“No idea whatsoever,” Eddy said. “So you see our dilemma. We can’t go to the police, yet we can’t leave the car with the body inside.”
“We didn’t even kill the kid, yet we’re the ones stuck with him,” Al said. “That’s fucked, huh?”
Wayne nodded slowly.
Lightning flashed in the sky. Al and Eddy flinched and instinctively ducked their heads.
Wayne gazed up at the brilliant light and grinned. For a moment the world was lit up like some great inferno. Then everything went back to darkness.
“God, that scares me,” Al huffed out. “We’ll probably all be killed. We’re nuts going up in the mountains during a storm.”
“Relax,” Wayne said. “Lightning only strikes the tallest objects. If we stay out from under tall trees, we should be okay.”
“How reassuring,” Al said.
Wayne smiled at Al. “You still don’t trust me, do you?”
Al nodded. “Yeah. I guess I do. Hell, we’ve told you our whole story, so I guess we have no choice.”
“It’ll be good having another pair of hands,” Eddy said. Realising he was still holding the gun, he lifted his shirt and jumper, which were completely soaked, and shoved the barrel down the front of his jeans. He had a good feeling about Wayne. He seemed like a reliable, hardworking sort of bloke.
“I’m ready,” Eddy said, clapping his hands together. He looked over at Al and raised his eyebrows.
“Let’s go. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can concentrate on getting drunk.”
“I hear that,” Wayne said.
“I just remembered,” Eddy said. “There’s one more thing we have to tell you.”
“What’s that?” Wayne said.
“Me and Al decided that after we get rid of the body, we’re gonna make an anonymous phone call to the cops. Tomorrow, back in Melbourne of course.”
“Yeah, we figured that his parents have a right to know where their son is, and what happened to him.”
Wayne gave a small, almost strained chuckle. “Sure. Whatever. If that will make you boys feel better. I understand.”
“You don’t think it’s the right thing to do?” Al asked.
“No, I do,” Wayne said. “If something ever happened to Simon, I would want to know his fate.”
“Okay,” Eddy said. “I think that’s everything.”
The three men walked over to where the body lay on the muddy grass and forest earth. Eddy gazed down upon the corpse. He was lying on his back, his head gazing up at the rain.
Eddy was startled when Wayne appeared in his line of vision and squatted down to look more closely at the body.
“So this is Jeffrey,” Wayne said. “Nice to meet you.” He smiled.
Al looked at Eddy with a frown. Eddy shrugged.
Although Eddy thought this man was a reliable and tough character, he was also a bit strange. His sense of humour seemed very dark and morbid.
“How shall we do this?” Al said coldly.
“Looks like he was strangled,” Wayne said.
“Yeah, we already figured that out,” Eddy told him.
Wayne stood up. “One person can take his legs; the other his shoulders; and the last man can carry him from under his back. All agree?”
“You’re the expert,” Al said. “Which one takes the most strength?”
“Ah, carrying the shoulders. That’s where the most weight is situated.”
“Okay, you take the head and shoulders. If that’s okay by you.”
Wayne smiled. “Of course. Don’t matter much to me. But I was thinking, since we’re going up into the mountains, shouldn’t we have a torch?”
“You think?” Al huffed. “If we had one, don’t you think we would have it?”
Wayne nodded. “I guess. Have you checked the car? The Bluebird?”
They looked at each other, blank looks on their faces.
“You haven’t, have you?” Wayne said, grinning.
“Ah, no,” Eddy admitted.
Wayne walked over to the right back door, opened it, and then leaned inside. He was only about ten seconds before he hopped out and shut the door.
Eddy was amazed to find that he was holding an object. He felt incredibly stupid.
“I can’t believe we forgot to look,” Al muttered.
“Will ya get a load of this,” Wayne said as he approached.
He held up what looked like a headband, with a small square box attached to the front.
“What is that?” Al said.
Wayne fumbled around the back of the box, and suddenly a brilliant light shone out.
“My God,” Eddy gasped. “Is that a torch?”
Wayne chuckled. “Seems to be. Looks like a homemade job.” He placed the circular headband on his head.
“That’s ingenious,” Al said. “A hands free torch.”
“What kind of weirdo did this car belong to?” Eddy said.
Wayne shrugged. “Pretty cool, huh?”
“I’ll say. Amazing,” Al said, shaking his head.
“Found some spare batteries in the car as well.”
“This just keeps getting better,” Eddy said. “We finally have a torch.”
With a bright light guiding the way, they all walked back to the body.
The torchlight lit up the dead boy’s face with an unholy glow. Wayne didn’t seem bothered, but Eddy couldn’t help but be spooked and a little disgusted by the way it looked. And by the look on Al’s face, he was just as sickened.
Wayne walked around to the body’s head. He crouched down and placed his hands under the armpits.
Eddy stood by the legs and grabbed his ankles.
Al shuffled to the side of the body, bent down and slipped his hands under the back. “Wish we had gloves,” Al said.
Wayne grinned, and then counted: “One...two...lift.”
All three men heaved the body off the ground. Eddy noticed a sizeable difference in the weight.
“We all got a good hold of him?” Wayne said.
They both nodded.
“It would be better if I was facing the mountain,” Wayne said. “You don’t mind walking backwards, do you Eddy?”
Eddy shook his head. “Nah, of course not.”
“Good,” Wayne said.
The three men turned around slowly until Wayne had his back to the cabin and Eddy had his back to the walking track.
“Don’t worry, Al and I can warn you when anything dangerous comes up.”
Eddy nodded. He had to squint due to the blinding light of the torch. “Christ, what did the guy use? A hundred watt bulb?”
“Bright, isn’t it?” Wayne said.
“You’re not the one walking backwards,” Eddy sighed.
“Come on guys, can we get going?” Al grumbled.
“On your cue,” Wayne said to Eddy. “Don’t want you falling flat on your back.”
“Again,” Al chuckled.
Ignoring Al, Eddy said, “Okay, let’s walk.”
Eddy began walking backwards. Wayne tried to follow Eddy’s pace. Al had to walk in a sort of side stepping motion.
“You know the way to this Devil’s Gorge?” Wayne asked.
“Yeah, I’ll guide you,” Al said. “It’s basically straight ahead.”
They managed to control their footing as well as keep the body steady.
“This ain’t so hard,” Al said. “Thanks for the help, Wayne.”
Eddy knew that was a hard thing for Al to say.
�
�No problem,” Wayne said. “But this is the easy part. Wait until we get onto the actual hiking track. It’s gonna be rough.”
“You’ve been hiking through these mountains before?” Eddy asked
“No. But I’ve done enough hiking to know that they’re all pretty much alike.”
“He’s right,” Al said. “That old bag in the office told me that this hike is the most dangerous. Narrow cliffs, caves...”
“Then why the fuck are we going up there?” Eddy chuckled.
“A young man named Jeffrey,” Al said.
“And a deep gorge named Devil,” Wayne put in.
They all laughed as they entered the woods. Darkness encased the men like a thick sheath. The rain was marginally lighter away from the open sky. They found the path easily.
The torchlight lit the way to the signs.
By the time they reached the three posts, all men, especially Al and Eddy, were sweating and huffing from carrying the body.
“Here we are,” Al panted.
“How are you two going to make it all the way to Devil’s Gorge?” Wayne huffed. “I’m over ten years older than you two, and I’m fitter than the both of ya.”
“We’ll manage,” Eddy said. “Devil’s Gorge starts over to our left. Let’s go.”
They commenced walking.
“Hey, buddy. How about at the halfway point, we swap over?”
Eddy nodded. “That would be good. Thanks. But how will we know the halfway point?”
Al frowned. He had a quick glance at his watch. “It is about...ten to three. At around three-thirty, we’ll swap.”
“Sounds good,” Eddy said. “How are we going?” he asked both Al and Wayne.
“The path is pretty wide and clear,” Wayne said. “Don’t worry. You won’t bang into anything.”
Wayne kept the stream of light fixed on the path ahead. The powerful light allowed for vision of about five metres.
“Hey, I think I see it,” Wayne said.
A few metres past Eddy there was another sign. This one was larger and was at the base of what looked like a narrow path.
“Walk to your left,” Wayne told Eddy.
They shuffled towards the sign and when they got close enough saw, written in chipped paint, Devil’s Gorge.
“This is it,” Al said.
Wayne lifted his head and gazed up at the path. “Looks steep,” he said.
