by K. T. Tomb
The dock rocked and creaked as feet ran towards him. There was no way he could conceal her body or what he had done. Gerald let a cry escape. He’d ruined it. The authorities would have him in cuffs and marched to a patrol car well before he had a chance to toss the pouch and its contents into the depths of the ocean. Any attempt to do so would likely result in him losing his life too. He slouched onto the floor, resigned to fatee when two shadows loomed over him.
“Gerald? Are you okay?”
He lifted his head to find Julie and Piers standing on the dock beside his father’s boat.
“We heard a shot and…” Julie paused as her eyes found the body pressed against the side rails. “Oh my God! Are you okay? What happened?”
Gerald could barely speak through the sudden hollowness he felt.
“I swear I didn’t want to do it! She just kept coming at me! She wouldn’t stop!”
“Who? Who is this? Oh God, Gerald!”
She and Piers climbed aboard, sending the boat gently rocking away from the dock. She moved the mass of bloody hair to the side and gasped as she realized who the victim had been.
“Valery! Oh God! You shot Valery? Why?”
She stumbled backward, Piers catching her as she did. Gerald let out a low sob.
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t want to, didn’t mean to! I told her to leave, to let me do it, but she kept coming at me. She wouldn’t leave!” He put his head in his hands, still vaguely conscious of the gun in his free hand. “I didn’t want to kill her, just warn her off, but she wouldn’t stop!”
Julie placed a hand on his shoulder in comfort.
“I know. She was already long gone. The Valery we knew wasn’t there anymore. It’s okay.”
He looked up at her, thankfully, before realizing who he was talking to, and who was standing just behind her. Piers. He had a coin too, didn’t he? He was corrupted too, wasn’t he? If not already, then soon. Very soon. Could he trust them? Gerald thought not. And if he couldn’t trust Piers, then he couldn’t trust Julie. Gerald stood, leaning against the railing and eyed his friends, trying to determine their motives with just a look.
“Why are you here? How’d you know I was going to be here?”
He realized he was waving the pistol around and forced himself to drop his arm and keep the handgun at his side.
“Valery called us.”
She glanced over at the body and Gerald felt his stomach turn again, but he fought the sensation. He would not allow himself to get sick and weak at that moment. He couldn’t afford to.
“She told us you were here, so we came as fast as we could.”
“Why? What does it matter if I’m here? Why did you come?”
He already knew why they were there, but he wanted to hear them say it. They wanted to see if they could stop him. He wanted to show them that he would pull the trigger on them just as quickly if they even tried.
“We’re here to help, Gerald. We’re your friends, remember?” Julie’s eyes were pleading, but he wasn’t sure about that. He tried to read into them, read what it was that she was asking of him, but he was so tired, and he could understand none of it. He could trust no one. Even myself, he reminded himself as he glanced at the lifeless body of Valery before turning his attention back toward them.
“Are you here to help me, or her?”
He pointed lazily at the unmoving body. Julie didn’t look down, keeping her gaze fixed on Gerald’s. She refused to look elsewhere. What was she trying to tell him?
Piers took a step towards Gerald, but Gerald thrust the gun upwards before he could move any closer. His eyes pleaded with him. “We’re here to help you. Let us help you.”
Piers smiled as if there wasn’t a hunk of hot steel pointed in his direction, the barrel only inches from his chest. If Gerald wanted, he could have taken them both out before they knew what was coming. Would that be a mercy? Would it be a friend doing a friend a favor? If he was right, and he was sure that he was, then Piers had a coin and was already under the spell of the curse. So wouldn’t he be doing the right thing by his friend? Still, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Not yet, not right then. In that moment, Piers was his friend, even if it was only a mask to be worn until the goal which he sought was met.
He wasn’t a fool, but he would need help in getting rid of Valery’s body and the coins, so he relented. Gun still in hand, he yanked out the keys and then strapped the bag back onto his back, coins secured tightly within. He would not turn his back to them. He could not take his eyes off of them, but for the moment, he would use them. He nodded to the enemies, he had once called friends and pushed off from the dock.
Together, the three of them pulled out of Savin Hill Cove and into the channel, towards the Atlantic Ocean. They wouldn’t need to go far out, but he wanted to be sure that if her body was ever discovered, that the moment would have been long forgotten by him. As he cleared the Squantum Channel, gliding past Thimble Island to the right and Thompson Island to the left, under Long Island Road Bridge, and the several islands and peninsulas which lined the waterway He could see the crystal waters ahead of him, black in their abyss, welcoming, yet frightening. Clouds were rolling across the moon, obscuring his vision at times, but he wasn’t worried. He was in control. He had the thirty, minus the two on Valery’s body growing cold at the far end of the boat, minus one more on the still breathing body of Piers. But that could still be fixed. Soon, all of those coins would be at the bottom of the ocean.
He’d opened the sails and turned off the engine as the wind picked up, swaying the small vessel back and forth gently. They’d gone only a couple of miles out, but the lights from the city were dim. They were far enough out to drop a body. He imagined the creatures of the ocean were pretty hungry and would waste no time in making a meal of the flesh and meat, or at least that is what he hoped would happen.
“Let’s drop her here!” he yelled, as the unsteady wind whipped around them.
Piers took hold of her arms while Gerald picked up her legs. She weighed more than she should have and he struggled with that, but he was certain that it was almost over. All of it. Piers wanted to grab the coin that he knew was nestled deep in her pocket, but he didn’t, instead, he was biding his time for Gerald to be distracted. The loss of one coin was certainly a tragedy, but he would have twenty-seven more to add to the one he already possessed. With twenty-eight, he and Julie could live their dreams without any worries, without any no cares in the world, except what to do next.
Her body made an awful sound as her skin slapped against unbroken waves. He almost felt sickened at it, but not quite. She floated at the top for a few moments, as though debating whether she should sink or not, and he felt a bit of panic when she seemed to linger there staring at him with accusing eyes. The water was cold, depressing, and were she to sink to the ocean floor, it wouldn’t take long for the ocean’s carnivores to find her and feast. Valery was gone, long gone, even before Gerald had pulled the trigger and she’d taken her last breath. There was nothing left of her, except that damned coin in her pocket. Even then, Piers fought the urge to reach over the ledge and snatch at the girl’s jeans, searching her pockets for the silver piece. He knew he’d never be able to recover the one from Sheila, but the one on Valery, the one so very close, which was about to drift away from his reach. Then he reminded himself of the twenty-seven that awaited him. Julie wasn’t entirely convinced that keeping and selling the coins was what they should do, but she would see in time. He’d show her. And if she still didn’t understand, still didn’t see his point of view, well she could go, too. In the meantime, there was Gerald to deal with.
Chapter Ten
As Piers straightened up from being hunched over the rail, watching the body bob on the water’s surface, he noticed a glimmer to his left. Something caught the light of the moon and he jerked his head towards it, hoping to see his coins. To his disappointment, there were no coins, only the shimmering metal of a pistol pointed at his chest. The handgun sho
ok in Gerald’s unstable hand, but his eyes said that he had every intention to use it if need be. Piers smiled slyly. So, he hadn’t been the only one with a plan, it seemed.
“Where is it, Piers? I know you have it.”
Julie rushed to her fiancé’s side and clutched her fingers tightly around his arm, protectively.
“Gerald, what the hell are you doing? Put it down!”
“He has a coin, Julie. I can see it in his eyes!” He glanced from Piers to her; his aim, never moving off of Pier’s chest.
“Wait, you already know that, don’t you?”
Piers could feel her shaking as she nodded her reply. What did Gerald think he was doing? Did it matter if he had a coin or not? Julie still would not leave his side and surely the man knew that. They’d been together a very long time and she would continue to stand by his side. He was crazier than Valery if he thought any different.
“Julie, you have to see what it’s going to do to him. See what it’s done to Valery, what it did to the others. It’s going to get him killed, and you too if you stick around long enough to let it happen.”
Gerald pleaded with her, but she held on tightly to Piers, her nails digging into his flesh creating thin welts.
Piers didn’t mind. She was his soldier, willing to fight with him, for him.
“Don’t worry about us, Gerald.” Julie attempted to smile as she spoke. “He’ll be fine. We’ll be fine. But you need to put that gun down before you do something you’re going to regret.”
Piers smiled at his little fighter, and he knew Gerald could see it. She wasn’t giving in. Always by his side; forever by his side. If he could just get those coins, he would show her things that she had only dreamt of, which they both had only dreamt of.
“We didn’t come here to fight you, Gerald.” His voice sounded sweet, even to his own ears. “We came to help. I don’t want it to come to this, so here,” Piers dug into his jeans and pulled out the silver piece. It was like a fire in his hand, searing an impression of itself into his skin, but it felt good, like freedom. “Take it, if you’re going to get so worked up over it.”
He held out the coin and moved slowly towards Gerald, who studied him with a glare of mistrust.
“You’re giving me the coin?” he asked speculatively.
“Sure.” Piers shrugged. “I don’t see why not.”
“You know what I’m going to do with them, right? I’m going to toss them overboard so they can’t hurt anyone else, ever again.”
Piers did all he could to keep a straight face and not show the rage he was feeling. How dare Gerald take things into his own hands? How dare he assume that the best way to deal with them was to toss them over? Did he ever stop to think of anyone but himself, even if just for a second? He forced a smile as Gerald’s fingers wrapped around the coin.
“We have to do what’s best for everyone, right?”
It felt as though a limb were being ripped from him as the coin left his hand, but Piers knew it would all be over soon, and the pain would become pleasure, amplified by twenty-eight. Twenty-eight beautiful, lustrous silver coins weighing heavily in his pocket. He could almost feel them now. Almost there, almost over, he repeated to himself. Gerald pulled the bag from his shoulder, struggling with one hand holding the coin and the other holding the pistol. He slipped the bag onto the floor, worked the keys into the lock, and then, pulling back the zipper, rummaged for the small, soft, brown leather pouch. He opened the pouch, placed Piers’ coin in the bag and drew it closed again.
There could have been no better moment for him to act. Piers jumped, landing on Gerald’s back, and throwing them both to the ground. Gerald, though nearly twice Piers’ size, was stunned as he smacked down, the gun tumbling from one hand and sliding across the boat floor as waves tossed them back and forth, while the coin pouch toppled out of the other. Piers made a grab for the coin purse but Gerald butted upwards, tossing Piers to the opposite side of where the coins had fallen and out of his reach. Gerald’s fist came flying from behind, catching Piers in the gut. Piers coughed violently as he heard Julie screaming in the background. It doesn’t matter, love. He thought to himself. It’ll all be over soon. I’ll stop him.
Gerald reared back and caught Piers in the jaw; this time, sending Piers’ head reeling backward and slamming hard against the deck. Everything went black for a moment, and when things cleared, everything was surrounded by a bright white light, and then his vision cleared completely. Gerald was coming in for another punch and Piers was certain that he couldn’t stay conscious through another round. Even so, he smiled at Gerald as he came closer, knowing that none of it mattered. He was going to be just fine. Gerald, on the other hand, had a lot to worry about.
Piers jerked his head to the side just as Gerald’s fist would have laid him out. Knuckles smacked into the floor a mere inch from Piers' head, echoing loudly in his ear and across the empty waters around them. There was no one else to hear it though; just the three of them. Gerald jerked backward, cursing and screaming, at Piers, at himself, at God. Anyone that would listen was hearing Gerald’s wrath at that moment. Piers could see the blood pouring from open wounds and he felt satisfaction surge through him. It won’t be long now, he encouraged himself. The blood was only part of his reward. He wanted the rest of it, all of it, and Gerald was still standing in his way.
Behind the injured man sat a fist-sized pouch holding not twenty-seven, but twenty-eight, two-thousand-year-old coins, and Piers intended to have them. Gerald used his good hand to pull himself up against the rail, still moaning and groaning over his likely broken hand. Piers pushed himself up, too, but without a serious injury and being a bit smaller and lither, he had an advantage over Gerald and was on his feet first. Before Gerald was even aware that Piers had moved, Piers slammed into him, shoving him against the rail. He was already off balance, so it didn’t take much effort for Piers to shoulder Gerald over the railing.
Julie screamed as Gerald toppled over the side, grasping desperately for the railing, but only grazing his fingertips across them as his body dropped into the water. Gerald grunted as his body hit the water; an ugly, grotesque humph as the air was forced from him. By then, the winds had really picked up and they were moving too fast for anyone to grab a hold of Gerald. Piers felt a chuckle building in his chest and couldn’t stop himself from bursting out in laughter. He’d won! Gerald’s face! Oh God, his face had been hilarious! He hadn’t expected Piers to shove him like that. Gerald had thought he was in complete control, that the outcome of their little spat was sure to turn in his favor. Piers had shown him, hadn’t he? He chuckled again as he turned to face his fiancé. They would take their little adventure back to the docks and celebrate their victory. Tomorrow, tomorrow he’d find a buyer. Hell, he’d find several buyers and let them outbid one another to their hearts’ content. God only knew how much money they would make with several people fighting over the merchandise.
His eyes were star-filled and dreamy, but when they turned upon Julie, they turned dark and angry, his grin fading into a disturbing frown.
“What do you think you’re doing? You’re going to ruin all of this for us, aren’t you?”
He let out a guttural growl. He wasn’t even sure where it had come from, but he couldn’t deny that he liked it. Liked how primitive it made him feel, how masculine and animalistic. Yes, he was an animal, and now he was staring at the woman who pretended to hunt him, with the dropped pistol shaking violently in her hand. Yes, she could pretend that she was going to kill him, but he knew the truth and he suspected that she did as well.
“You killed him!” she screeched.
After all that time, he discovered that her voice was, in fact, annoying. Not cute and endearing like he had tried to convince himself for so long that it was. She had become so irritating! How could he have not seen that before? She shook, the gun bouncing around dangerously. Did she even know how to fire one of those things? She’d always felt strongly against gun violence and through a
ll of their years together, he couldn’t recall her actually being around a gun, much less firing one.
“You didn’t have to kill him! What the hell! I thought you said we were going to help him! That’s what you said! That’s what you told him!”
She was crying; thick, salty tears streaking down her face even as fat drops of rain started to fall from the sky. They began to mingle so that he couldn’t tell one from the other, but it didn’t matter, it would all be over soon.
“I did it for us, baby! I did it for our future!”
He wore a crooked smile as he watched her heave. Her vision would be becoming blurry, her mind foggy and confused. That was exactly what he needed. That was his opportunity. Just a little longer now and it would all be over.
“You didn’t really think that I was just going to give him the coins, did you? Let him toss them to the bottom of the ocean? Sure, let’s just toss our entire lives down there with it, everything that we could have. Come on babe, I know you see it too!”
“Toss me the coins,” she demanded, not knowing what else to do, what else to say to him.
The corruption was tearing at him already, the curse working its way and she could see that he was almost at the deep end and prepared to drown for those damned coins. He looked at her blankly, either unhearing or uncaring. Those coins were his mistress now and, no matter his words, Julie knew that she no longer meant to him what she once had.
