Annie worked that shitty-ass job? She's been keeping her eyes peeled for someone like you to come along. We were beginning to give up hope. When you stepped into the restaurant, with your line about 'just passing through,' she almost jumped for joy. She couldn't wait to tell me about you.'
'I don't understand,' Matt replied.
'Yes, you do.'
'He probably doesn't,' came a familiar voice from out in the hall. Mr. Dark stepped into the bedroom, a red lollipop in his mouth and a hideous grin on his face. 'He's really quite simple, you know.'
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Matt stared at Mr. Dark for a few heartbeats, then looked back to Abbey and shook his head. 'Is anything you've told me true?'
'Oh, don't look so surprised,' Abbey said. 'You should listen to him sometime. He's brilliant. Hell, he's been around forever and knows just about everything there is to know. He even knows a lot about you, Matt. In fact, he told me you'd never go for this.'
'I sure did,' Mr. Dark said. 'Did I call that one, or what?'
'Yes, you did,' she said, then looked back at Matt. 'Like I said. It's a shame.'
'Go for what?' Then Matt understood. The van, the escalation of the attacks, the fake divorce, even killing Annie. 'You're leaving,' he said. 'And you wanted me to come with you.'
Mr. Dark smiled again, and Abbey leaned over and kissed Matt on the forehead. A loud, wet smack that made him want to wipe his brow. Her lips felt like a pair of rotting leeches. The last thing he wanted was to die with any of her goop on him.
'If you hadn't shot me, I'd be fucking your brains out right now,' Abbey said, much to Mr. Dark's amusement. 'I hope you remember that.'
Matt stared at the gun in her hand. The gun with only one bullet left. It had his fingerprints all over it. When forensics pulled the bullets out of Annie's gut and Matt's skull, they would be a match. He doubted there would even be much of an investigation. Here he was, a drifter, who just happened to come through town and fuck a local cop's wife. All Abbey had to do now was finish off Dale. Then, with the cop dead and the wife missing, they would look at Matt as the prime suspect.
He thought about his call to the police. He'd asked for Dale and refused to talk to the receptionist. That would look bad. The local police would think he and Annie set the whole thing up to kill Dale, but something had gone wrong. Still, it didn't quite add up, and Matt knew why.
'But you shot Dale with the shotgun,' Matt said. 'My prints aren't on that.'
'Nope,' Abbey agreed, 'but soon hers will be.' She nodded to Annie, who grunted a weak reply. 'Sorry, sweetheart. It would have been gut no matter what you picked. I needed you to stay alive long enough to grip the shotgun.' Abbey winked.
'Fuuuuuuh yooooo,' Annie wheezed.
'Not likely,' Abbey replied, then turned her attention back to Matt. 'Your prints are all over that knife,' she said. 'That'll be interesting. Especially when the police match it to eight of the Blake County Killer's victims. You'll be famous all over again.'
'But what about you? When they don't find you here, they'll know you were part of this.'
'Oh, they'll find my body in a few weeks. It'll be floating down Black Creek. One last victim of the Blake County Killer. They might be surprised to find it with a full set of ID, but at least that should make it easier for them, since they won't be able to identify the face.'
By then no one would even be looking for it. Matt knew how small towns worked. He grew up in one. He was just a drifter. No one knew him, but by tomorrow morning half the town would swear they'd seen him around the last few years but never thought anything about it. He'd be found guilty post mortem, and that would be it. Then Abbey would find another partner in another city and start all over again, this time with help from Mr. Dark.
Like she needed it.
'So, Matt,' Abbey said, raising the gun to his forehead. 'Mr. Dark here is pretty anxious to get this over with. Is there anything else you'd like to say before I kill you? Make it good, now.'
'Just one last question,' Matt said.
'What is it?'
The sound of sirens came to them, warbling and loud. Above, the steady chop of a helicopter could be heard, its rotors getting louder and louder by the second. Matt smiled.
'Did you check your phone?' he asked.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Abbey cocked her head to the side, a frown on her rotting features. The sirens grew louder by the second.
'Your hall phone is off the hook, Abbey,' Matt said. 'I wonder why.'
Understanding lit Abbey's face. 'You asshole.'
Matt nodded. 'I'm not that dumb. They'll be here soon, too. You wanna get out of here? Better do it quick.'
'My, my.' Mr. Dark grinned at Matt and winked. 'That was quite clever.'
Abbey turned to face Mr. Dark, probably intending to tell him to shut the fuck up. Matt would never know what she was about to say, because he seized her momentary distraction and grabbed the gun. Abbey jerked her hand back, but Matt held his grip, and the two of them wrestled with the pistol while the sirens approached. Matt's finger inadvertently closed on the cylinder release and for a moment it came free, but Abbey put her hand on it and forced it back into the body of the gun with a click, pinching Matt's palm in the process.
Matt was stronger than Abbey, his body hardened by years of heavy manual labor, but Abbey was faster. She twisted to the side and launched a straight kick to Matt's face. Matt was able to jump aside, but the blow hit him in his wounded shoulder. The flash of pain that rolled over him made the initial gunshot feel like a paper cut. He lost his grip on the gun and fell to the floor, trying to clear the stars from his vision.
When his vision cleared, Abbey was standing over him, the gun pointed right at his temple. Mr. Dark was nowhere to be seen.
'See you in hell,' Abbey said. Her voice sounded muffled, probably because of the maggots chewing on her tongue. She pulled the trigger.
Abbey stared at the gun in her hands, the question forming on her rotting lips. 'What the fuck?' She pulled the trigger again.
Matt held up his clenched hand and slowly opened it, allowing Abbey to see the bullet he'd managed to palm during the struggle. He smiled as he let it drop on the floor.
Just then, two police officers burst into the bedroom, pistols drawn and pointed right at Abbey's chest.
'Drop the gun,' one of them yelled.
Abbey turned to face them and dropped the pistol to the floor. 'Thank God you're here, officers,' she said. 'I caught this asshole breaking in. He shot Annie Jordan, but I was able to—'
'Save it,' the officer said. 'Turn around and put your hands behind your back.'
'But I—'
Abbey turned around to face Matt, who watched as the officer walked up behind her and pulled what looked like a thick plastic zip tie from his belt.
'We found Dale,' the officer said to Abbey. 'Alive. He told us everything. Next time you shoot a cop, make
