‘He won’t try anything.’ Cora reached out and patted the stock of the shotgun. ‘You won’t try anything, kid. You’ll just sit there.’
‘I’ll take care of it,’ Vivian said, and crouched behind Jim’s back.
‘For Godsake,’ Finley muttered.
Though eager to get into the water, Abilene waited while Vivian picked open the knots and removed the rope. Jim flexed his hands, wiggled his fingers. Both his hands were stained with dry, rust-colored blood. She hadn’t thought to clean them. And didn’t want to bother now. She watched Vivian retie the hands.
‘How’s that?’
‘I guess better.’
Vivian fingered the binding, then glanced up at Abilene. ‘I think that’ll hold him.’
‘Looks okay to me.’ She stepped over to a corner of the pool, sat down, and eased herself into the water. She sighed as the heat soothed the itches of her skin. She dunked her head. She rubbed her scalp, raised her head out of the water and swept back her hair.
She didn’t want to sit beside Jim’s dangling legs. Cora and Finley were seated across from him. That left only the shelf opposite the archway. She waded over to it, scanned the rear grounds of the lodge, then turned around and lowered herself onto the granite ledge. She slumped down until her chin touched the water.
And found herself staring through the opening at the inside pool.
She could see straight across the shadowed surface. She could see past the far side of the pool to the stairway. Just off to the right, barely blocked from her view by the edge of the archway, would be the door to the men’s changing room. To the showers. To Helen lying dead in the darkness.
She quickly turned her face away.
And met Jim’s eyes.
‘Ain’tcha gonna tell ’em?’ he said.
‘Tell us what?’ Cora asked.
‘He says he wants to help us. He says he hates his brother, Hank, and wants to help us kill him.’
‘That’s right,’ Jim said. ‘He’s crazy ’n mean.’
Finley smirked. ‘And you want to kill him, huh?’
‘Sure do.’
‘When did this urge suddenly come upon you?’
‘Huh?’
‘How come, all of a sudden, you feel like wasting the bastard? Seems as if you would’ve had plenty of opportunities before now. I mean, he’s your brother. I assume he lives with you. If he’s all that bad, why haven’t you ever nailed him in his sleep, or something?’
Jim lowered his head. ‘Hank ain’t normal,’ he muttered. ‘He don’t sleep like regular folks. He don’t shut his eyes. Can’t. Ain’t got no eyelids.’
‘He what?’ Vivian blurted.
‘Bom that way.’
‘Bullshit,’ Finley said. ‘No eyelids? Gimme a break.’
‘That’s how come I can’t do nothing to him when he’s asleep. He’ll be snorin’ away, and starin’ right at me, ’n they’re the awfulest eyes. They’re blue in the middle, this real clear blue, but where they’re white on other folks, they’re red on him. Like they got blood in ’em.’
‘My God,’ Vivian murmured.
‘He’s making this up,’ Finley said.
‘Ain’t neither. The worst thing is, he has me lick ’em.’ Vivian gaped at Jim. ‘His eyes?’
‘I can’t get anywhere near him but what he makes me lick his eyes. Every day. Every night. They’s dry ’n sticky, ’n the way they slide around on my tongue… It’s enough to make ya sick. But he beats on me if I don’t’
‘No wonder you want to kill him,’ Vivian said.
Abilene felt sick. This was the man who’d forced Helen into the shower room, who’d ripped her with a knife, who’d probably raped her?
Did he make Helen lick his eyes?
She suddenly felt too hot in the water. She pushed herself up and sat on the ledge and crossed her legs. The hot air felt almost cool after the greater heat of the water.
‘That’s about the most disgusting thing I ever heard,’ Cora said.
‘It’s just awful, bein’ his brother. The only good thing’s when I can get away from him. But sometimes, he don’t let me go. Cause he can’t go out, hisself. Not in the daytime. And he don’t wanta be left all alone. So I gotta stay with him in die cabin. And he won’t allow no light in. We got the windows covered, and the door shut, and it’s just so dark and smelly in there, and he’s always wantin’ me to lick him. And then when I do, he gets all carried away, ’n…’
‘Wait,’ Cora said.
‘… does stuff to me.’
‘What kind of stuff?’ Finley asked.
‘Don’t wanta tell.’
‘Wait,’ Cora said again. ‘He can’t go outside in daylight?’
‘Hurts his eyes too bad.’
‘So he isn’t going to show up here? Not until after dark?’
‘No. Huh-uh.’
‘Thank God for that,’ Vivian muttered.
The news cheered Abilene. If it’s true, she thought, we can relax for a while. We’ll be safe till after the sun goes down. ‘What is it, about three now?’ she asked.
‘Three or four. I’d think,’ Cora said.
‘Shouldn’t be really dark until about nine.’
‘Gives us plenty of time to get ready for him.’
‘We could go to him,’ Finley said. ‘Stage a little surprise attack.’
‘Yeah, right. I’m not walking anywhere. The three of you want to go off after him and leave me here?’
‘Forget it,’ Vivian said.
‘Where’s your place?’ Finley asked.
‘Other side a the lake.’
‘And he’s there alone?’
Jim nodded.
‘What about the rest of your family?’ Vivian asked him. ‘All the others. Don’t you have… a lot of kinfolks?’
‘Just me and Hank.’
‘We heard it was a whole bunch that attacked the lodge that night. You said your brother was there.’
‘Yeah. We had us a right big family, back then. The rest of ’em, they all died off. The fever got ’em. Now there’s only just us two. Wish the fever’d gotten Hank. Him ’n me was spared, though.’
‘Too bad about that,’ Finley said.
‘So he’s the only one we’ll have to deal with,’ Cora said. ‘And not till after dark. This is looking better and better.’
‘Waiting’s gonna be a bitch,’ Abilene said.
‘It’ll give us time to get ready for him.’
‘We should probably eat and rest up,’ Vivian suggested.
‘Is the sun over the yardarm yet?’ Finley asked.
‘We oughta lay off the booze,’ Cora said.
‘A couple of drinks can’t hurt.’ Finley grinned up at Jim. ‘How about you? You look like a guy who could use a libation.’
‘He can’t drink with his hands tied,’ Abilene said. ‘Somebody could hold the glass for him. How about it, fella? Do you like tequila?’
‘I don’ know.’
‘Good stuff. It’ll put hair on your chest.’
