whatever they say for a few weeks, or even a few months, if it will keep us alive. Don't you see that?' Julie was pleased with the desperation in her voice. It wasn't even put on. She really was desperate to have the girls believe her.
'You mean even after I killed Butch, he's willing to trust us, to…'
'Not trust you, no. He'll be keeping more of an eye on all of us from now on. It's just that when it's time for him and Pete to leave, he doesn't see any reason to kill us.'
'Doesn't he know we'll go straight to the telephone and call the police?'
'Of course he does! But he won't leave us a telephone, and he won't leave us a car that will run. And he will leave us all tied up. And probably unconscious. By the time we're able to wake up, get ourselves unraveled, and walk to the nearest neighbor for help, they'll be so far away we won't have any way of telling the authorities where they are.'
Connie looked at Julie for a moment, and then at Sally, and the desire to believe was so obvious in her that Julie felt an urge to laugh. It was working! Connie, at least, was falling for it.
'Listen, Connie,' Sally said. 'Listen to me. You can't believe all this. It just isn't true. It wouldn't make any sense, from his point of view, to leave us alive. It would be stupid. Why should he let us live? Because he's a humanitarian? What makes you think that a man who could walk into a house, take it over, and press three women into sexual servitude would flinch at the task of killing a family? Use your head?'
'Yes, Connie. Use your head,' Julie agreed. 'How much chance do you think we have of escaping? We didn't have much chance to begin with, but now the chance would be infinitesimal. There just isn't any way open to us. They are going to be watching us closely from now on. Maybe Max doesn't mean to let us live. I can't guarantee that he means everything he says to me. But I do know that it is our only hope. If we try to fight our way out of here now, there won't be one person alive on this farm, other than Max and Pete. So the only sensible thing to do is go along with Max and hope he'll keep to his side of the bargain. He could kill us right now, you know. There isn't anything keeping him from doing that except the fact that he likes to keep us around for sex and work. If he's as ruthless and dedicated to his own safety as Sally wants you to believe, do you think that's a very good reason to keep four potentially dangerous people alive one moment longer than necessary? He doesn't want to kill us because he just doesn't like to kill. He killed one person and went to prison for it. Now he's trying to keep from being executed. That's understandable, I think. It doesn't make him a slavering maniac.'
'Yes, that's true,' Connie said, and Julie felt a surge of triumph in her breast.
'Of course, it's true. In the barn Sally tried to kill him. If he were the kind of man she's trying to make out, he'd have killed her then, wouldn't he? Well, wouldn't he?'
Connie looked at Julie with gratitude that almost flowed from her eyes. She was hooked, Julie thought. At least she had accomplished that much. She'd be a good little girl, and do her tasks, and screw anyone who told her to, and when the time came she'd be put out of her misery like an old animal that has outlived its usefulness. If Sally wanted to make a break for it, she'd have to do it all by herself. And Julie fully intended to inform Max of that fact. He'd be grateful to her for that. It would be another reason to trust her, and let her live when he left the farm.
Sally walked to where Connie was standing, next to the bathtub, and took her shoulders in her hands. She shook her gently. 'Connie, listen to me. I know why Max didn't kill me. I know why he wants to keep me alive. He just…'
Suddenly the door from the service porch opened and Max stepped into the bathroom. 'What the fuck are you women trying to do in here? Go on strike or something?' He looked them over, then beckoned to Connie. 'If you're cleaned up, get your ass out of there and let the others get to work. I didn't send the three of you in there to use the place as an officers' club.'
Connie looked at Sally and then at Julie. She smiled nervously at Julie, and then walked to the door. As she went through, squeezing past Max, he gave her ass a slap and she squealed in surprise and trotted out onto the service porch. Max looked at the other two women and then closed the door.
'It looks like you win temporarily, Julie,' Sally said. 'I didn't get a chance to talk to her, but I will, you know. I'll tell her why that son of a bitch didn't kill me. He wants to keep me alive because I remind him of the girl he killed. He thinks she got off too easily for what he fancies she did to him, and he wants to take it out on me from now on. And that's the only reason he didn't shoot me out there.'
'Well, that alone proves that he's not as bent on saving himself at all costs as you make out.'
'But it also shows that he's just the kind of monster you scoffed at me for thinking he was. I don't know what makes you think he's going to keep us alive, but you're wrong. I've talked to him, too, you know, and I'm sure, surer than you are, that he means to kill us. It wouldn't make any sense to do it any other way. And I've got to get away from here, Julie. It's the only hope I have, and it's the only hope any of us has now. Including your husband, and your baby, and even you.'
Chapter Ten
Max led the little Winslow cunt into the kitchen and put her to work setting the table and getting something ready to eat.
'Could I have my robe?' she asked.
'It's dirty.'
'Well, maybe there's another…'
'You look fine the way you are.'
'Oh. Well, then could I have a towel? I'm…'
'It'll evaporate. Get your ass in gear.' She worked fast, almost feverishly, and first he thought it was just to keep her mind off of her own nakedness and wetness. Then it occurred to him that there was something subtly different about her whole demeanor. She was more anxious to please now. It could be just that the shock of what she had done, and what she had been made to do, had counteracted the shock that Butch had put her through when he'd fucked her for the first time. But it seemed to Max that it was more than that. And then he thought about the reason he'd put the three women in that bathroom together, and it seemed almost too good to be true that Julie had been able to achieve that much that quickly. She'd made a believer out of Connie Winslow, anyway. He'd been listening at the door and had heard most of what went on inside, but it was hard to tell just what the effect of Julie's story was without seeing the woman. The door had taken out a lot of expression from their voices.
While she worked, Connie kept glancing at Max from time to time, as though she were trying to read him. Max kept his face impassive. Any sudden change of attitude on his part would be more likely to put her on guard than it would be to convince her of Julie's veracity. So the thing to do was to keep her guessing-keep her on edge.
She put some plates and cups on the table, then stood looking at it as though she couldn't figure out what to do next. She was still in a state of shock, he thought, though it was obviously wearing off.
'How about the silverware?' he suggested. She looked at him for a second before the blackness left her eyes.
'What? Oh, yes, of course.' She ran over to the drawer that contained the silverware and took out two knives and two forks and two spoons. While she was putting them on the table Max looked her over. She was a very pretty girl, he decided, and it occurred to him that of the three of them he hadn't fucked her yet. That didn't make any sense, he thought with a smile. As long as she was there he might as well get some enjoyment out of her. She probably would be very cooperative from now on, he thought. And with a nice little ass like that, it would be a shame to let her die without testing her out first.
When the table was set, the other two women came out of the bathroom. They stood in the kitchen for a moment, looking around, as though they were trying to decide what to do. Max told them to pitch in on getting dinner, and they got to work, fumbling about at first, but then becoming more sure of themselves as they got into the job, and realized what had been done and what hadn't. When it was all ready, Max called for Pete and they ate. They ate well, while the girls stood watching them. And when it was over, they all started picking up the dishes and carrying them to the sink.
'How's Farmer Brown getting along?' Max asked.
