“You’re a shit-eating little twat!” Connie shouted.
“Cut it out, children,” Kimberly said. “Let’s not fight among ourselves.”
“Blow it out your ass,” Connie told her.
Kimberly laughed.
Billie, still in my arms, called out, “Connie. Stop it. What the hell is the matter with you!”
“Oh, nothing. What could possibly be wrong? My mother’s over there in the dark, bare-ass naked and messing around with my guy…”
“We’re not messing around,” Billie said.
“My former guy. My ex-guy. My worthless fucking loser of a wimp…”
Very quietly, Billie whispered to me, “You should go over to her. Give her a hug.”
“You’ve gotta be kidding.”
“I mean it. Go.”
“I don’t think she’d like that at all.”
“Sure she would. Go on over to her, let her know you care about her.”
“I want to stay with you.”
“I know.”
“Don’t you want me here?”
“Sure. But Connie… she’s really hurting. Go over and be nice to her.”
“She hates me.”
“No, she doesn’t. When she thought you were dead… she was devastated.”
That was fairly hard to believe. “Really?”
“Yes, really. I’ve never seen her so upset. Now, go over to her. Please.” She kissed me again. This was a quick one, a thanks-and-get-going sort of kiss. Then her arms went away from me.
“Okay,” I said. I felt almost sick with disappointment, but I had to do what Billie asked. Whispering, “Is it okay if I come back later?” I slid my hands all the way down her back. I was gentle about her wounds.
“Sure,” she told me. “Later. But help Connie first.”
She wore nothing around her waist. My hands curved down over her buttocks. She didn’t try to stop me.
But she kissed me once more, and whispered, “Go on, now.”
I stopped caressing her and brought my hands back through the bars. As I stepped away from the front of her cage, I said fairly loudly, so everyone could hear and stop wondering what was up, “So, what about Thelma? She didn’t know anything about Wesley’s plans?”
“Not a thing,” Billie said, sounding a little surprised about the return to that subject. “She actually believed he’d blown himself up.”
“Why didn’t he tell her?”
Billie was probably wondering why I was still standing near the front of her cage, instead of heading for Connie’s. The truth is, I wanted to please Billie, but wasn’t very eager about confronting her daughter.
Connie was not in one of her finer moods.
“He planned all along to kill her,” Billie explained.
“What?”
“Wesley intended from the start to murder Andrew, Keith, you and Thelma. That’s what he told me.”
“Why Thelma?”
“You ever take a good look at her?” Connie called out. “Oh, yes. Forgot. Sure you have. But apparently you found her so attractive you wanted to wrestle naked with her. You got this thing for older women, don’t you? Thelma, my mom, Kimberly. Bet you’d like to wrestle naked with…”
“Knock it off,” Kimberly told her.
“Wesley hated Thelma,” Billie said, speaking loudly and firmly. “He hated everything about her, but most of all that she was so much like him.”
“Bet he didn’t tell you that,” I said.
“You’re right. That was a personal observation. But he did say he hated her. Called her ugly and disgusting. He fully intended to kill her as soon as he’d finished off the men. He’d had enough of her. He didn’t want her getting in the way. He only wanted us.” She lowered her voice. “And the twins, too. He didn’t know about them. He picked this island because it had the cages; the twins were a special bonus for him.” Lowering her voice even more, she whispered, “Go and see Connie. Go on.”
“I will,” I whispered back. Then I asked in my normal voice, “Why didn’t he kill Thelma?”
“Because she saved his ass,” Kimberly said.
“When we tried to ambush him at the beach?” I asked.
“Right,” Billie said. It went sort of like we thought: he was wounded so badly that he needed her help. After they got away, he put on a big show of breaking down and confessing. He basically admitted everything.”
“Not that he hated her, though,” Kimberly added.
“No, not that. He kept that to himself. Claimed he loved her. Said he’d done all this for her, because he knew how much she despised us.”
“How could she possibly despise you?” I asked.
“For one thing, we tried to kill her husband.”
“She didn’t take kindly to that,” Kimberly added. “Also, she just hates our guts on general principle.”
“’Cause she’s a jealous fucking dog,” Connie called out.
I heard a bit of grim humor in Kimberly’s voice as she said, “Apparently, we make Thelma feel ugly.”
“Make her feel like the worthless loser she is,” Connie said.
“And she’s been making us pay for it,” Kimberly explained. “She’s been having a great time with us.”
Billie said, “She’s worse than Wesley.”
Connie let out a harsh laugh. “At least Thelma hasn’t got a dick.”
“She makes up for it,” Billie said.
“They’re a hell of a team,” Kimberly said.
I knew that. But I didn’t say anything. Nobody was supposed to know I’d watched them in action with Erin.
“Does that about cover it?” Billie asked.
I didn’t know who she was asking.
“That’s the important stuff,” Kimberly said. “He doesn’t have to know everything.”
“I bet he’d enjoy hearing all the juicy details,” Connie said. “He can write all about ’em in his diary. Isn’t that right, Rupe?”
“I ran out of…”
“Oh, yeah, right. But you wanta hear it all anyway, don’t you? Wouldn’t you just love for us to tell you how they raped us? Which orifices Wesley preferred, and how Thelma…”
“Shut up!” Kimberly snapped.
“Connie?” Billie sounded worried. “What’s the matter with you? Stop that.”
“Come on over here, Rupert,” Connie said. “I’ll tell you the good stuff. I’ll give you an earful.”
Thanks, anyway,” I said. “I don’t…”
“You wanta know what Thelma did to Kimberly with a stick yesterday?”
“You’d better shut your mouth,” Kimberly said.
“Come on over, and I’ll tell you all about how Mom sucked Wesley’s cock.”
“Rupert,” Billie said. She sounded upset, but still fairly calm. And she wasn’t whispering. Apparently, it was all right now for Connie to hear what she had to say. “Go on over to her,” she told me. “Quick, okay? She’s sounding… I don’t know, I’m afraid she’s about to lose it.”
“Lose it?” Connie blurted. “You’re afraid I’m gonna lose it? Ho ho ho! Surprise, surprise! It’s lost!”
I started to hurry in the direction of her cage.
“Connie?” I asked.
“Over here, Rupert. Right over here.” The mocking, coaxing tone of her voice gave me the creeps. “I’m waiting for you.”
“Hey,” I said. Take it easy.”
