After Midnight

“I’m not switching the cars,” I explained. “It’s a stupid idea. Somebody’d probably see me. Anyway, I’m too tired to play any more games. What I’m going to do, Judy, is leave you here just as you are.”

She nodded slightly.

“I’m not going to kill you. Okay?”

Her nod grew a little more enthusiastic.

“I mean, you helped me out with Fatso. If you hadn’t kicked him in the head…I don’t know, maybe he would’ve gotten me. So I owe you for that. Besides, none of this is your fault. I just bumped into you by mistake. Wrong address. I was afraid Tony might have a redial button…Whoa!”

Judy’s eyebrows lifted.

We needed to talk.

Instead of bothering to untie the gag, I hooked a forefinger underneath it at each corner of her mouth, pulled roughly, and dragged it down over her chin. The bandana hung around her neck like a dog scarf.

And like a dog, she panted for air.

“What about redial?” I asked. “Did Tony have it?”

“Just…wait.”

“Come on. Did he? I know he moved to a new apartment and you’ve never been there, but what sort of phone did he have at his old place? He might’ve taken it with him. Did it have redial?”

“If I tell…”

“You’d better tell, unless you wanta die right now!”

“No gag, okay? Please?”

I punched her in the belly. A good hard one. Her breath gushed against my face. She couldn’t fold over because of the way she was hanging; instead, the blow made her knees jump up and sent her swinging backward.

When she swung forward, I caught her by the sides. I stopped her, held her steady for a moment, then took a couple of steps backward so I could see her better.

Mouth agape, she wheezed for breath. Her eyes were shut tightly. She kept her knees high, so all that held her up was the rope around her wrists.

She really looked as if she were being stretched. Her arms and torso actually seemed longer and skinnier than before. Her belly was sunken in. Her ribcage was high and bulging. Her breasts were pulled almost flat against her chest.

“It’s okay,” I said. “Put your feet down.”

She just kept hanging there, gasping.

“Put them down and stand up.”

She didn’t.

Instead, she blurted, “I just…I just…You didn’t have to…”

“Shut up and tell me about his redial!”

“Okay. Okay.”

“Stand up!”

She lowered her legs until her feet met the ground. Though she still had to stand tall, she no longer looked as if she were being pulled apart on the rack.

“Now,” I said, “what about it?”

“He doesn’t. Have it.”

“Have you been to his new place?

She shook her head.

“Then how do you know what kind of phone he has?”

“I…gave it to him.”

“What?”

“His phone. I gave it to him. When we were…going together. He…I don’t think he’d…get rid of it.”

“I’m sure he wouldn’t,” I said. “Not if it came from you. And it didn’t have redial?”

“No. Huh-uh.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“You’ve told me a lot of lies tonight,” I pointed out. “How do I know this isn’t another one?”

“I swear. Honest to God.”

“Why’d you buy him a phone that didn’t have redial?”

Her face contorted with confusion or pain or disgust—hard to tell which, since it was sort of battered. She said, “Huh?”

“If you’re buying your boyfriend a new telephone, why do you get him one that doesn’t have a redial button?”

“I don’t know. It didn’t…I didn’t buy it for him. It was my old phone. I got a new one…I was going to throw it away, but…he asked me for it. So I gave it to him.”

“Why do you want to lie about a thing like this?” I asked her.

“I’m not lying.”

“Did you forget about Tony’s answering machine?”

“No. That’s what it was…an answering machine. The one I gave him.”

“I don’t think so. Tony told me that you never had an answering machine.”

“But…That’s not so.”

“Oh, yes it is. Why did you lie about it?”

“I didn’t. Honest.”

“You lie like a rug, Judy.”

“So do you.”

“But I’m running this show,” I said, and started to unbuckle my belt.

“What’re you doing?”

I pulled the belt out of its loops, and my cut-offs fell down. I stepped out of them.

“Hey,” Judy said. She sounded like a kid again. “Come on, Alice. Don’t.”

“Admit you lied.”

“Haven’t you hurt me enough?”

“I saved your life. Remember? You said I can do anything I want.”

“Why do you want to hurt me?”

“Because you lied. Admit you lied.”

“Okay. I lied. Okay?”

“You didn’t give him his phone?”

“No.”

“You wanted me to leave here thinking he didn’t have redial. Why?”

“I don’t know.”

I swung the belt. My sidestroke, at a slightly downward angle, caught her just above the hip then curled around and lashed her across the buttocks. She jerked and gasped.

“Why?” I asked again.

“I don’t know what he’s got!” she blurted.

“Then why did you lie?”

“You won’t…”

“Won’t what?”

“Believe me.”

“Try me.”

“It was just…just because…I didn’t want you to worry.”

“What?”

“Your…You must figure…redial’s got your number. If he has it. You’re scared.”

“Does he have it? Do you know?”