”Kate, man. Her legs were lying in the water, and she was bleeding from the head.“
”Was she wearing clothes?“
”Sure. Tennis dress.“
”And a top?“
”Yeah.“
”What did you do?“
Marko’s eyes were fixed on the foot of his bed. He seemed to be reliving what had happened next in his mind. ”I tried to wake her up. I couldn’t tell if she was breathing or not. I didn’t think so.“
”And then?“
His eyes suddenly sought out mine, imploring me for understanding. ”I got to looking at her. She was wearing that skirt, and it started getting to me. Kate was hot, man. She reminded me a little of my sister. More than a little, really.“
”What did you do?“
”I decided to take a look. I pushed up her shirt. I squeezed her tits a little bit. She didn’t move, but she was still warm, you know?“
I nodded as though I understood his logic.
”It made me hard, touching her, so I pulled down her skirt and went inside her.“
”It took some work, man. She was dry like sandpaper. But after a while, I got in there.“
A wave of heat passes through my face.
Marko shrugged. ”What would you do, man? Like I said, she was warm. It was just like the real thing, only she wasn’t moving. Some chicks are like that anyway, you know? I don’t know what happened to Kate. I think she hit her head on something.“
”What happened next? Was she dead at that point?“
”That’s the thing, man! I did her for a while-both ways, you know? But when I was almost finished, suddenly her eyes opened up. Boom, she was looking at me! It freaked me out, because she started screaming.
”Sure,“ I said, trying hard not to climb onto the bed and strangle him.
”I put my hands on her neck. Just to shut her up, right? Not to kill her or anything. Just to keep her quiet until I was done.“
”I understand. She wouldn’t shut up. So what happened?“
”Nothing, really.“ Marko squinted as though to see the memory more clearly. ”After I came, her eyes were closed again. I think she just died, man. I don’t think I even killed her. I think whatever happened before I got there killed her.“
”I heard someone coming. Moving fast. I thought maybe it was a deer, but when it got close, I could tell it was human. I ran across the creek and got down behind some bamboo.“
”Who was it?“
”The doctor. Elliott. He ran up to Kate and fell down on his knees. He pounded on her chest, then started pumping it like they do on TV. But it was no use. She was gone.“
”And then?“
Marko made a derogatory sound. ”He was crying, screaming at the sky. I saw that all the time in the city.“
”Sarajevo?“
”Yeah. After a sniper hit somebody. People cursing God, wailing, screaming at heaven. But you know what? Not one person ever got up and walked again. God didn’t save any of them.“
”What’s your point?“
”No point, man. That’s the point.“
I realized I’d heard enough. The rest of the story didn’t interest me. I knew without asking that Marko had been the blackmailer on the motorcycle that first night, exploiting what he’d seen that afternoon to get more money and drugs. I didn’t know who’d helped him, but neither did I care enough to give him the satisfaction of asking. Marko would soon be convicted by a jury, and his fate would be up to those twelve people. It was time for me to put it all behind me. I turned away from him and walked to the door.
”Hey,“ he called. ”You leaving?“
”Yes.“
”Wait up.“
I turned back. ”What is it?“
”Did you fuck Mia?“
I stared at him in disbelief.
”Come on, man. Did you?“
”No.“
He laughed softly. ”Too bad. She’s good.“
I wanted to break down the steel IV stand and shove it up his ass. But I didn’t. I said, ”I’m sure that’s true. And one day, someone a hell of a lot luckier than you is going to spend his life with her. Somebody who earned her.“
He seemed to consider this. Then he said, ”Maybe so. But she’ll always remember me.“
I walked back to him then, fighting the urge to beat him into a puddle of wet bone and tissue. ”You know what you should be asking yourself?“
”What?“
”What your mother and sister would think of you if they’d seen what you did to those Serbian girls. And what you did to Kate.“
Marko’s eyes radiated more hatred than I’d seen in a long time.
And with that I left his room.
Two days after I left that hospital room, Judge Minor released Drew from jail under a JNOV-judgment notwithstanding the verdict. The day after that, a special grand jury indicted Marko Bakic for the murder of Kate Townsend. Just as in Drew’s case, this meant that Marko had to be transferred into state custody. Deputy Tommy Burns and another deputy picked up the prisoner from the city jail and drove him downtown to the sheriff’s department. Billy Byrd himself stood on the steps, waiting to greet his new charge. The deputies dragged Marko from the cruiser and jerked him erect in his irons, whereupon Marko flipped Sheriff Byrd the bird and gave him a glare both scornful and defiant. The sheriff had opened his mouth to reply when a 180-grain deer slug tore through Marko’s heart, showering the sheriff with bright red blood.
The rifle shot was heard all over town. I was standing in my backyard on Washington Street, playing with Annie, when I heard what I thought was an electrical transformer exploding from the direction of the Mississippi River. Two minutes later, my cell phone rang. Caitlin had witnessed the shooting from thirty yards away. She said it looked like the bullet had come from one of the taller buildings near the sheriff’s department.
Both Sheriff Byrd and Chief Logan believe that the Asians murdered Marko to prevent him from ratting out the drug traders to save himself. The joint task force issued a statement supporting this theory, adding a postscript that if the Asians hadn’t done it, then Cyrus White’s crew probably had. That was the story that Caitlin printed in the
And that is as it should be.
