‘That’ll be just fine,’ Finley said. ‘We’ll blow his head off. That’s what we wanted to do in the first place. Now we’ll have Jimbo for bait instead of one of us.’
‘What if the whole family comes?’ Vivian asked.
‘They won’t attack us if we’ve got Jim,’ Cora said. ‘We’ll threaten to kill him. They’ll leave us alone.’
‘Not if we shoot the brother, they won’t,’ Abilene said. ‘Not if Helen’s story was true about what they did to the lodge people.’
‘It was true, all right,’ Vivian said. ‘You heard what Jim said. Hank was one of them. So this is the family that did it. We oughta just leave him and get outa here.’
‘How do we go about that?’ Cora asked. ‘I’m not going anywhere. Not unless somebody comes up with the… check his pockets!’
‘We already asked him about the keys,’ Abilene said.
Check!’
Finley, done tying his hands, patted the seat pockets of his jeans. Then she jammed a hand under his right thigh while Vivian did the same on the other side. ‘Nope,’ Finley said. Vivian shook her head.
‘Shit,’ Cora muttered.
‘Maybe Hank’s got ’em,’ Finley suggested. ‘He took the bra from the kid. Maybe he took the keys, too.’
‘Jim told us he never saw the keys,’ Abilene said.
‘You believe everything he says, Hickok?’
‘My God, he admitted taking the bra, and that embarrassed the hell out of him. He doesn’t know anything about the keys.’
‘Hank still might have them,’ Cora said. ‘If he didn’t take them from Jim, he could’ve gotten them when he… found Helen.’
‘We’ll find out when we bag him.’
‘And suppose he doesn’t have the keys?’ Abilene asked. ‘Then we’ll be stuck here and the whole damn clan’ll want our blood.’
‘Not to mention Batty,’ Vivian added.
‘This really sucks,’ Cora muttered.
They were all silent for a while. Jim raised his face off the ground, pulled a bit at the rope around his hands, then lowered his head again and didn’t move or speak.
‘I still think we should keep him for insurance,’ Cora finally said. ‘We’ll find a good hiding place in the woods. Abilene and I, we’ll hang onto him just in case while you two go for help.’
‘Who two?’ Finley asked.
‘You and Viv.’
‘No way. I’m not leaving you guys here. Not a chance. I aim to be around when Great Big Billy Goat Hank comes looking. I wanta be the one to drop him.’
‘For Godsake, Finley, the important thing is getting out of here alive.’
‘Speak for yourself. I’m not going anywhere till Hank’s dead.’
Cora sighed. ‘All right. Then you stay with me, and we’ll have
Abilene and Vivian go for help. Somebody's got to, or we’ll be here forever.’
‘We’ll have a better chance if we all stick together,’ Vivian said.
‘Fuckin’-A,’ Finley said.
Vivian nodded. ‘I’m not leaving.’
Cora looked at Abilene.
‘Me neither. I don’t want to come back with the cops and find you guys… hurt. We can worry about getting away from this damn place after we’ve… taken care of business. When there isn’t any more threat.’
‘If we go down,’ Finley said, ‘we all go down together.’
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Jim made no effort to escape as Vivian, holding his aim, led him across the field toward the lodge. The other three followed them, Abilene walking along with the water bottle while Finley supported Cora.
Jim’s cut-off jeans, held up only by the single rope over his shoulder, hung at a slant that bared the top of his left buttock. The way he looked reminded Abilene of the guy in New York City. Wade? Wayne. That guy had been shirtless, too, with his jeans low. She remembered how Wayne had led them back to the hotel, how she’d suspected he might try to pull something, and how upset Helen had been when they’d refused to let him into their rooms. Only Helen had trusted the guy. Only Helen had been right about him.
She wondered what Helen would have to say about their treatment of Jim.
He just wanted to help us, and look what we’ve done to him.
Hell, maybe he actually saved our lives. We’d fully intended to spend the night in the lodge. And that’s where we would’ve slept if he hadn’t thrown our stuff in the pool. Maybe Hank would’ve come along, just as Jim had feared, and gotten us all.
Instead, we hid in the woods. And he only got Helen. And she would’ve been okay if she hadn’t gone back on her own to grab a snack and go looking for the keys.
Maybe we should be thanking this guy.
Instead, I nailed him with my knife and tried to choke him and Finley knocked him down and now we’ve got him limping along with his hands tied and his leg bleeding.
To ease her feelings of guilt, Abilene told herself that Jim might’ve lied about everything.
He might not even have a brother.
Jim could be the one who butchered Helen.
His story had certainly sounded true, but he might’ve made up the whole thing.
We’d be fools to trust him.
But we didn’t trust Wayne that time. We should’ve.
At last, they entered the shadow cast by the lodge. ‘Let’s stop at the pool,’ Cora said. ‘I wanta soak.’
Vivian kept Jim standing while Abilene and Finley helped Cora sit on the edge of the pool.
‘I’m not sure hot water’s the thing for swelling,’ Abilene said as Cora lowered her feet into the water.
‘Maybe not. But it feels good.’
Finley jumped in.
‘What about us?’ Vivian asked.
‘He’s not getting in here with all that blood,’ Finley said. ‘We need to do something about his leg.’
‘I’ll watch him,’ Abilene offered. ‘Why don’t you go up and get the first-aid kit?’
‘Not alone,’ Cora said. She plunged the muzzles of the shotgun into the swirling water. ‘Finley, go with her.’
‘Let him bleed.’
‘I’ll go by myself.’
‘No. Finley!’
‘Shit.’ Finley boosted herself out of the pool.
‘Why don’t you take those with you, too?’ Cora said, nodding at Helen’s sneakers and the bag of chips propped between them.
Dripping, Finley picked up the shoes and bag. Then she strode ahead of Vivian toward the corner of the lodge.
‘Come over here,’ Abilene said. She took Jim’s arm and led him to the narrow drainage channel that led from the outer pool toward the woods. ‘I’ll clean you up.’
She helped Jim to sit down. He eased himself onto his back, then rolled over. Crouching beside him, Abilene cupped up water with both hands and began to rinse the blood off his injured leg. The wound was a raw vertical slit a few inches above the back of his knee. It leaked fresh blood as Abilene gendy cleaned the skin around it.
‘I’m sorry I did this to you,’ she whispered.
‘Don’t guess I blame ya,’ he said. ‘Ya thought I’d killed yer friend.’
‘Does it hurt much?’
‘Ain’t so bad. Just wish I wasn’t tied up, is all. I ain’t gonna run off.’
She saw the way the rope was pressing into his wrists, then looked over her shoulder.
Cora, still sitting on the edge of the pool, had her little finger up one of the shotgun barrels. She twisted it around. When she pulled it out, the finger was dark with mud.
‘The rope’s cutting off Jim’s circulation,’ Abilene said.
‘It’s gotta be tight or he’ll get loose.’
‘Sorry,’ Abilene told him. ‘We can’t take any chances.’
‘ Ya gonna keep me till Hank comes?’
‘That’s the idea.’ She cupped up more water and spilled it onto his leg, watching it turn pink as it mingled with his blood.
‘Yer gonna kill him, ain’tcha?’
‘Maybe.’
‘I can help.’
‘Help us kill your own brother?’
‘I hate him. Hank, he’s always tormentin’ me. ’Sides, I don’t want him cuttin’ ya up like he done the fat one. Don’t want him cuttin’ up none a ya. I think yer all pretty nice, ’n…’
‘Say cheese,’ Finley called.
Even before looking up, Abilene knew she was being taped. Sure enough, Finley stood at the corner of the lodge, the cam-cordcr to her face while Vivian approached with the first-aid kit.