and. when one of the planes passed overhead,
finished ’em off. Then I hauled- them a place I
knew in Benedict and dumped them. They deserved
to die.”
He twirled the axe handle like a baton, chewed
on a strawlike mustache hair.
“The police found the remains of-another body’
up there,” I said. “A woman.” I let the question
hang in the air.
He grinned.
“I know what you’re thinking, but no. I would
have liked to put mom there but she had the bad
manners to have a stroke and die in bed a couple of
years ago. It pissed me off, because I’d been planning
it for years–there’s a plot reserved for the old
man that I’ll fill one day. But she escaped. Then I
got lucky. I was doing a late gig at Lancelot’s and
this old broad in the front row was really coming
n to me. Stuffing tflo dollar bills down my jock,
licking my ankles/Turns out she .was a doctor.
Radiologist. Divorced a couple of w, tmffis and out
for a wild night. She came to my’ dressing room,
,sloshed to the gills, started pawing, me, sending out
real strong signals. It turned me off and I was
gonna kick her out. But when I turned on the lights
I saw it: she could have been the old bitch’s twin
sister. Same dried-up face, upturned nose, rich bitch
manner.
“I smiled, said Come on in, hoaey. Let her do me,
right there in the dressing room. The door was
unlocked, anyone could have come in. She didn’t
care, just hiked up her skirt and got on top. Later
we went to her place, condo penthouse ‘m the Marina.
Made it again and then I strangled her in-her
BLOOD TEST 3t5
eyes widened nnoeently. The burial
plot had been chosen. Someone had to fill it.” –
He leaned the axe against the oven, reached into
one of the shopping bags with his free hand and
brought outa large peach.
“Want one?”
“No thanks.”
“They’re good. Good for you, too. Calcium, potas-
sium. Lots of A and C. Make a great last meal.”
I shook my head.
“Suit yourself.” He took a large bite out of the
fruit, licked the juice from the ends of his mustache.
“I’m no threat to you,” I said, choosing my words
carefully, “ijus( want to help your little brother.”
“How? By pumping him full of poisons? I read
all about the stuff they wanted to use on him. That
shit causes cancer.”
“I’m not going to lie and tell you the drugs they
use are harmless. They’re strongmpoisons just like
you said. But that’s what it takes to kill the tumors.”
“Sounds like a load of shit to me/” His jaw tightened
and the beard b ‘nstled. “She told me all about
the doctors there. Who’s to say yoWre any different?”
He finished the peach and threw the pit in the
sink. Took out a plum and dispatched it, too.
“Come on,” he Said, picking up the axe. “Stand
up. Let’s get it over with. I wish for your sake that
I’d gotten you the first time, with the shotgun. You
wouldn’t even have known what hit you. Now you’re
· gonna have to suffer a bit, waiting for it to happen.”
318
].nathan KelIerman
“Doug, I–” she began. I hoped she’d continue to
plead my case, providing diversion for a sudden
run. But she stopped midsentence. Padded footsteps
were followed by the whisper of the curtain
clbsing.
“Move,” said Carmichael, angered by the hint of
rebellion and expressing it by jamming cold steel
into my kidney.
I pushed the door open and stepped into darkness.
The chemical stench in the air seemed stronger,
the bleakness of the mesa more pronounced. The
husks of the unused machines were giant, rusting
carcasses, sprawled passive and silent across the
ravaged terrain. It was far too ugly a place in which
to die.
Carmichael prodded me through the corridor created
by the stacked oil drums: My eyes darted from
side to side, searching for escape, but the black
cylinders formed high metal barricades, mercilessly,
seamless. ‘
Several yards before the end ‘of the passageway