Paradise Island: Complete Edition (29 page)

It felt weird that there was a third person in on our secret, or at least one of them. Thankfully, Rory only knew about Crow, and it was pretty obvious he was the one that attacked us, but still I hated the idea of somebody else knowing even that much. I hoped Rory could be trusted.

It took a bit of work and a wheelchair, but we managed to get Jack into Rory’s car again. It turned out the doctor wanted Jack to stay overnight but Jack insisted on going home, saying that he would keep still. As we piled in the car, with Jack strapped in the back, I realized what we were going back to.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” I asked Jack. “The house is still wide open. I don’t think it’s safe to be there right now.”

“We have to get rid of the body as soon as possible,” Jack said. “Plus, they’re coming in a couple of hours to fix the damn thing, anyway. It’s not like we have a lot of time.”

I turned back toward Rory. “Which reminds me,” I said. “Do you know of any good places to get rid of a body?”

Rory got a weird look on his face. “I can’t say I do. I’ve never really thought about needing one until now. I’ll get back to you.”

I nodded. “That sounds fair, I guess,” I said. “But it’s not like we have a lot of time.” Of course, we could still bury the body on Jack’s property. There was only one problem: most of the front was covered in cement, save for a path in the middle. But that was going to be filled in tomorrow anyway. Still, I hated the idea of somebody running into us in the act of digging a hole. The back seemed like the perfect place, but then we needed to come up with a reason to pour cement there as well. I looked back at Jack, head bandaged up, in the back seat and for some reason I started to cry. I put my head in my hands and just let the tears flow.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. Jack. “Are you okay?”

“I’m sorry,” I said between sobs. “It’s just too much. I can’t believe at all the stuff that’s happened recently.” I was careful not say “all the people I’ve had to kill recently” because Rory was right there, but I was pretty sure Jack got my meaning.

“We’ll be off this island soon, Sophie, and then you don’t have to think about it,” he said gently.

I thanked my lucky stars that Jack was so good to me. The only man, nay, the only person on Earth that I could trust completely, and that knew all my secrets.

“You guys planning on skipping town? Why all the construction at the house, then?”

His question caught me off guard, but thankfully Jack answered. “I’ll probably end up selling it,” Jack lied. “I want the place to look as good as possible.”

“To be honest,” Rory said. “Most people around here will probably find it a bit too modern looking. They’re fans of nature, not cement.”

I could almost hear Jack nodding, even though I couldn’t see him because I was wiping tears out of my eyes. I wasn’t lying: all of this was just too much for me to take. Yes, I had Jack by my side, and I was happy about that, but my life seemed to take on a nightmarish quality as of late, and I  don’t think I could take that, or the cold any longer. I wanted to go somewhere sunny and warm and forget about all my troubles. Now I really understood why Jack had turned to drugs and alcohol in order to forget everything that had happened. I don’t know why I judged him so harshly for it, because right now I could really use something to numb me, even if a little bit. My hands shook from fear or the cold, I couldn’t tell anymore, and I rubbed them to make them warm. Jack and Rory kept talking about the house, how it was too fancy, not homey enough for the locals. Frankly, I couldn’t care less about their conversation. I had just bludgeoned somebody to death earlier today. Yes, it was Crow, that terrible man who I held responsible for ruining my whole life, but still, seeing his skull split open like that was not a pretty sight.

Pretty soon we arrived at Jack’s place and I didn’t really have time to think anymore. Me and Rory helped Jack back to his room. He protested, saying that he could be of help, but we told him to take it easy. I closed the door behind us to stop some of the cold air from seeping in. The rest of the house was empty, so it seemed like no bandits were coming anytime soon, and hopefully Rory’s car outside would chase away any that did plan on showing up later.

After a long drink of water I sat down on the couch.

“I guess we should start digging,” I said. “Unless you have any other ideas.”

Rory was sipping the beer I gave him. He seemed deep in thought, his eyebrows furrowed. “There’s the old graveyard in town, but I think the groundskeeper is always there. He has a house pretty close by.”

“Yeah, that won’t do. I guess we better start now before the sun comes up.” We still had a couple of hours, but digging a hole and burying a body took time, as I knew from previous experience, so I readied myself both physically and mentally for the task.

Rory nodded and took the beer outside with him. I found one shovel and handed it to him while I searched in vain for the other. Rory needed to get his flashlight to help me find it, and finally I did, where it was hidden by some plastic covering. Rory followed me to the back of the house. It was dark and cold back here and I felt weird about leaving Jack alone while the front door was broken into, but this needed to be done so I sucked in a deep breath and started digging in a spot that seemed appropriate for a barbecue stand slash deck or whatever the hell else Jack wanted to say he wanted there. Rory joined me and we kept digging in silence for what seemed like a lifetime. My arms burned with pain but I greeted my teeth and continued digging. It took about an hour or so, but we finally had a hole deep enough to bury a body in. And then we dug some more, for good measure. I didn’t want to risk Crow being found anytime soon.

Sweat poured all over my body, which made me even colder when the chilly wind swept up to my face. I wiped some of the sweat away from my face with the sleeve of my jacket. “Hell, I think that should do it,” I said and looked up at Rory, who looked pretty overworked as well.

He breathed hard with relief. “I haven’t worked this hard in a long, long time,” he said through hard breaths.

“I guess we should go get the body,” I said. “I wish we had a [something]. It would make this a lot easier.”

“I think I did see one earlier. The workers must have left it,” Rory said, and that was the first good piece of news I had the whole day. I could have hugged him right then and there, but I didn’t want to give him the wrong idea, so I just sighed in relief.

“Thank God,” I said. “I don’t think I have enough strength to drag his body way back here, even with your help.”

We went to the shed and loaded up Crow’s body together. He was heavy, but manageable. I made a mental note to scrub the floor and get rid of the plastic. Didn’t want any evidence to stay behind. I made a mental note to also check the place where I’d killed him in the first place. That one wouldn’t take much work because it was all dirt anyway.

I caught a glimpse of Lucy’s suitcase in the corner and thanked whoever was listening that Rory didn’t seem to have a clue.

I locked the shed behind us and helped Rory wheel the body to the back of the house, to where the hole we dug was.

We dropped the body in on the sound of three and surprisingly enough it fit pretty well in there. We took the shovels and covered Crow up with dirt until he became invisible. I won’t lie, it was kind of therapeutic to be burying my past, literally in this case. After we were done I dropped the shovel and helped Rory smooth out the dirt, so it wouldn’t look too much like a make shift grave.

“Thank you, Rory,” I said between shallow breaths. “I couldn’t have done this without you.”

Rory took in a deep breath and smiled. “You can thank me by paying me, and helping me to get off this darn island!”

I laughed. “Don’t worry, Jack’s got plenty of money.”

We walked around the house when Rory had the bright idea to tape some leftover plastic where the door used to be, to stop the wind, if only a little bit. I helped him by holding the tape and the plastic on one end. After we were done it looked pretty good.

I offered Rory something to drink or eat, and as he rested on the couch, breathing hard, he accepted my offer of food and drink. I went and checked in on Jack but he was asleep. Probably all the meds he was given at the hospital. Just in case I checked his breathing and it seemed steady.

I sat down on the sofa across from Rory and we ate in silence.

“I want to get off this island so bad,” Rory said, not for the first time that evening.

I laughed despite myself. “Is there anyone on this island that wants to be here?” I asked him, while taking a sip of my tea. It helped keep me a little warmer, but I was more than looking forward to having a door again. Not just because of the cold, but because of safety. I doubted I could fall asleep with just plastic wrapping for protection. Thankfully, in only a couple of hours the workers would be here, and maybe I would be able to relax a bit. I doubted it, but I hoped.

Rory seemed to think about it while taking a sip of his own tea. “The only ones that seem content to be here are the oldsters. Honestly, everyone younger than them wants to leave. Especially Lucy. Do you have any idea where she is? She still hasn’t answered any of my calls.”

“Hmm,” I thought about what I should say. “She did call me. She told me she met some producer guy and she was in London. It didn’t seem like she was planning on coming back.”

“Damn,” Rory said, running his hands through his slightly curly hair. “I really thought we had a good thing going.”

“Maybe it’s not my place, but Lucy had a ‘good thing going’ with quite a few men on this island.” I didn’t have to lie to him this time.

Rory sighed. “Yeah, I heard as much. I just hoped it was different between the two of us. I guess it was wishful thinking on my part, huh?”

“We’re all guilty of it to some extent,” I said and sipped my tea.

“Where are you and Jack going, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Even I’m not sure. Jack is the traveler. This is the only place I’ve been besides London when I arrived and the small town I left in America. Anyway, we agreed on somewhere warm. Maybe with an ocean.”

“That sounds nice,” Rory said. “I’ve always wanted to live somewhere where I could actually swim in the damn ocean.”

“Well, the world will be your oyster pretty soon. You can talk to Jack about how much money you want. I’m pretty sure he’ll be amiable.”

It was weird making deals with people to cover up my crimes while using Jack’s money as incentive, but he was the one who reacted badly to me killing Crow, one of the worst men on Earth. If he was so tired of me killing people, he should be more than willing to pay one, especially one as nice as Rory.

I looked at Rory, really looked at him and saw a handsome man, who seemed decent enough.

“It’s so surreal to be in the house of a famous movie star, talking to his girlfriend,” Rory said.

“Believe me, you’re not the only one who finds all this surreal.”

“So what’s the story with you and this Crow guy, if you don’t mind me asking? If it’s too personal, you don’t have to tell me anything. I’m just curious.”

I stared off into space. He was right, I definitely didn’t want to talk about it, but he had a right to know the basics at least. “Let’s just say that he took advantage of his position and made my life a living hell for years. After my mother died, I didn’t have much to live for and found myself at the edge of a cliff. Instead of jumping off the edge, though, I decided to move as far away as possible and start a new life. And here I am now, and he still managed to find me. Thankfully, he didn’t succeed, and with your help, he’s never going to hurt me again.”

Rory nodded. “I guess I should go before the workers arrive.”

I nodded. “Do come back later so Jack could pay you, okay?”

It was Rory who nodded now. “If you happen to talk to Lucy again, tell her to call me.”

“Sure will,” I said, as if there was any chance that I would talk to Lucy ever again.

I waved as he exited by lifting the plastic.

I breathed a sigh of relief. I don’t know what would have happened if Rory wasn’t such a nice guy. I was glad he was, though, because there was already enough blood on my hands.

I went and checked in on Jack. He was still asleep. I laid down next to him just to keep him company, I said to myself, but pretty soon my eyes closed of their own accord and it was hard to open them again. I told myself that I was only going to rest for a little bit but then I lost consciousness.

“Y
ou’ve really made a mess of things now, haven’t you, dear?” Josie, or what I thought was Josie, was sitting in Jack’s living room sipping a martini. She looked all made up, glitter and makeup. She still had a belly, though.

“What do you mean, Josie?” I said, feeling groggy and out of it. I could barely move so I sat down and stared in her direction.

“Burying those two on top of me and my baby. That was unacceptable.” She took a sip of her martini, anger clearly visible in her eyes.

“Are you sure you should be drinking in your condition?”

“I’m dead, Sophie. That’s the only condition I’ll ever be in from now on, and now I have to spend an eternity with those two.”

I looked behind her to where she pointed with her glass and saw Lucy and Greyson in the corner. They weren’t there before, but they were there now. Blood oozed out of his wounds, while Lucy’s head was split open by the bullet. They didn’t look happy at all.

“I’m sorry. It just all happened so quickly. But at least he’s dead. The guy that killed you, I killed him for you!”

Josie looked at me like I was crazy. “You like killing, Sophie, so don’t use me as an excuse. And while I am thankful for you avenging my murder, I want people to know what actually happened. I want my family to know.”

“Most of your family is probably dead by now. At least the ones that knew you back then.”

“What are you talking about?” Josie seemed perplexed and confused by my words. I guess ghosts don’t really have a good sense of time.

“It’s been like sixty years since you died,” I said matter of factly, but the look on her face was shocked.