Zeke (29 page)

It was mean and small, Sue thought.
Childish. She wondered why Zeke felt the need to mess with people’s psyches the
way he did, and how he was so able to manipulate them into doing things they
wouldn’t ordinarily do. “You sure seemed to enjoy it,” she said quietly.

“Lighten up, Sue. It didn’t mean
anything. All I was doing was getting off.” He crawled into bed beside her. “I
would’ve been doing you, if you weren’t so
busy
. I just took what was
available. Doesn’t mean anything at all.”

He pulled her into his arms and
fell promptly asleep. She surprised herself by doing the same.

The next morning Zeke pulled up to
the office, unwilling to sacrifice the security deposit. He entered and
approached the small check-in desk with a light step; but when he exited, his
stance was stiff, and his face was set in anger.

Sue’s heart pounded against her
chest as she tried to understand what could have happened to set him off. In an
agony of suspense, she awaited his explanation, but none came; he got in the
van and drove away from the motel.

Vacuous Cow-Eyed
Moron

Zeke said nothing as he stopped at
a convenience store and gassed up, his silence surrounding him like a hard
shell. He bought himself a coffee and roll but didn’t get Sue anything. Foreboding
inched its cold fingers up her spine and she sat as close to the door as
possible.

Zeke pulled from the store and
turned into the street.

Sue was wary, timid. “Isn’t the
highway the other direction?”

Zeke glared at her, eyes full of
hate. “
Isn’t the highway the other direction?
” he mimicked.

Sue remained quiet as Zeke drove
cautiously down a snowy, ice-covered county road. He finished his roll, took
several sips of coffee, and then pulled into a drive that led to a farmer’s
field, stopping just shy of the gate.

Sue waited. Something bad was
coming. She slowly moved her hand to the door handle, ready to jump from the
van and run, if necessary.

“Let go of the fucking door, Sue.”
Zeke’s voice was cold.

“What’s wrong? What did I do?”
Tears filled Sue’s eyes and trickled down her cheeks.

Zeke struck so quickly Sue never
saw his fist coming. His first blow smashed into her chest; the wind rushed
from her lungs. The second targeted her stomach. Struggling to catch her
breath, Sue grabbed the door handle and yanked it open. But before she could
slide out to the ground, Zeke snatched a handful of her hair and jerked her
across the ice chest between the seats, slamming her against him.

“You deceitful, disloyal, sneaky,
backstabbing bitch! I trusted you! And how did you repay my trust? You called
home? What the fuck! Who do you think you’re fucking with here?” He grabbed a
second handful of her hair and shook her violently.

Sue screeched and tried to writhe
away from him. “Stop! You’re hurting me.”

“Oh, babe, you don’t know the
meaning of hurt. But you will.” He released her hair and slammed her into the
passenger seat, knocking her head against the headrest. Her body twisted
awkwardly and pain bloomed in her side. She scrambled to right herself.

Zeke reached across her, pulled the
door shut, and locked it. With vicious, quick movements, he fumbled under her
skirt and grasped her crotch in a vice-like grip.

Screaming, Sue wrestled with his
arm, but he only tightened his hold, digging steely fingers into her soft feminine
tissues.

“What have I got here?” he
bellowed. “What have I got?”

“What?” she sobbed.

“What’s in my hand, you vacuous
cow-eyed moron? I swear you’ve got the fucking IQ of a tennis ball. What the
hell is this?”

“I don’t know what you want me to
say,” she cried.

“You know what it is.” Zeke
squeezed harder. The tendons stood out on his arms. “Say it.”

The pain was severe and Sue’s
squirming only intensified her agony. “My female parts.” She managed to squeeze
the words out.

“Damn it; tell me what
I
call
it, what it really is.” Zeke bore down harder.

“Pussy!” Sue shrieked into Zeke’s
face.

“That’s right, Einstein. And that’s
all you are to me. All you were, and all you’ll
ever
be! You hear me?”

The pain was so intense she could
only manage a weak nod of her head.

He abruptly took his fingers away.

Sue pressed both hands to her
crotch, weeping softly, curled into a ball and cowered against the passenger
door. Zeke flopped back into his seat and glowered at her, unable to speak, so
great was his anger. Long moments passed, and her distress quieted to an
occasional whimper.

Zeke lit a cigarette and blew the
smoke directly at Sue. “Tell me what the hell you were thinking. Back there in
the room. You knew we were living without interference from anyone from our
past. You knew!”

Crying softly, Sue finally spoke.
“I can explain. I didn’t tell them where we are, I swear. I only called home to
let my mom and dad know that I’m okay. I had to tell them I was alright. I love
my parents and I couldn’t let them worry. Besides, Zeke. This is a good thing.
Now we don’t have to worry about them following us. Now they know I’m okay,
happy where I am.” Sue looked hopefully at Zeke, praying he wouldn’t touch her
again, hurt her again.

“You’re so naïve, Sue. This means the
exact opposite of what you thought. Now they know
where
to look. You
think they can’t trace that call? Now we can’t travel by normal routes. We have
to take shitty back roads. This is going to slow us down, slow us down to a
crawl. And we can’t
afford
to crawl. We need to
run
, thanks to
you.” Zeke gripped the steering wheel, breathing hard, struggling to control
his emotions. “Just sit there and stay quiet. I don’t even want to know you’re
here.”

Zeke slammed the van into gear,
backed onto the road, and sped away from Edison. “I had no idea you were so
devious, such a scheming little traitor. I thought you were my girl, my sweet
special girl. Now I know you can’t be trusted. This changes everything. It’s
unforgivable, Sue. Damn you! All the love I gave you and this is the way you
pay me back. All the fun I’ve arranged for you to experience. All the
excitement I’ve brought into your pathetic life. Apparently, it hasn’t meant
anything
to you. What an idiot I was to think you
loved
me. You only fucking love
yourself.” He droned on about her many flaws, her stupidity, her worthlessness,
and her treachery.

Exercising monumental self-control,
Sue choked back her tears and kept still, terrified anything she said or did
might exacerbate Zeke’s wrath. He eventually fell silent as the miles flew by
beneath their wheels.

Finally, they reached the outskirts
of another small town and Zeke stopped for gas. He took a deep breath and
exhaled slowly. His voice took on a patient tone. “Okay. I’ve been considering
what you did and I see why you thought you needed to call home. Of course, you
were wrong. You understand that, don’t you?”

Sue nodded when his eyes searched
hers. “Yes,” she said meekly. Her mind and body sang with pain, which she
valiantly tried to ignore.

“Go on and use the restroom, then
pick us out something to eat for lunch. But remember, I’m watching you. Don’t
talk to anyone. I mean it, Sue. You don’t want to test me on this.” He opened
his door and then turned back. “Oh, and leave your purse here.”

Sue’s legs trembled violently as
she walked to the restroom and entered a stall. She feared she would collapse.
Without her purse, she didn’t even have a pen or lipstick to write out some
kind of call for help on the mirror or wall. Moments later, she was glad she hadn’t
because Zeke actually entered the women’s room to check it out.

He walked in, opened each stall and
inspected them for signs of a message. Returning to the door, he asked, “How we
doing in here, honey?” His voice was syrupy sweet and carried to the cashier.

“I’m fine.” Sue splashed her face
with cold water and dried off quickly on a paper towel.

He held the door open for her and
escorted her through the aisles as they selected their food. Leaning close, he
whispered in her ear, “Watch yourself, now. I’d hate to have to shoot off your
pretty little
empty
head. Or blow away the guy working here, either.” He
gave a meaningful pat to his coat pocket. It bulged with something heavy. “Hey,
grab a few of those flashlights and some batteries.”

Sue juggled the packages and
followed him to the register. The clerk gave Sue a searching look, but she kept
her eyes averted.

Zeke paid for their purchases and
held Sue close as they returned to the van. “You know I still love you, right
Susie?”

“Sure,” Sue said, swallowing the
desire to scream. It went down like a mouthful of acid.

As they exited the store’s parking
lot, Zeke spoke. “I think we’ve stayed off the main road long enough. It takes
too long to get anywhere on these stinking back roads. What do you think? Should
we head back over to the highway?”

“Whatever you think is best,” Sue
said, voice barely above a whisper.

A Really Bad Feeling

Falstaff pulled into the motel
early that afternoon. The proprietor remembered Sue and Zeke, but those weren’t
the names on the register. Staring at the picture Will handed her, she told him
she was virtually positive it was the same girl although the hair was
different. It was short and spiky now, bright red.

“The guy paid cash for the room. He
hadn’t given his tag number or the make of the vehicle, but my desk clerk
waited until they’d been in the room for a bit and then went out and got the
information.”

“And that is?” Will had his pencil
ready.

Flipping through the records, the
woman told Will the vehicle was a burgundy-colored 1994 Dodge Caravan, and gave
him the tag number. She told him she had only seen the pair once. The girl had
been carrying some shopping bags from a downtown store called Trés Chic
Boutique. “That’s a little specialty clothing shop downtown. They have these
hard-to-miss shopping bags, bright pink. You could check there and see if they
remember anything.”

“I’ll do that.” Will got the
address from her and asked without much hope, “Have you cleaned the room yet?”

“Yep, just finished a little while
ago.” The owner frowned. “Room was left a mess, beer cans and liquor bottles
sitting everywhere. Beth, our housekeeper, did a discreet check of the room
while the man checked out. Said the place smelled like a whorehouse on a
Saturday night. But all their stuff was gone, nothing was broken, and they
checked out and collected the deposit. The guy had been all friendly to begin
with, but then he got a little red in the face when he heard about a small
phone charge. But he didn’t contest the expense, just paid it and left.”

Will thanked the woman and drove
from the lot. He headed for the downtown area and found the little store with
no trouble. With ice covering the streets, he literally slid into the spot in
front of the boutique.

Feeling slightly uncomfortable,
Will wound his way through the racks of women’s clothing and lingerie and up to
the counter. The clerk, Candy, remembered Sue well. She told Will all she could
recall about the couple. “To be honest with you, I think that girl’s in
danger,” Candy said, and told him about the bite mark she had seen and the way
Zeke had to approve all her selections. “He was one good-looking man, but
spooky as hell.”

Will felt a stab of concern. “What
do you mean?”

Candy lowered her voice. “I know his
type. Cruel. Manipulative. She was really sweet, but he made me extremely
uncomfortable; he put off a bad vibe. It’s that feeling you get about someone
that’s so negative, you just breathe a sigh of relief when they walk away. A
feeling like you just avoided something really bad.”

Will made some notes, and then
nodded at the clerk. “Is that all?”

She hesitated, obviously battling
internally whether to continue. “No. Actually, my friend, Dilly, told me a
story I think you should hear. I won’t give you her address or number, but I’ll
get her on the phone and see if she’s willing to talk to you.”

Will stepped away to give the girl
some privacy. Candy had a muted conversation with her friend and then covered
the mouthpiece. “She’ll talk to you over the phone, but won’t meet with you in
person.”

Will reached for the phone,
introduced himself, and listened.

“I met the couple at the bowling
alley,” Dilly said. “They seemed cool. Different, you know? Plus they’re
photographers from New York; at least, that’s what they said. I didn’t feel
like I could pass up on that, so we went back to their motel room, you know, to
party. We were drinking and stuff, and then things got creepy.”

“What happened?”

“Well, like I said, things started
feeling really weird; so, I went into the bathroom and listened at the door. I
overheard the guy, Zeke, tell the girl, Sue, that he was going to do stuff to
me. And then he said they might need to get rid of my body later, if things got
out of hand. They didn’t know I could hear them, so I flushed the toilet and
washed my hands, the whole time trying to think of a way to get the hell out of
there.”

Will perceived her fear and it
drove a stake of worry into his gut. A frown creased his brow. “What did you
do?”

“I kept my cool, even though I was
scared as hell. I pretended I had a brother who was waiting for me back at the
bowling alley. I let them think he’d seen me leave with them, let them think
there would be a witness if I were to go missing. It worked; they took me back
without hurting me. But, Zeke. He seemed really pissed. I couldn’t wait to get
out of that van.”