Chapter Twenty-Two
Brynne
I look over at the clock and realize I haven’t slept at all. I wasn’t planning on staying up all night to torture Max, but Sophie’s face kept flashing in my mind. Every time it did, I would stab him. His screams grew weaker and weaker as the night went on. I could leave him downstairs to slowly starve to death, or to get septic from all of his wounds, but I don’t want any loose ends when I update Clara.
After grabbing the cleaning supplies from the closet, I go to the spare bedroom. I already brought William’s body to the basement, but I still have to cut him up. I look at the red- stained bed and tilt my head. There is no way that is going to come out. I ruffle up all the bedding and place it in a garbage bag. I’ll just burn it with William’s body.
“Shit,” I whisper when I see that the blood has seeped into the mattress. I sprinkle baking soda on top and am about to start scrubbing. I get down on my knees and look under the bed. “What a mess he made,” I complain.
I push the bed over and start scrubbing the blood stain on the wooden floor. Flipping the mattress is out of the question. If this much blood got on the floor then I can only imagine what the other side of this mattress looks like. I don’t bother with scrubbing the mattress and drag it to the basement stairs. It tumbles down the stairs after I push it through the dorway. The one good thing about having a kiln, besides easy disposal of bodies, is being able to burn any evidence left behind.
I can hear Max moaning in agony and it makes me perk up. Today is going to be busy, but at least I have Max to look forward to. Dismembering him while he is still alive is going to fill my dark little heart with joy. I go back to the spare room to wipe down everything. Once I deem it clean enough, I move onto the living room. We weren’t here that long but every trace needs to be gone. Even though I don’t get any visitors, I don’t want my space to remind me of any of these pricks.
I grab my tea from the kitchen and a granola bar. I don’t have time to make food today. Once I finish here I’ll have to go buy a new mattress for the spare room. I grab my phone and dial Clara. It rings four times and then she picks up. I don’t know why she lets it ring that many times, but she picks up on the fourth ring without fail.
“What's the verdict on Max?” she asks. I look toward the basement door and smile.
“He’s tied up at the moment.” I sip my tea and grab my laptop.
“You haven’t finished him?”
“I’m going to today. I had to take care of another
person and clean,” I explain.
“Another person? Did you already get Wyatt?”
“So don’t get mad, but I couldn’t wait any longer. I killed William,” I hear her sigh on the other end. “But he will be disposed of today along with Max who gave me plenty of details.”
“You’ve been busy,” she laughs. “What kind of details are we talking?” she asks.
“A lot about Daddy dearest and another accomplice. Add David Penfield and Robert Hachett to the long list,” I sigh.
“Robert Hachett as in the mayor?” Clara asks.
“Yes, things are about to get messy. How's the lake
house? Is Lauren safe?” I ask genuinely.
“We are both safe. I’m going to have to go back to the house eventually. Lauren has already asked how long we have been staying here. I may need your help on this one,” she sighs.
“Anything, I've got you.”
“We need to find those guys and make sure they don’t come around again. I can't risk Lauren getting hurt. I looked over my security footage, but the smart one must have actually figured it out and wiped it. I don’t have any video footage of them, but I could describe them.”
“Did they say their names?” I ask even though I know the answer.
“Not that I can remember, but I would recognize them if I saw them again. They definitely stand out, besides the smart one, he looks like he could camouflage himself pretty well.” I can sense her worry about Lauren’s safety. I would never let anything happen to her or Lauren.
“I’ll find them. Send me everything you remember. When are you thinking about coming back?” I ask curiously.
“I need to beef up my security systems first and then I’ll feel safe enough to come back. I placed a tracker on Lauren’s car and phone.” To others that may seem like an invasion of privacy, but when you're doing what we are, it's nothing but a safety measure.
“Good. I’ll make sure you both are safe Clara,” I reassure her.
“You need to make sure you're safe too Brynne.
They’re coming for you,”
“Let the sheep come. They’ll be surprised when they realize they’ve walked right into a wolf's den,” I shrug.
“I got to go Laurens getting out of the shower. I love you Brynne and be safe.” She hangs up and I sit down to enjoy the rest of my tea. I flip through Wyatt’s files and reread everything I’ve already gone through. I’m going to have to be strategic with this kill. He has to have safety measures in place being a cop and with Clara dealing with her own stuff, I don’t want to add more to her plate.
I close my laptop and sit back with my tea in my hands. I let the steam rise over my face and the smell of apple and cinnamon invades my nostrils. Fall has got to be my favorite season of all, winter is a close second, but Halloween is the cherry on top. With October coming next week I get to enjoy all my fall scents.
I don’t decorate for Halloween like everyone else. With my driveway being so long I don’t get trick or treaters and even if I did, I don’t think they would have enough courage to walk up and ring my doorbell. My house is old and the inside is like a gothic Victorian dollhouse. The only pop of color it gets is when I add red.
Max moans again and I take another sip of my tea.
Maybe I should string him up in a tree and use him as a
Halloween decoration. The birds would quite like to pick him apart for days. I set my tea down and get back to work. The fun part has just begun.
I drag the bloody mattress down the hall to the room with my kiln. I grab my jigsaw and start cutting it into pieces. I don’t think I'll have enough room for the bedding, mattress, and William. The bedding goes in first and I sprinkle pieces of the mattress on top. The cleansing process has begun. I’ll add the rest of the mattress in the next melting.
“What are you going on about down here? I can hear you all the way upstairs,” I say to Max. He slowly turns his head toward me and looks exhausted. “You look like shit, you should have probably gotten some sleep last night.” I pause and I see a faint flicker of anger in his eyes. “Oh that’s right, It probably would have been hard to get sleep with all those cuts.”
I walk over to him and look over my handy work. He Is a trooper for holding on this long. The stubborn ones usually last longer. I poke one of the wounds and Max groans. “What did that hurt?” I tease. He grits his teeth and looks like he wants to say something but doesn’t. Good boy. “Care for a show?” I ask.
I walk over to the table and grab the meat cleaver.
Max’s eyes widen and the fear on his face is priceless. Those eyes will fuel me for the rest of my life. I wish I could have saved William’s blood somehow. I was hoping to have a relaxing Sunday and to paint, but duty calls.
“Oh calm down, this isn’t for you.” I raise the cleaver over my head and come down on William's left arm. It
separates from his body like I’m cutting into butter. Max
watches the best he can from the stone slab he is still tied to. I could untie him since he probably can’t walk anyway, but I don’t want any delays. I continue to chop William up into little pieces .
“Almost done. Now time to load the kiln,” I say in a cheery voice.
“You're a crazy bitch,” he croaks.
“You see I never really got that insult—the crazy part I’m on board with. I've fully embraced that part of me, but people like you are the reason I have to be like this. Now the bitch part,” I place my thumb and index finger under my chin to look like I’m thinking. “I just never understood how calling someone a female dog was a good insult,” I shrug. “You men are so unoriginal,”
I put William's body on a cart and started to wheel him out of the room. I stop at the entrance of the dark hallway and turn toward Max. “Your turn next,” I wink before disappearing in the darkness.