Underbelly (51 page)

“
You should still go to the hospital, James, even if you’re not burnt. You must have breathed a lot of smoke,” Germaine said, clinging onto his arm.

“
It’s my vice, I’m used to it,” he joked, though Germaine was in no mood for levity. “The fire wasn’t too bad when I got up there thanks to Jim’s early warning. The poor guy’s glad to be gone – he didn’t have much of a life after the Great War.” His death was a release and Grey was glad that he was at peace, though he wished that he’d known that he was upstairs so that he could have counselled him in life and prevented the fire from happening. Jim had left him now, finding peace when Grey told him that Jill (as the woman was called) was fine, something he didn’t know as fact but he didn’t want Jim blaming himself. “You looked very natural with that baby.”

“
You stopped yourself from coughing there,” she said observantly, Grey unable to fully repress the urge to cough and retch.

“
Only because I thought you’d worry. I’ll go to the hospital but I won’t stay overnight. I hated that last time because I won’t be separated from you overnight.”

“
That’s fine,” Germaine said, the compromise acceptable. The doctor did want to keep him in overnight but merely as a precaution, and a local charity found beds for them for the remainder of the night, as well as clothes. Just when Grey was about to drift off to sleep Larry Whitlow returned.

I told you I wouldn’t be dead.

I’ve known this happen before with someone in my unit who passed over and came back but you say you’ve come back several times. Where are you and I’ll see to it that this torture stops?

I’m in a tomb. It’s Lichwood.

I’m not far from there. Where exactly?

Underground. They took me to Bill Gideon’s farm and burrowed down. I could be six feet under.

So they torture you, bury you, and then dig you up?

They torture me in the hole; they live in the hole too. I’ve never left it since I can’t remember when.

How do you breathe and eat?

I don’t eat, and I can hardly breathe.

Who are the Alieus?

Adelaide and Clemence. Adelaide is the one who heals me and Clemence is the one who hurts me.

They’re not human, are they?

No. Clemence is a mess, a blood-soaked, skinned demon.

Larry was gone again, having said enough to ensure Grey wouldn’t sleep and forcing him to travel to Lichwood to try and save him. He was open with Germaine, giving her the option of returning to New York and waiting for him and he admitted that he’d rather she did this. He knew she wouldn’t and she accompanied him to Lichwood where Grey asked around about Bill Gideon and was eventually given directions to his farm. Their finances were dire, and with Conrad away from New York on a trip with friends and Laura incommunicado they were forced to stay at a shelter, where Grey left Germaine as he went to the farm alone. He didn’t know what to expect and wouldn’t endanger his wife anymore than he already was.

Bill Gideon was a partially deaf farmer in his 50s who couldn’t understand half of what Grey was trying to tell him. Grey spun a tall story, pretending to be a Fed (which would have worked better if he still had his tailored suits, which perished in the fire) investigating a murder, making it clear that Bill wasn’t a suspect, telling him that he’d received information that the body was buried on his farm. He asked to look around the premises, repeatedly, as Bill wouldn’t answer him and instead asked him questions about the FBI, which he tried to evade, his knowledge of the FBI very limited.

“
Are there any areas that appear to have been dug up, even as far back as last year?” Grey asked. Bill stared at him coldly, shaking his head, and went to the house, returning with a shotgun.

“
I’ve had dealings with the Feds and you ain’t one of them. I hope you’re a fast runner, boy, ‘cause I’m only giving you till the count of ten,” Bill said as he began to count. Grey heeded the warning and ran, hearing a shot fired in his direction that didn’t miss him by much, a dangerous warning shot.

Plan A had failed but he wasn’t done. He looked for work, finding a temporary job as night watchman of a debilitated factory in a bad area of town, a job he only took as a last resort because they were so desperate for money, Grey unhappy at leaving his wife alone at night.

Larry returned during his first shift and Grey asked him if he heard the shot.

That must have been a week ago.

It was three days ago. I know we probably haven’t got long so I want you to tell me everything you know about the Alieus.

They’re bitches. They’re French sisters who maim and kill.

You said your boy’s going to be next. What do you mean by that?

Audrey Gaines is the one you need to see. That black bitch doomed us all.

I understand that you’re upset, Larry, but that’s a bit much
, Grey said disapprovingly.

You don’t know what she did. Neil, Ted and Howard are all dead because of her. The Alieus tortured them before me, all at her command.

Give me last names and I’ll try and contact them.

Neil Gately, Ted Corbell and Howard Albright, my three best buds in the world, and my son Allan is next after me.

Larry was gone and Grey worked at contacting his friends, managing to get in touch with Howard Albright, who was much calmer than Larry as his suffering was over.

I’m trying to save Larry who is in the position that you were, I believe, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

You’ve got it. Larry won’t admit it but we had it coming. I have nothing against blacks but I wanted to fit in with my friends and I told more jokes about them than they did. That’s what this is all about.

It seems an excessive punishment for racist jokes. Such things should be discouraged, but there’s a limit and dismemberment crosses the line.

We did more than joke. If I tell you the truth do you promise that you’ll still try and save him?

Yeah. Whatever he’s done it’s too severe. Let me check he’s not exaggerating. What happened to you?

The demons chased me to the railway and made a hole appear and covered it over and the pretty one said that they were going to have some fun with me. I was aroused, truth be told, even though the other one looked like Frankenstein after an acid bath, because Adelaide is the most beautiful creature to ever walk the earth. Unfortunately she’s the cruellest too. Clemence would rip my body apart and Adelaide would repair it, not out of kindness, just so that she could see me torn to shreds again. Clemence can only harm – she’s got fangs and talons, her touch burns and blisters, while Adelaide can only heal. It’s involuntary – she kicked and punched me from time to time and even that heals you.

So they’re complete opposites?

No, they’re both bad.

Why would Audrey Gaines want to doom you, and how did she persuade them to do her bidding?

That’s what they do. They live to destroy. They’re called and whoever calls them makes a list of five who they kill. The catch is that once those five are dead they go after the one who called them and revisit everything they’ve done to their victims on them. I doubt Audrey knew that. That thought kept me going for the first few months before I realised I didn’t want it to happen to anyone, especially not to her. We drove her to it.

You must have done something drastic.

Does raping her and killing her husband count?

Grey paused for a second before saying angrily,
Why would you do something like that?

I wish I knew. It got out of hand. We’d had a few drinks and we always used to see her waiting for the last bus and we’d say a few things, but she wouldn’t just take it, she’d answer back. It was quiet one night and she said too much and we taught her a lesson. I didn’t cum in her.

Don’t make out that it wasn’t rape because you didn’t ejaculate.

I’m not, I’m saying that it didn’t turn me on, it wasn’t my scene. Larry didn’t do it, he just held her down.

He sounds like a saint
, Grey said caustically.

Hardly. The only reason he didn’t do it was because he didn’t want black pussy. Allan was the innocent one amongst us; he only kept watch. His dad told him what to do from dawn to dusk so if any of us are blameless then it’s him. He’s the one who truly doesn’t deserve to be on the list. He was upset about it afterwards.

There’s a good chance she was too.

I know I did wrong, but I have suffered since.

Okay
, Grey said, trying to hide his displeasure and act kinder towards him.
What about the husband?

He came to see us and told us that he was going to the police. We didn’t want that so we followed him back to their house and kicked him to death on their front porch in front of her – she took a few knocks herself trying to protect him. After that we threatened her that the same would happen to her if she went to the police and she didn’t. I wish she had.

And no neighbours came to their help?

Their shack is pretty isolated – it’s an old small cabin in the woods. A month afterwards Ted went missing, then a year later Neil vanished. Another year later and they came for me and I think my torture lasted for around the same time. Time moved so slowly I don’t know for sure how long it was. I know that I did wrong, Mr Grey, but the punishment exceeded the crime. Even if you can’t save Larry, Allan doesn’t deserve it – he wasn’t even present when we killed Earl Gaines, he didn’t have the stomach for it and took a whipping from his father for being such a pussy.

I’ll try my best.

The next time Larry returned Grey’s tone was very different, Grey addressing his crimes immediately.

I will get you out of this, Larry, on the condition that you go to the police and tell them what you did to Earl and Audrey Gaines.

The bitch is lying. She wanted it, and I never touched her anyway. Yeah, we beat the husband up, but that was all we were trying to do, give him a beating because he threatened to ruin our reputations by telling lies about us. We didn’t intend to kill him.

Howard says differently.

Maybe he intended to, but I didn’t. Are you going to leave me with them, are you not going to help me now?
he said desperately.

Promise me you’ll go to the police and I’ll promise that I won’t stop until you’re rescued.

I promise.

Then nothing’s changed,
Grey said, still as determined to rescue him as before. It was for the law to punish and judge him, not him or the Alieus.