Come Get Me (24 page)

“Yeah I found her,” she answered. What had
once been a voice filled with innuendo was now one filled with
razors. If her words had been capable of cutting, Jim was sure he’d
be dead. “Johnny told me he’d heard she was looking for me so I
decided to go to her. You know, being nice and whatnot.” She smiled
wickedly for a moment then continued. “Anyways, after I left the
bitch’s, I mean Jill’s house I saw her walking up the road all
alone. Why do you think she was alone Jimmy? Oh, I know, maybe she
was coming from someone’s house or something.” Jim knew she was
just trying to make him mad but he refused to take the bait.
Instead he just stood there in the cold waiting for her to
continue.

“Guess you don’t know either,” she continued.
“Well, being the nice person I am I pulled over and asked her what
she wanted. She asked me if I knew where Tommy had died. Well,
needless to say I was surprised. I mean how would little old me
know where something so horrible had happened. I told her this and
asked her why and she said she wanted to go out and have a look at
it. When I asked her why she just said she did and wouldn’t give me
any kind of reason. For the life of me I can’t think why she would
ask me of all people something like that. I mean I’m not the most
innocent person in town but I wouldn’t have anything to do with
something like that. Tommy was almost like family to me.”

Jim knew most of what she said was an act.
Tommy hadn’t even known who she was when he’d left all those years
ago. Then again maybe they did know each other. They could’ve
hooked up after he left and he’d be none the wiser. He doubted it
though. Tommy would never be caught with someone like her, she just
wasn’t his type. She was right about one thing though. It was kinda
strange for Jill to be asking about the place Tommy had died, and
what was it she wanted to look for out there. What did she hope to
find? Some clue that the police might have missed? He had to admit
it was possible after seeing the local police force in action but
still, why would she want to go there alone. Unless maybe she was
trying to hide something. No, he thought, that couldn’t be it. Jill
was a nice girl, he was just being paranoid. Instead of giving
voice to his paranoia he came up with another question.

“Did you tell her where it was?” he began.
“Her Grandmother told me she went for a walk, but now I can’t find
her. She also said you came by so I figured you might know where
she went. I’ve found you but not her. Now you tell me she was
looking for the place Tommy died which doesn’t make any sense at
all but if that’s where she went then that’s where I’m going. So,
do you know where she is?” He knew he was babbling, but frankly he
didn’t care. It was pitch black out now. He considered going back
to Grandma’s to make sure she hadn’t come back but he’d only been
gone for a few minutes. Looking at Maria he was sure she wasn’t
going to be any help but she surprised him.

“I’ll do you one better,” she said. “I’ll
take you there.”

“That’s ok,” he said a little too quickly.
“If you just give me directions I’m sure I can find it by myself.
Plus Jill and I were supposed to be going on a date so if I do find
her then we probably won’t be coming back to town for a while.” He
threw in the last part hoping she would take back her offer. “I
don’t want to put you through any trouble.” He added when it didn’t
appear she was going to.

As if sensing his discomfort she smiled and
happily said, “No, it’s too dark for me to give you directions
Jimmy. You’d never be able to find it without me. I think the best
thing is for us to go together. At least then if we get lost you
won’t be alone.” When he started to protest she quickly put on a
mock innocent face and said sweetly, “Don’t worry about me wasting
my time. I’d do anything for you. You know that.”

He was sure she would do anything for him and
that actually kinda scared him. He was unnerved by how forward she
was being. The innuendos were flying and they were all hitting
home. But they weren’t having the effect she wanted. What would it
take to make her understand he wasn’t interested? He repressed the
urge to shudder as he tried to find a suitable answer. He’d been
feeling uncomfortable since he first pulled into the lot and her
offers were only making it worse. He couldn’t understand what had
gotten into her. While he still couldn’t remember what she’d been
like in high school he was sure it wasn’t this. He only wanted to
find Jill. Now it seemed he would have to take Maria along with him
on a ride to God knew where in order to do that.

Finally realizing she wasn’t going to take no
for an answer he threw his hands up in disgust and turned to the
car. Maria clapped her hands happily in triumph and trotted to the
other side. He was about to open his door and get in when he huff
from the other side got his attention. Maria was looking at him
expectantly. It took him a second to figure out what she wanted.
When it did finally dawn on him he almost called the whole thing
off. Keeping in mind he had to find Jill he stalked to the other
side and opened the door for her. She smiled happily as she slid in
and said thank you. He told her she was welcome by slamming the
door in her face. He was quickly getting sick of her.

Before walking back to his side of the car,
he looked around again hoping God would smile down on him and show
him where Jill was so he wouldn’t have to go anywhere with Maria
but God must not have been watching. He saw nothing. Resigned to
his fate he went back to his side and got in. As he slid the key
into the ignition he was startled to feel Maria’s arm snake around
his. Looking at her in almost undisguised horror he saw that she’d
also taken it upon herself to slide as close to him as she could
get.

“See,” she said when she saw that he’d
noticed her moves, “we do get to have our date after all.” Jim was
sure she would feel his skin crawling as it tried to get away from
her touch. Evidently not since she tightened her grip and smiled
even wider than before.

“Look this isn’t a date,” he said as he shook
her off as politely as he could. “You’re just taking me to where
ever you sent Jill. That’s it! Nothing more! There is no date!
There is no you doing anything for me! There is nothing! Get it
through that thick skull of yours! There is nothing between us!
There never will be! Period! Understand?”

Everything came out in a rush and a little
bit harsher than he’d planned but he felt much better afterwards.
The instant he’d started yelling she’d recoiled as if he’d struck
her and scooted back to the other side of the car. After that she’d
just stared at him until he’d finished. He hadn’t wanted to be so
nasty about the whole thing but she needed to get it out of her
head that he would ever go out with her. If this was what it took
then so be it. She would just have to finally act like an adult and
deal with it.

“Are you ready to go now?” he demanded still
a little mad. He almost expected her to tell him to go to Hell and
get out but instead she just shook her head up and down and looked
straight ahead ignoring him. When they finally pulled away from the
restaurant Jim figured they’d wasted about twenty minutes. That was
twenty minutes he could’ve been using to find Jill. With the sun
gone and the temperature dropping every minute might count.

He glanced at Maria from the corner of his
eye and found that she was apparently pouting. She huddled as close
to the passenger door as she could, sitting still and ignoring
everything around her. She almost looked like some warped type of
doll.

Oh well, he thought as he focused back on the
road, as long as she takes me to Jill I don’t care if she doesn’t
talk to me for the rest of our lives. He’d had enough of her antics
for a lifetime. The only things that matter now were finding Jill
and getting the home. Screw Maria and screw the Goatman as far as
he was concerned.

13

Maria gave no directions so Jim decided to
drive whichever way he wanted. He was following Main Street leading
in the direction of Tommy’s house and then the country beyond that.
Even though he was doing the speed limit the edge of town was fast
approaching and she was just sitting there pouting. He wished she
would stop acting like a child and give him directions like she
said she would. He had no idea where to go. The only thing he knew
about Tommy’s death was that it had happened off in the woods
somewhere. Looking out the windows he figured that could be
anywhere. The town was surrounded by an intermingling of open
fields and woods. If she didn’t get on the ball soon he would have
no choice but to stop and force her to tell him something. He
didn’t know how he would do that but he would figure something out
if he had too.

The last vestige of civilization came and
went and still she said nothing. What he could see of the town was
slowly getting smaller and smaller in his rear view mirror and he
was about to slam on the brakes and demand to know where they were
going when Maria finally said something.

“Turn right,” she whimpered.

Jim stopped and looked to his right. There
was no road there. He was about to tell her so when he noticed
something. There was a small path that led out into a field. Beyond
that he couldn’t see. The darkness wouldn’t let him.

“That’s not a road ya know,” he yelled.

“Well, that’s where your precious Jill went
so if you want to find her then that’s where you have to turn,” she
yelled right back.

Cursing under his breath he turned and drove
into the weeds at the edge of the road as directed. After driving
for so long on a smooth surface he was unprepared for what the
field held for him. Ruts and bumps and holes seemed to jump under
his tire with a frequency that was unbelievable. Most of the time
when you looked at grass swaying in the wind it looked so smooth
and gentle that you thought you might be able to lie down and take
a nice relaxing nap in it. You never thought about what might be
underneath that calm exterior. Jim’s poor car was now finding out.
The two of them were being thrown around from one side of the car
to the other. The only thing that kept Jim where he was supposed to
be was his vice like grip on the steering wheel. He felt Maria slam
into his side a few times and could’ve swore he felt her coping a
feel but he was too busy trying to avoid what few holes and hills
he could. He didn’t really want to have to pay for a new suspension
on the rental car but, Jill was out here somewhere so he didn’t
have much of a choice.

They drove slowly down the road bouncing up
and down whenever they hit an especially big hole until Maria
yelled for him take another right. The road they turned onto wasn’t
much better than the other but it seemed to have a few less holes
than the previous one so Jim counted himself lucky. After being on
the new road only a few minutes she had him take another turn and
then another. The second one he almost missed because it was so
overgrown with weeds. This type of twisting and turning continued
for the better part of a half hour before she quietly told him to
stop. He strained his eyes trying to penetrate the darkness
surrounding the car. From what little he could make out, there was
nothing there.

“Where are we?” he asked suspiciously.

“Just give me a minute,” she snapped.

“What? Are we lost? I thought you said you
told Jill how to get here,” he demanded.

“We aren’t lost I just need to get my
bearings,” she said angrily. “I’m sure your precious Jill is safe
and sound. Now would you shut up and let me think?”

Just when Jim was resigning himself to being
lost in the middle of God knew where she told him start driving
again. Almost immediately after that she had him take a left. As he
spun the wheel trying to avoid a tree that loomed out the darkness
he thought he saw the headlights pick out the form of a person
standing not twenty feet away.

“Who was that?” he asked as he hit the
brakes.

“Who was what?” Maria answered.

“That,” he said pointing. “I saw someone
standing a little ways that way.”

“I didn’t see anyone,” Maria said spookily.
“Maybe there’s some sort of monster out there or something. Who
knows, maybe it already got Jill and now it’s coming for us.”

Her words brought images of the Goatman
flooding into his head. This was crazy. He was out in the middle of
nowhere, with one of the weirdest people he’d ever met, looking for
a girl he hoped liked him and oh, by the way, the Goatman was after
him and his only remaining living friend. Pete wasn’t the only one
that needed to have his head examined.

“Maybe there wasn’t anything after all,” he
stammered.

“Course there wasn’t, sweetie. You’re just
excited. That’s all. You know, I could take your mind off all that
stuff.” He glanced over and saw her unbuttoning her top. She’d
already gotten it down far enough that he could see a little bit of
some dark colored lace from her bra in the light from the
instrument panel.

“How much longer?” he asked as he quickly
looked back in front of them. Whatever answer she might have said,
he didn’t hear. Just out of reach of the headlights he saw a big
shadow move across the road.

“There it was again!” he yelled.

“There’s nothing out there,” she huffed. “If
you’d just look over here long enough you wouldn’t even care what
was out there.” Before he could catch himself he looked. The
buttons on Maria’s top were undone and her bra was in plain view.
The lace he’d seen ended up being just about all it was made of. He
knew he should look away but he couldn’t. He was a man after all.
His eyes seemed to strain to see what was hidden underneath the
lace. He was sure if it was lighter he’d be able to see everything.
He was just reaching for the interior light when something struck
the car. Startled by the impact Jim snapped back to reality and
looked around.