His Favorite Girl (19 page)

Stepping onto the elevator, I slunk over to Patton and hid behind him the way a child hides behind her mother's skirt.

Only two things were uttered on the ride up:

"Did you kill my girls?"

"You mean the defective products?  Not yet."

We stepped out onto Level E to a scene just like the one I'd walked into the first time I saw this room, only slightly modified.

There were three people tied to the stripper pole this time: Flora, Brian, and a man I didn't know.

Only one of the high-backed leather chairs was occupied.

Mr. Shriver.

He stood, turned, and waved at us with a big smile.  "Welcome everyone!" he greeted, sounding more chipper than I could have imagined him capable.  "Why don't you all come and have a seat?"

"Let's go," Sean said, walking ahead of us.

I looked to Patton for a cue.  He took my hand and we walked together to the circle of chairs.

"Anywhere you'd like," said Mr. Shriver.

Patton tried to take the first seat he came to, but I pulled on his arm, dragging him to a chair where I could face Flora.  When she saw me, her eyes lit up with hope and she smiled.  She didn't look hurt.  She didn't even look manhandled.

It was the biggest relief I'd experienced in a long time.

I couldn't help myself.  When Patton sat, he let go of my hand, and I jumped up on the platform and threw my arms around her, saying, "I'm so sorry, Flora.  I love you.  I'm sorry."

"It's okay," she whispered calmly.  "It's not your fault.  I love you too.  Thanks for picking me.  I had a lot of fun."

The sound of Mr. Shriver's deep, evil voice drew me away.

"Aww, now isn't that the sweetest thing you've ever seen?
  If you'll have a seat, though, Melissa, there are a few things we need to clear up really quick."

I took the seat next to Patton, keeping my eyes on Flora, trying not to cry only because she wasn't.  If anything, she seemed at peace.  Just happy to see me.  Something I would never come to deserve no matter if I devoted the rest of my life to making up for my past mistakes.

I glanced at Brian, who was glaring at me, so mad his face was shaking.

"First of all," Mr. Shriver said, "is anyone going to ask me how my trip went?"

"How was your trip, Mr. Shriver?" Sean asked, his voice theatrical.

"Thank you for asking, Sean.  It went remarkably well, in fact.  Your Favorite Girl, Incorporated is entering a brand new era.  I'll spare you the details, but our first step is to phase out our current line of products to focus instead on mass production of the Libido Drug.  Now Patton, before you get all squirrelly on me, let me give you some good news."

Patton looked like he was ready to jump out of his chair and kill Mr. Shriver, and Sean looked ready to intercept.

I stiffened up, my muscles so tight they ached.

"What?" Patton said, gritting his teeth.

"The
good
news," said Mr. Shriver, "is that I'm
not
going to ask Sean to murder each and every one of your girls.  Why throw away potential workers, right?  The
bad
news is that with our new production demands, it looks like we'll have to overlook a few child labor laws, but as long as no one calls the labor board on us, I believe we'll be fine.  That suit you, Doc?"

Patton still looked like he wanted to kill Mr. Shriver, but he seemed to relax a little, too.  That was one thing off his mind.  At least the girls wouldn't be sent immediately for slaughter.

He turned to Sean.  "What did you do with the ones you took?"

Sean stuck his thumb out behind him.  "Locked away but safe.  I promise I didn't touch a hair on their pretty little heads."

Patton stood and pointed at him.  "You better hope, for your sake, that you're telling me the truth, Sean.  If you so much as looked at one of them the wrong way, I swear to fucking Christ I'm going to kill you."

"Now now now, let's all just calm down," Mr. Shriver said.  "We still have lots to talk about.  James, come out here, would you?"

James?

I followed Mr. Shriver's gaze to the corner behind me, where I'd come upon Flora playing the piano the night of the party, just in time to see James emerge.

Like a cluster of firecrackers going off, all the little pieces lit up in my mind to form an answer I should have seen coming.

Judy discovers Brian's plan.

Judy warns Flora to order gallons of water.

James reports Flora's order to Sean.

Sean realizes what Brian is planning, but not soon enough.

"Make us some drinks, James," Mr. Shriver said.  "Is wine okay with everyone?  We certainly don't want mixed drinks.  Th
at ice is probably contaminated, thanks to young Brian here."

Brian hadn't said a thing.
  Neither had the other man.

Mr. Shriver must have noticed me looking at him.  He sat forward eagerly and said, "Melissa, you haven't met our friend Daniel Wagstaff, have you?  Daniel, Melissa.  Melissa, Daniel.  You may or may not know this, but Daniel here works for the city water company.
  He's a very happy guy.  A beautiful wife, two kids, a nice house. 
Paid
for, even.  In fact, Daniel's
so
happy he decided he wants to live twice as long as a normal human being, and he'd do
anything
to make that happen.  Right Daniel?"

Daniel broke down crying.

Mr. Shriver continued, "Now I hate to cut this introduction short, but we don't have all night.  Say goodbye to Daniel, everyone!"  Mr. Shriver leaned forward and waved at the poor man as Sean came up and sank his knife into Daniel's stomach over and over in uppercut fashion.  Blood splattered all over the platform, and with a final eviscerating vertical slice, his guts spilled out, too.

Brian started screaming.
  Patton grabbed my hand and squeezed so hard it hurt.

He feared for his brother.

James appeared next to me with a glass of wine.  He was grinning.

"I'm gonna get you," I said, returning his smile.

"Somehow I doubt it," James said.  Then he walked away.

I turned to Mr. Shriver.

"So you had this little prick spying on me, huh?  Looks like you should have put him on Brian, wouldn't you say?"

Mr. Shriver nodded, tilting his head, as though conceding.

He looked at Sean who stood near the platform wiping his blade.  "She does have a point, doesn't she Sean?"

Sean laughed.  "Last week I told her I'd like to hire her.  She's full of good ideas, and she knows how to bullshit better than any of us."

Mr. Shriver looked at me with an approving expression, raising his eyebrows.  "Now
that's
a gift.  In a perfect world, I think Sean's right, you could do us a lot of good, Melissa.  The only problem is--and I'm not quite sure how to word this--you keep . . . what do the kids say these days . . . fucking with my shit?  Is that right?"

Sean nodded.

"You keep
fucking
with my
shit
."

"She had no idea," Patton said.

"Of course, you'd say that," Mr. Shriver said, standing slowly.  Blood still poured from Daniel's stomach, pattering between the sound of Mr. Shriver's footsteps as he approached us.  "Only problem is
this
young lady--" He pointed at Flora. "--knew what was going to happen well in advance, and she's refusing to tell us how.  Sean was gracious enough not to beat it out of her.  Instead, he thought he'd wait for you to return and explain yourself, Melissa."

Now he was looking at me.

"Well?  We're all waiting.  Bullshit your way out of this one, dear."

I smiled, gritting my teeth, and shook my head.  I stood.  "My name is not
dear
," I said boldly.  I looked at Sean.  "My name isn't
sugar
, either."  Then at Patton.  "And it sure as
fuck
isn't
baby
."  Turning back to Mr. Shriver, I said, "My name is Melissa, and any one of you mother fuckers who knows even the slightest thing about me knows this:  I
hate
Brian's guts.  I would
never
conspire with him.  If I knew he was planning something like this, I would have ratted him out in a second.  I would have
enjoyed
it."

"She's right about that," Sean said.
  "She does hate him."

"Patton?" Mr. Shriver said.

Patton nodded.  "Fuck yeah she hates him."

"It still begs t
he question: how did Flora know about it?"

"I'll ask her," I said.  "She'll tell me."

This was dangerous.  I had to play it just right if we were going to get out of this alive.  Brian watched me eagerly as I approached Flora.  It seemed he was just as curious to know as Mr. Shriver.

"Flora," I said.

She nodded.

"I want you to tell the truth, okay?  Why did you order those jugs of water?"

She took a deep breath, then said, "Because Judy told me to."

Mr. Shriver, Patton, Sean, and Brian all snapped their heads around so hard they were lucky not to have broken their necks.

"You know where the bitch is?"
Brian spewed. 
"It was her!  It was Judy!  See?  I wasn't lying!  She switched it!"

I almost laughed.  That's exactly what Judy had said.

"Can somebody please shut him up?" I asked instead.  "I can't hear myself think."

Sean walked up and delivered two hard slaps across Brian's face.

"Quiet," he said.

Brian let out a loud, rattling groan and then was quiet.

"Flora," I said, staring into her eyes.  "Again, tell me the truth."  Here I said a silent prayer.  "Did you
see
where Judy came from?"

"No," she said.  "She woke me in the middle of the night.  She said Brian was doing something
terrible, and I wasn't supposed to drink tap water or use the shower."

"Did you see where she went when she left?"

"No.  It was dark.  And I was half asleep."

"So you
don't
know where she's hiding?"

Please say no.  Please say no.  Please say no.

"No."

Good girl.

I turned back to Mr. Shriver.  "Satisfied?"

"Not really," Mr. Shriver said.  "See, I believe you, and I believe Flora, but this whole city is in chaos due to a leak of
my
product and I really, really want to kill someone right now.  I can't kill Brian because I want to see his new research play out, and I don't want to kill you because . . . well, let's just say I have a special plan for you,
dear
."

He turned and approached Flora.

"No," I said.

"I'm sorry," he said, "but I'm really only left with one option."  He glanced back at me.  "Anyone else feeling a bit of
déjà vu?
  I certainly am.  Sean, may I borrow your knife?"

Sean came up and handed over the knife.

I saw Flora's frightened eyes following the blade and started crying.

"No," I repeated, breaking down.  "You can't do this to me again!
  Kill
me
, you mother fucker!"

Mr. Shriver ignored me and stepped up on the platform, face to face with Flora.  He delicately brushed a strand of hair off her eyebrow, then touched her cheek with his dry, leathery index finger.  She was trembling, but she didn't look away.

"Where should I cut her first?  Any recommendations?"

Finally Patton chimed in.  "Mr. Shriver, you don't have to do this.  Flora didn't do anything wrong."

He laughed.  "Do you think I give a damn about right and wrong?"

Sean snickered, standing there with his hands behind his back, eager to see more bloodshed.

"You know what?" Mr. Shriver said.  "I think I'll start by mangling this pretty face."

He raised the knife to her chin.

"Gene!"

It was like I'd fired a gun over a crowd.  Everyone in the room flinched, even Sean.

Mr. Shriver turned to me slowly, the humor gone from his face, replaced now by rage.

"What did you say?"

"I said 'Gene.'  That is your name, isn't it?  Gene?"

He stepped down off the platform and pointed the knife at me.

"You have five seconds to tell me where you heard that.  Five, f--"

"It was Brian."

Suddenly Brian started to thrash around like a fish on land. 
"Liar!  Lying bitch!  Lying cunt whore!"

Mr. Shriver came at him without questioning me, slashing him across the face with Sean's razor-sharp knife.  Blood sprayed across the room, some of it landing on Flora's white dress, reminding me of the first time I was brought here, having to watch Sean murder Flora's predecessor.