The Beach House (10 page)

Damon looked at Kristi and laughed out loud. “What, you think I killed the jerk because he touched you?”

Kristi could feel her eyes welling up with tears again. “I don’t know what to think, Damon. You just seem like you get into this state of mind where you no longer think rationally about anything. I don’t know who you are then. I don’t like it and I don’t need it. I think we should go back
home in the morning.”

Although not involved directly in the conversation, Mark piped up. “I wouldn’t mind getting the hell out of here either. Between the weird guy next door, the murder, and Kristi’s psycho boyfriend, I’ve had enough.”

Damon had no intention of leaving in the morning. He looked at the three of them. “Look, we are all tired. I admit that I shouldn’t have been playing around out there. Let’s just chill out some and we will feel better about things tomorrow.”

Megan looked at her friend. She knew that she had been disappointed by a guy for what must have felt like the hundredth time. “Kristi, let’s go for a walk. The sun will be setting soon. It will be peaceful, and we can talk things out.”

Her friend jumped at the chance to get out of that beach house. She forced a smile as she turned to her friend. “That sounds good. Let me go up and change.”

Kristi headed upstairs. Megan turned to Mark, “I’m going to wait for Kristi outside. I need some fresh air.” She kissed her boyfriend on the cheek and headed out the door.

By this time, Damon had disappeared into the kitchen. Mark quietly made his way up the stairs. He hated to see Kristi so upset especially over some loser like Damon.

He made his way into the bedroom that Kristi and Damon were using. “You okay? I could say that I told you so, but I won’t.”

Kristi walked over to Mark and wrapped her arms around him. “You were right, you can say it. I just want you to make things all better.”

Mark put his hands on her face and pulled her towards him. He kissed her forcefully, and she gladly kissed him back. She just wanted someone to love her and take care of her. She always thought of Mark as a player, and she didn’t want that in her life. Maybe she would be the girl to whom he would truly commit himself.

She pulled away from Mark. “I need you to promise me that this is for real.”

Damon could imagine what was going on upstairs. The thought of the two of them up there churned his stomach. He wondered if Megan had volunteered to go outside so that she could escape the reality that her boyfriend was doing her best friend. If that were true, then Megan was the weakest of them all.

Damon began to mount the stairs. He was hoping to catch the two of them in the act.

Mark put his hands on Kristi’s waist and looked her in the eyes. “You know how I feel about you. Give me a chance. I think that the two of us could really be something great. I just need to know that that’s what you want.”

Kristi smiled and pulled Mark onto the bed with her. “Of course it’s what I want. I want us to be a couple. You just need to figure out what you’re going to tell Megan.”

He smiled. “I’ll let her down gently. She will understand.”

Mark moved one hand onto her thigh and kept the other around her waist. He kissed her again. This time his body pressed against hers.

Damon gently pushed the bedroom door open. “Well, I may be a jerk at times but at least I’m not a whore.”

The two of them jumped up off of the bed. The intrusion by Damon had come as a shock to both of them, they had almost forgotten that he was in the house. Kristi knew that she should have felt ashamed and guilty. Not only was she caught in the act, but she was making out with her best friend’s boyfriend.

Kristi and Mark began to walk towards the bedroom door. Kristi approached one of her many former boyfriends. “I’m going to take that walk now, guys.”

She pushed past Damon, headed down the stairs, and out the front door.

That left Damon and Mark alone in the hallway.

Megan was happy to see her friend come outside with a smile on her face. “You look like you are feeling better.”

“Yes, much better. I think everything will be okay.”

Megan wasn’t sure what that meant. “You are going to work things out with Damon?”

Kristi laughed. “Oh no, I’m done with Damon. I’ve just decided to move on with my life. I’m done with guys like that.”

It was
still stunning outside. The sun was beginning to set behind the ocean. The sky was a mix of purples and pinks. The sand felt warm and soft beneath their feet. For a moment, they both felt completely relaxed.

That relaxed feeling came to an abrupt end when they saw Horace waving to them. He was standing out by his home, looking up at the sky. Perhaps he was also experiencing a moment of peace.

He began to walk over to Megan and Kristi. They watched him come closer and closer into sight. “Even’ ladies. Mind if I join you for a walk. My dog don’t feel so good, and I don’t like walkin’ alone.”

Kristi really did not want this strange guy accompanying them the whole way down the beach. Megan, on the other hand, actually felt sorry for him. She also wondered if he might have something to share with them. “Sure, we aren’t going too far though. Just trying to enjoy the beautiful evening.”

The three of them headed down towards the fishing pier at the far end of the beach.

***

Sullivan decided to stop at the crime scene on his way back to the station. Perhaps he could find something that he had missed the first time. After all, this was his first big murder case. Despite the thorough investigation, there always seemed to be something that had gone unnoticed the first few times.

He got out of the vehicle and headed into the convenience shop. It had not yet been reopened. He walked to the spot where Cliff was found sprawled out on the floor. He didn’t like the idea of someone getting away with his murder.

He considered the story that Damon had told. According to Damon, he talked to Cliff and then purchased food and then left the shop.

That means he must have walked from one spot of the store to another. Then he made his way to the register. If he had walked to the register, there was a good chance that he would have made his way past the camera that had caught Megan. However, Damon did not show up on the camera at all. He began to wonder whether or not the food had been paid for in the first place. He dialed up Officer Barrett. “Hey, Barrett. Do me a favor and ask the station owner to pull up a list of transactions for the afternoon of the murder.” I want to see how many purchases were made around the time of his death.”

If no purchases had been made, then it would be certain that Damon was hiding something about what happened in that store.

***

Clint and Susan were exhausted after a day of walking around, shopping, and having a nice dinner. They hadn’t gotten away and done something like that in some time.

Clint looked at his phone. “I missed a
call, but they left a voicemail. Looks like it was from the shop.”

After a couple of minutes, Clint smiled at his wife. “We can get our vehicle first thing in the morning. Then we are one our way.”

The two of them began to prepare for a peaceful night of sleep. Tomorrow, they would be able to head to the beach house.

Mark peered into Damon’s eyes. “Go ahead, say what you want to say. You’re not half the man that I am. What makes you think that you could be with a girl like Kristi?”

Damon had nothing to say at the moment. He had no interest in articulating his feelings to this worthless person. All he felt was an intense sense of anger and hatred. “I knew you were screwing Kristi. Do you think I’m a moron? I knew she was a whore, and that you were taking advantage of that. Where do you think the two of you will end up? You will end up finding some other
cheap girl and cheating on Kristi. We might as well just end the cycle now.”

Mark was surprised to hear that Damon knew about the secret sexual relationship. “If you knew about the two of us, then why did you continue to date Kristi?”

“I thought that it might become kind of fun. You never know how you can play with people until you exploit their weaknesses.”

Mark had heard enough. “I’m outta here, man. We just need to make it until tomorrow morning. Then we never have to see each other again.”

Mark pushed past Damon and headed downstairs. He went into the kitchen and grabbed a beer from the fridge.

Damon followed him down the stairs and into the kitchen. The look on Damon’s face was oddly serene as if he did not just catch his girlfriend making out with another guy. The calmness began to scare Mark. “Look, let’s just steer clear of one another for the next several hours. I can take a cab home or something tomorrow. You can’t really think that you would have ended up with Kristi in the end? Girls will always take a guy like me over a guy like you any day.”

Mark took his beer and headed out to the patio area where he took a seat. Damon peered out at him. He couldn’t help but think that Mark deserved to die just as Jonathan had deserved to die. They had both taken the attention of others, attention that should have been his. They had both betrayed him. The only choice was to eliminate him just as he had eliminated his younger brother.

Damon headed down the hallway to the small room at the end. His parents kept odds and ends out there that they used only when they came to the beach. Against the wall, there was a small kayak, a boogie board, and a couple of oars. There was a small pile of metal chain that had been used to dock something to the pier at some point. The chain was thick, heavy, and had begun to rust. Damon could hear Mark come in from outside as the patio door shut. Damon wound some of the chain around his hand and dragged the rest behind him. He made his way back down the hallway, the sound of the chain clanking behind him. Just as he turned the corner to head into the kitchen, he grasped the wound part of the chain tightly and swung the rest of the chain hard into the air.

The chain caught Mark right across the side of the head. Immediately, blood began to seep from the cut. Mark staggered backwards, completely caught off guard, his beer thrown to the ground.

Mark had not seen the attack coming. He had decided to come back inside, grab something to eat, and lay down until the girls returned. The skies were beginning to shift from evening to early nightfall, and storm clouds had begun to gather. He knew Damon was a loose cannon, but had way underestimated the lengths to which he was willing to go.

Damon did not have any sympathy for Mark, and he did not stop swinging that heavy chain. He swung the metal chain again, this time striking Mark across the face. Again, Mark staggered backwards. Mark, now backed up against the patio door, had no choice but to cover his face with his hands. Again, the chain came down hard, this time causing large cuts across both hands. The chain caused large gashes across the palms of both hands, and blood began to drip from the open wounds down his arms.

The next strike across his left side caused Mark to fall to his knees. Damon showed no emotion whatsoever. He was convinced that killing Mark was the right thing to do, the only thing to do.

Mark looked up at his attacker. “Pl- Pl- Please stop. You can have Kristi. I don’t want her. I’ll leave now.” Tears filled his eyes, and he actually felt guilty for betraying Megan and Damon. He didn’t want to die though.

His attacker, however, showed no mercy. The next strike came down upon Mark’s shoulders causing him to scream out in agony. “This isn’t about Kristi. This is about getting rid of the shit in my life that I don’t want.”

Mark’s white tee shirt was continuing to be seeped in blood. The chain had torn holes in the sides of the shirt. The wounds appeared to be rather serious, the ragged edges of the chains tearing through his skin.

Mark continued to beg for mercy. “Please, you don’t have to do this. I was wrong. I give up, man. Please.”

Mercy, however, was not granted. The next three strikes caused severe cuts across Mark’s chest. The shirt was now saturated in blood. Mark had no choice but to lie across the kitchen floor, completely helpless. The blood began to form a puddle around his helpless body.

Damon backed off for a moment. He made his way down the hallway to the spare room. Mark attempted to get to his feet. The first attempt failed as he slid on his own blood and came crashing down onto the floor. The second attempt had the same result. Using all of the strength he could gather, Mark pulled himself to his feet. He knew that he was hurt badly. He also knew that if he could get outside then he could call out for help.

Damon recalled that his parents had kept a machete at the beach house with the other beach items. There were times that they hiked or camped around here, and the machete was necessary for clearing a path through the woods. His father had used it to take him and Jonathan through a trail that was about a mile from the beach.

After scanning the room, Damon spotted the machete and began to head back towards the kitchen. He saw Mark attempting to open the patio door, but the deep cuts across his hands were making it difficult to slide the door open.

Coming from behind, Damon raised the machete and brought it down across Mark’s right arm. The blade penetrated deeply into Mark’s skin. He immediately fell back to the ground. He could feel the blade being driven into his arm again. The shattering of the bone caused him to call out in extreme pain. Damon continued to bring the machete down onto his arm until it had been all but completely severed from his body. Mark sat against the door, blood pouring from what was left of his arm.

Damon took a step back and looked at Mark. He was no long the suave, player who could get any girl he wanted. He was losing a lot of blood. Way too much blood. Damon knew that he didn’t have much time left before he died. “I hope it was all worth it, Mark. Now I get to watch you die. Now you don’t get to have Kristi or any other woman.”

Mark knew that Damon was right, he was losing a lot of blood. He barely had any strength left. All of the fight in him was gone. He accepted that he was going to die in the beach house. He looked up at his attacker one last time. “You don’t deserve Kristi. You don’t deserve anyone. I hope you die alone and miserable.”

This elicited laughter from his killer. Damon preferred to be alone, and misery was something he had experienced his entire life.

Damon left Mark sitting against the door while he headed upstairs with the chain and machete in hand.