The Beach House (11 page)

Sullivan looked over the reports he had received from the lab. There were no traces of blood or anything else that would lead
him to believe that the murderer had used the restroom in the convenience store. He knew that Megan had not done anything to Cliff.

They did find blood stained napkins in the trash can by the coffee pots. The lab was running tests to see whose blood was on those napkins. Sullivan didn’t feel like waiting for the results to come back though.

He also looked over the sales report from the day of the murder. No purchases were listed that matched the time the four of them were in the shop. That meant that Damon had not paid for those items. If he had stolen them, wouldn’t Cliff have said something or called the police? He knew that Cliff may have been threatened and may have told him to just take the things and leave. What if Cliff wasn’t alive when Damon took those items though?

Sullivan knew that he had to get back to the beach house and ask a few more questions. He got into his car and began the drive to the beach.

***

Horace led Kristi and Megan to the pier at the end of the beach. It had been a fairly long walk, but it was a be
autiful evening and the pier was completely deserted at the moment. This would give him the chance to tell the girls what he knew about Damon. 

Nightfall had begun to take form across the beach. The girls noticed some clouds begin to roll in which meant that rain would probably make an appearance at some point.

Kristi still wondered what they were doing with this creep. Megan was a much kinder person than her; always trying to make everyone happy. “Alright, guys let’s turn around and head back.”

Horace grasped Kristi by the arm. “Not so fast, I need to talk to you girls ‘bout somethin’ real important.”

Kristi pulled her arm away. “Get the hell off of me. Come on, Megan, let’s go.”

Megan looked at Horace. “What do you have to tell us? What’s going on?”

Horace looked at Megan and motioned to the pier. “Please, girls. Take a seat and I’ll ‘plain everythin’ I know.”

Megan took a seat at the end of the pier. Kristi stood back, arms crossed, waiting for her friend to come to her senses and head back up the beach. Megan, however, wanted to know what Horace had to say. It had been a very strange day so why not hear the guy out?

Horace sat next to Megan keeping some space between them as not to scare her off. “What do you girls know ‘bout the guy who owns that beach house you stayin’ in?”

Megan looked to her friend. “Not much. He use to date Kristi. We were just coming up here for a few days of fun. Hasn’t been all that fun though.”

Kristi let out a deep sigh. “Yes, we know he’s a psychopath. We are leaving tomorrow and won’t see him again. Okay? Happy now? Come on Megan, let’s go.”

Horace smiled. “It don’t matter where you go or where he goes. It’s the secrets that he leaves behind here that matter. What do you know about his family?”

She uncrossed her arms and took a few steps toward Horace and Megan. “His family? I know he’s an only child. I know he doesn’t talk much with his parents. That’s it.”

“Only child, huh?” Horace laughed. “He
ain’t an only child. Might wish he was.”

Megan looked at her friend with curiosity in her eyes. “How do you know about his family, Horace?”

He looked out into the ocean as the pinks and purples of the sky were fading away into subtle darkness. “I seen his family when they came here to vacation. There were four of ‘em. Mom. Dad. Damon. And his little brother. I use to watch ‘em play out in the water. Then one night, I stayed up real late, lookin’ out over the water. There was a full moon, bright as anythin’ I seen. I saw two boys go out in the water. Only one came out of the water. Next mornin’ there were cops everywhere on this beach.”

Megan looked disgusted. “What are you saying? Are you telling us that Damon did something to hurt his little brother? If that’s true, why didn’t you call the police and report what you had seen?”

“I’m sayin’ he killed his brother. I thought about tellin’ the cops everythin’ that I knew. Decided it best to keep to my own business though. I find that people get what’s comin’ to them. Figured Damon would get what’s comin’ to him. Changed my mind though when I saw what he did to my dog, Max.”

Kristi was almost too afraid to ask. “What happened to your dog?”

Horace felt a tear fall down cheek. “He was hanged up from the ceiling. Now I ain’t got nobody out here. Decided it was time to speak up.”

Megan stood up, feeling shaky and a bit unsteady. “Oh my god. That means that Damon could have hurt the guy at the gas shop. We’ve got to get out of here, Kristi. We need to get Mark and go.”

Kristi began to think about Mark being in the house alone with Damon and began to cry. “This is all my fault. I should have never brought us here with him.”

Megan put an arm around Kristi. “It will be okay. We will walk back to the beach house, pretend that nothing has changed, get our stuff together, and leave. We can walk up to the town and find some sort of a bus or cab to get us away from here.”

Megan wasn’t quite sure why she believed that Horace was telling them the truth. Damon’s behavior had been very odd though. The events surrounding Cliff’s murder and the jet ski incident were enough to scare her. She just wanted to get them safely home.

Kristi appreciated her friend’s rational thinking. She envisioned Mark getting away with his girlfriend and his lover. It was hard to imagine Damon as a murderer though. Sure, he was odd and different. But murdering someone went way above and beyond being odd. “How do we know this guy is telling us the truth, Megan? For all we know, he is trying to scare us.”

Horace reached into his pocket and pulled out an article. He handed it over to Kristi. She read the headline aloud “Boy Drowns in Nighttime Swimming Accident”. She continued to skim through the article, “Jonathan leaves behind his mother, father, and older brother, Damon”.

Megan grasped Kristi by the hand and began to jog back up the beach. Horace shouted out after them. “Be careful out there!”

Megan shuddered at the thought of one person killing another. How could someone be responsible for the death of their own sibling? How could someone kill an innocent person? So many ideas whirled through her head, and it seemed to take forever to get back to the beach house.

Horace walked back to his own house, taking his time. There was no one there waiting for him now. No one there to greet him as he walked through the door. He now believed that everyone would get what
was coming to them even if another person had to be the one to make it happen. In this case, he was going to guarantee that Damon was getting what was coming to him. He just hoped that those girls could get out of the way before anything else happened.

He had tried to mind his own business. However, Damon had come to his beach and had interrupted his life. He knew that he had done the right thing by warning those girls.

Horace stepped inside and sat on the tattered couch in the living room. How many times had he sat there or slept there with Max by his side? He looked down at his old friend. He looked so peaceful, he only hoped that he really was at peace.

Horace got up and laid a blanket over Max. “Good night, old friend.”

He walked to the back room and began to gather up the supplies that he needed.

***

Sullivan was continuing to speed up as he drove to the beach house. He regretted not interrogating Damon more when he had the opportunity. He knew that something in his story did not quite add up. Damon admitted to being angry with Cliff, but he also claimed to purchase food from Cliff. As far as he could tell, that never happened. So, why lie about it?

There was also something about Damon that he just didn’t like. Something menacing that just radiated through him. Sullivan noticed the dark clouds beginning to form above him. He hoped to get there before the storm began. If he could get back into that beach house, perhaps he would find the weapon that punctured Cliff’s skin and caused his life to come to an abrupt end.

Megan and Kristi stood outside of the beach house. There were still people along the beach. Despite these people, the girls felt all alone. It was so quiet, and no words seemed appropriate to utter at this time. There was no telling what Damon was thinking or what he was doing inside of the beach house.

If it wasn’t for Mark, Kristi would have happily left her belongings there and began the journey back home. She couldn’t leave him behind though; not after she found out how he really felt about her. Poor Megan would find out the truth later.
Now wasn’t the time to break her heart.

The girls gazed at the beach house. It was located in one of the most tranquil and beautiful places that they had visited. The house, however, seemed so silent and empty. It was devoid of happy memories and tranquility. What had happened inside of that house?

Megan approached the door and turned the knob. The door was still unlocked. She entered the house. All of the lights were off. Kristi followed her friend inside of the house. They entered the living room and walked very quietly to the staircase. It was rather dark as if the blinds were all pulled shut and not a single light was on anywhere in the house. Megan stood at the bottom of the stairs and listened. She didn’t hear a single sound. She whispered to her friend, “I think he’s asleep”.

Kristi could feel her stomach churning. She wanted nothing more than to get the hell out of that house. She grabbed her friend’s hand and whispered. “If he’s sleeping, then where’s Mark?”

Considering the darkness of the downstairs, Megan assumed that both of the guys had gone upstairs to bed. It had turned out to be a rather long and difficult day. Thinking about the day made her realize how little she had eaten. She immediately felt weak, starved, and tired. Leading Kristi by the hand, she walked up the stairs. She took each stair one at a time, walking as quietly as she possibly could move. Fortunately, the stairs did not even make a creaking sound as she made her way up them.

Megan stopped right outside of the room that she was sharing with Mark. The door was not completely shut. She used the index finger on her right hand to push the door open all of the way. She peered inside, but could not make out a body lying on the bed. She walked over the bed and ran her hand up and down the blanket. Mark was definitely not sleeping on that bed.

She squeezed Kristi’s hand and put her mouth right by her friend’s ear. “He’s not up here. Let’s check downstairs one more time.”

Kristi wondered why he would be sleeping downstairs somewhere. Maybe he didn’t want to have to sleep in the same bed as Megan. Maybe he knew that it was the wrong thing to do to her.

The girls tiptoed back down the stairs and into the living room. Megan reached for a lamp and turned the light on. The house remained completely silent and still. If Mark wasn’t sleeping in the bed or on the couch, then she had no clue where he might be sleeping. “Maybe they left. We should go out on the patio and see if the Jeep is still here.”

Kristi walked towards the kitchen and turned on the light. Despite every effort to be quiet, she could not help but scream as the light came on and she saw Mark’s body lying against the door.

***

Megan ran over to her friend’s side. She could do nothing but drop her knees and sob. “We’re too late. Horace was right. And we are too late.”

Mark continued to sit in a pool of his own blood. Much of the blood had begun to congeal. He sat upright, propped up against the door leading out to the patio. His once white shirt was soaked in red. His eyes were shut, but he had gashes across much of his face, chest, and head. While this site was bad enough, it was not the worst of it. His arm had been
nearly severed from his body, and hung very loosely from his shoulder.

Kristi knelt down next to Megan, tears running down her face. She felt paralyzed with fear, unable to comprehend what was happening. She couldn’t help but utter “no…no…I loved him.” Megan was not surprised to hear this confession, and honestly, it didn’t matter now. Mark was gone. Neither of them could have him.

Megan knew that she had to remain in control. Panic would be very bad for the both of them. Rather than think about the loss of Mark, she decided to focus on getting safely out of the house. There would be time to reflect upon what had happened to a guy who she loved. He wasn’t her one and only, but she had loved him nonetheless.

Megan turned to her friend. “We need to get out of here, Kristi. Let’s see if we can find the keys to the Jeep and get the hell out of here. Then we can find a place to call the police.”

Her friend continued to sob. “He’s going to kill us, isn’t he? He knows what I did. He knows.”

Megan didn’t know what Damon knew, but she could imagine that it involved Mark. “Look, why don’t we go over to Horace’s house. He might have a phone and he can help us.”

Just as they headed towards the door, they heard the bedroom door open upstairs.