Vengeance (3 page)

With this
thought in mind, she drove out of the parking garage at a normal
speed. The last thing she wanted was to be stopped for speeding.
Then as soon as she was safely away from the scene of the crime,
she pulled into the parking lot of a shopping mall and examined her
car under a streetlight.

The impact
might have dented a lesser car, broken a headlight or damaged the
grill. But her trusty old Volvo had come through with barely a
scratch. In fact, a piece of material from Juanita’s coat wound
around the grill had been the only guilty evidence. Judy removed it
promptly and treated her vehicle to a drive-through car wash. Then
in order to cover her tracks, she drove over to a garage and bought
new tires. She had the old ones loaded into the trunk, and headed
for the docks. Then in a deserted spot where the ocean washed
against the shore, she pitched them into the sea.

Hey, she was
getting quite good at this, she congratulated herself, warmly. All
these mystery novels she’d devoured over the years were finally
paying off. She wiped her hands on an old kerchief as she strutted
jauntily back to her car. She’d always liked the motto of the Boy
Scouts: Be Prepared. But she was in no way prepared for what
happened next...

“Gotcha!” The
triumphant male voice declared in her ear as strong arms grabbed
her from behind. His breath was foul with the stink of cheap
liquor.

“What the
fuck,” Judy exclaimed in shock and fear. She struggled to get away,
but the bastard had her in a hammerlock.

A foghorn
boomed out from the harbour, sounding alarmingly near. She willed
herself to calm down and to think. “What do you want?” she
demanded.

He guffawed
rudely and belched. As he did so, his hold on her loosened just
enough for her to ram him in the ribs with her elbows and run away
as fast as her fear frozen limbs would carry her.

“Fuckin’
hell,” she heard him curse, and footsteps pounded after her.

Fortunately
for her, he was drunk as a skunk, and fell just a few yards from
the Volvo. Judy reached the safety of her car, and as soon as she
was inside swiftly locked it. Then she turned the key in the
ignition, and got the hell out of that lonely place as fast as she
could.

On her way
past her attacker, she got a better look at him as he struggled to
get up. He was a big bastard, scruffy and rough, with a long
straggly beard.

It just went
to prove, Judy shuddered, that no matter how careful and well
organised one’s life was, it could suddenly be threatened and
snatched away in a matter of seconds.

When she got
back to the Palace -- she was damned if she’d call a dump like that
home -- she’d give Molly an extra big hug. Judy shivered. That had
been such a frighteningly close call that she’d heard time’s winged
chariot drawing near. Of course, alive one minute, and dead the
next was part of the natural order. But humans had sought to deny
this harsh truth with every manner of diversion and obfuscation
they could muster. It was a death denying culture. The king is
dead, long live the king...

All the next
day she waited impatiently for any news about Juanita, just like
she had when she’d dispatched Matthew and Fang to Kingdom Come.
Then finally, as she surfed the news sites on her laptop, there it
was.
On Saturday evening, Juanita Gomez, a prominent Hispanic
lawyer, was the victim of a hit and run. Gomez remains in serious
condition at St. Joseph’s Hospital.

So damn, damn,
and triple damn, the bitch was still alive. Judy felt cheated and
terribly disappointed. She made a pot of tea and nibbled moodily on
a slice of toast. Still, she’d done the best she could. And even if
the bitch
did
survive, she’d at least got even with her to
some degree.

She wasn’t
about to take the chance of sneaking into the hospital and pulling
the plug on the life support. Nah, she could be caught too easily.
It wasn’t worth the risk. Yet the niggling fear that Juanita had
recognised her, continued to torment. Judy recalled the dark
fear-filled eyes that had stared right into hers as Juanita bounced
off the Volvo.

Well either
way, she intended to be long gone by this time tomorrow. She
stroked Molly and whispered in her ear. “Our work here is done,”
she said. “Now it’s time we left town.” Thank heavens for Matthew’s
money that made it possible. It had certainly been a windfall and a
stroke of luck she’d never expected. “Time for bed,” she said to
the purring cat. “We’ll get an early start in the morning.”

However, fate
had decreed otherwise. Judy woke in the middle of the night with an
aching throat, high fever and raging thirst. “Oh no,” she moaned.
She must have caught a flu bug, and the timing couldn’t have been
worse. There was no way she could start driving south feeling as
rough as this. She reached for the bottle of water she’d bought
earlier.

After tossing
and turning for the remainder of the night, Judy somehow managed to
get herself dressed and headed out to the store. She felt like
death warmed over. But she had to buy some cold medications and
stock up on food and other essentials. God only knows how long
she’d be laid up.

“Here let me
help you with that.”

She’d been
struggling out of the supermarket laden down with groceries when a
pleasant looking man with greying hair came to the rescue. She’d
seen him before around the Palace.

“Thank you,
I’m most grateful,” she managed to croak between bouts of coughing,
as he loaded the bags into the trunk of the Volvo.

“Don’t mention
it.” He smiled and introduced himself.

His name was
Larry Holmes, and he lived above the office at the Palace. He was
its new manager.

“Forgive me
for saying so,” he said. “But you’re out of place at the
Palace.”

Despite
feeling utterly horrible, Judy responded with a smile. “Thanks for
noticing that. I’d hate to fit in there.”

Larry laughed
and she joined in. What was it they said about laughter being the
best medicine? For that brief moment of mirth boosted up her
spirits considerably.

“Give me a
ring if you need anything,” he said. “You should stay indoors and
look after that cold.”

She took his
advice, she felt too ill not to, and spent most of her time curled
up in bed feeling completely miserable. Molly looked concerned and
wouldn’t leave her side. It was her way of transmitting positive
healing energy.

On the fourth
day of this forced confinement, Larry phoned and asked if
everything was okay. Judy realised that he was the only living soul
who knew about her plight. And that had happened purely by chance.
She was glad of the connection.

“I think I’ll
live,” she murmured drowsily. The pills she’d been taking made her
feel groggy. She’d been dosing herself up with cough medicine and
the occasional whiskey toddy as well.

By the same
time the following day, she felt well enough to have a shower and
shampoo her hair. After being cooped up for almost a week, she was
getting cabin fever, and felt the need to get out for a while and
stretch her legs. It was a chilly day though, with snow flurries
spiralling down from a sky like peat. She’d have to dress
warmly.

“It’s good to
see you out and about again.” Larry emerged from the office as she
walked past. They chatted for a while and arranged to meet for
coffee later. There was a snack bar adjacent to the motel.

Judy had mixed
feelings about this new friendship. On the one hand it was like an
anchor in the storm. She liked Larry’s manner and was attracted to
him. Yet on the other, she didn’t want to feel any sort of
attachment to anyone. That’s what caused so much grief. The
Buddhists got it right when they said that given the nature of
life, it wasn’t wise to get entangled emotionally with others,
while Catholics offered the same advice in a slightly different
way. Avoid especial friendships, they said.

But humans
were biologically programmed to seek out others. It was part of the
survival instinct to form into tribes. Maybe she’d been cutting
herself off from that basic human need for too long? Yet once the
trust has been destroyed, it was devilishly difficult to get it
back again. She had Matthew to thank for that.

Judy made her
way cautiously over slippery sidewalks to the shopping mall. It
felt good to window shop and to browse around some of the more
interesting stores. In a trendy ladies wear boutique called
Echoes,
she spotted a blouse to die for, and what’s more, it
was on sale! But damn, wouldn’t you know it, they didn’t have her
size. The assistant promised she’d call around their other stores
and see what she could come up with.

Judy scrawled
her name on the back of a Palace Motel card and handed it to her.
“Let me know how it goes,” she said.

Had this
sudden desire to buy something snazzy to wear have anything to do
with the handsome Larry, she wondered? She had to admit she’d been
taking more pains with her appearance of late, and felt almost
skittish at times like a foolish young girl.

Judy glanced
at her watch. It was almost time to meet this male who had so
captured her thoughts. She had mixed feelings about this. But what
possible harm could having coffee with him do? Oh what the heck,
she finally decided, she was over thinking this, which blew it up
out of all proportion.

It would make
more sense to simply take things as they came. She had no intention
of jumping into bed with him. If that’s what he hoped for he’d be
sadly disappointed. Besides, now that she was feeling better she’d
be headed out of here soon to warmer climes.

It was
strange, she reflected, how quickly she’d forgotten that she was a
murderer, an arsonist to be precise. In fact, she’d never faced
that fact, in quite those terms before. But she had, undisputedly,
murdered two people and made a devilishly good attempt to kill a
third. Yet now it all seemed so distant. It was as if it had
happened to somebody else.

She grabbed a
newspaper out of the corner box and read it in the coffee shop
while waiting for Larry. There was nothing in it about Juanita.
Damn!
So she had no way of knowing whether she was alive or
dead. She hoped, of course, that it was the latter, since there was
always the chance, albeit slim, that the viperous bitch could
identify her as the driver of the hit and run vehicle. She very
much doubted, however, that without any physical evidence to back
it up, that the charge would stick.

She was still
mulling over the pros and cons of this when Larry joined her. He
talked her into having a light lunch as well as the coffee. Judy
didn’t feel hungry, but agreed that she’d have to try and eat.

It was while
she was nibbling away at a surprisingly good apple crumble that the
past suddenly crashed into this pleasant lunch and turned it into a
nightmare...

Fang!
The China bride that Matthew had ordered out of a mail order
catalogue walked slowly past the window. But...that wasn’t
possible. Fang had perished in a house fire that Judy herself had
set. She stared in horror at this apparition, or whatever it
was.

“Whatever’s
the matter?” Larry distracted her for a moment and when she looked
back Fang was gone.

“...Oh I’m
just tired...” she explained haltingly. She stood up. “I think I
better get back to my room.”

“Oh yes of
course. Mustn’t overdo things, you’re still not well.” He helped
her on with her coat. “You know for a moment there,” he said. “You
looked as if you’d seen a ghost.”

Maybe I
have,
Judy thought fearfully, and what could be more terrifying
than being visited by the ghost of someone you’d murdered? She
thought of Macbeth and the ghost of Banquo.

Back in the
relative safety of her room, she stroked a purring Molly and
decided she’d overreacted. All Orientals looked pretty much the
same to her. And although it was no longer politically correct to
say so, it was nevertheless the truth. Due to her weakened state,
the flu had really sapped her energy; she’d been more vulnerable to
fanciful notions. But what she must have actually seen was simply a
Chinese woman who resembled Fang.

The thought
had also crossed her mind that it could be a relative of Fang’s,
perhaps a sister, come to exact vengeance. But even if anyone
suspected Judy of the arson, and she really didn’t see how they
could, no one knew where she was. Unless, and this was a very long
shot indeed, someone had spotted her around the Palace.

Oh well, not
to worry. This was even more incentive to get her strength back and
head down south.

Judy curled up
on the bed and watched a premature twilight descend on a frosty
world. She’d try and get going for Florida at the weekend.
Meantime, despite the walls she’d built around herself, she didn’t
feel like being alone tonight.

“Sorry Molly,”
she whispered to the cat. “But sometimes a feline is not
enough.”

The jolt when
she’d thought Fang had returned from the grave to haunt her had
left Judy feeling unusually needy. While it was true that she’d
vowed to remain alone, she acknowledged that she would still on
occasion, feel the need of another human. She punched in Larry’s
telephone number. “Dinner’s on me tonight,” she said. “If you’re
available.”

He laughed.
“I’m always available for you.”

She wondered
if he’d be quite so eager if he knew she was a cold-blooded
murderer?

Not Likely.
However, she hadn’t gone around randomly knocking off total
strangers. She had systematically planned on eliminating three very
nasty villains who had done their darnedest to destroy
her.
They had conspired to steal her house and have her tossed out on
the street, and they’d succeeded. If ever there was a case of
justifiable homicide this was it. She didn’t regret what she’d done
in the least.