American Crow (27 page)

The creep laughed again at his own joke,
then turned and walked out of view where I heard him scale the stairs slowly
with his partner and scrape the basement door shut again. As soon as it had
closed, I turned my attentions to the bed, threw off the piss-smelling mattress
and started to smash the metal frame against the wall.  

‘Blake. Are you okay in there?’ Nancy
said, her voice trembling.

‘Yes, I’m going to get us the hell out of
here…’

Eventually I managed to loosen some nuts
and work one of the shorter lengths free. I stood back up, the sweat dripping
from my forehead and examined the piece by touch alone in the darkness. It was
around three foot long with forty-five degree angled point at both ends; a good
enough weapon at close quarters. Something...

I returned to the door and tried to prize
its point between its edge and the frame, without much success. It felt solid.
Unbreakable. I tried again, this time in a different place further up then
heard something crack. I pushed harder and felt something give. The frame had
loosened a little...My hopes rose suddenly.

‘Hang on Nancy. We might just get out of
this mess yet...’ 

I dropped the bar and shoulder-barged the
door, hoping to free it up some more. The lock remained firm. I tried again.
Still not enough for it to give completely...

The sound of a door opening upstairs
guillotined my efforts. I placed the metal bar down cursing, and peered out of
the grill as footsteps descended once again.

Eventually the bulky frame of Corrigan
appeared in the doorway opposite, the bare bulb flickering above him as if
acknowledging his demonic presence. He walked in slowly and lingered at the end
of the gurney. He was wearing a smart, gun-metal suit and a black neck tie over
a crisp white shirt.

I stared at his face intently trying to
work out his intentions. His demeanour was calm, just like the last time I’d
seen him, though his eyes had a distant look in them now, as if he weren’t
fully present. He turned slowly as if feeling my burning gaze, then took a step
closer towards my cell.

‘My grandfather’s daddy built this
basement to interrogate Yankee spies during the civil war...Those Union boys
never did find it. Some of our boys even hid out here at the end when things
got tough, used it as a base to make a final few raids.’

I stared at him bemused.

‘I couldn’t give a fuck, Corrigan…’

He stepped closer and rocked up and down
on the balls of his toes. I eyed the polished metal points of his expensive
white shoes, trying to fathom what dark scheme was running through his mind.

‘Over the years we’ve worked hard to keep
that tradition alive, Blake. ‘We believe in tradition here in Kentucky, in the
necessity for religion, and in our rich Southern heritage. We don’t like
outsiders coming in and telling us what to do, telling us how things should
be...’  

‘All I wanted to do is find Olivia
Deacon,’ I said exhausted.

‘Do you now…’

I noted the amusement in his voice.

‘Give us the girl and you won’t hear from
us ever again. I promise…’

I knew the words sounded lame as soon as
I’d voiced them. I wasn’t in a position to do any sort of bargaining with
someone like Corrigan. He destroyed mountains for a living, after all...

‘Will you now, will you…’ he said, turning
as if distracted.

He sat down on the stool that had been
placed next to the gurney, reached inside his pocket and slid out a fat cigar
from a metal tube. I watched intently as he clipped it, rolled it between his
lips for a few seconds, then lit it and took a long, purposeful draw until
there was a thick cloud of smoke hovering above his head.

‘Now then,’ he said, turning his
attentions to the trolley, ‘what are we going to do with you, missy?’

‘I, I’m sorry for any trouble we’ve
caused you, Mr Corrigan. All we wanted to do was find this girl,’ Nancy
croaked, sounding like an apologetic teenager.

‘Really…’ he replied, in a tone that was
almost paternal.  

‘If you let us go we won’t tell anyone
what has gone on here, we promise...’ Nancy pushed, her voice quaking.

‘Won’t-you-now?’ Corrigan said slowly,
expelling a series of silvery smoke rings into the room.

He lowered his gaze down to where she
lay, took the cigar out of his mouth and pinched his bottom lip with his
fingers, as if ruminating over his course of action.

‘So you think I should just untie and let
you go, is that it?’

‘Yes…’ Nancy said beginning to cry again,
as if knowing that that was the last thing Corrigan was going to do.

The tycoon placed the cigar carefully down
in the ashtray, then went and stood by the side of her.

‘What
are
we going to do with
you?’ he repeated, observing her like some scientist about to undertake a
dissection. ‘What are we going to do...’ 

‘Look, if you’re going to do something to
me, I’d appreciate it if you’d untie me first...I’ll do it willingly, okay?’

‘Is that so...’

Corrigan turned and adjusted the camera,
then walked to the back room and returned with some handcuffs a minute or so
later.

‘And if I do, you promise that you’ll be
a good girl?’

‘Yes…’ Nancy replied bravely, her voice
trembling again.

‘Well, that is the way I prefer it,
missy, so it’s your lucky day,’ Corrigan said, unfastening one wrist, then the
other, until she could lower her arms and sit upright.

‘And if I do what you say, you’ll let us
both go free?’ she pushed.

‘Sure,’ he said, freeing her ankles so
that she could pull her knees up to her chest.

‘Mmmm…I hope you’re not planning any
nasty surprises for me, little lady? In fact, I might just have to tie those
slender little hands of yours behind your
back.’      

Corrigan took her hands gently, cuffed
them, then helped her off the gurney as if he was asking her to dance. Nancy
did so in silence her head lowered then knelt before him as instructed, before
the glare of the camera, underneath the hum of the lights, just waiting for
Corrigan to act. Just waiting...

I held my breath, expecting his hand to
go down to his fly to release himself. Instead, he slid another hand inside his
suit jacket and pulled out a pair of white cotton gloves.

‘You were thinking that you were going to
give me some pleasure, missy?’ he said in a tone that was hard to decipher. ‘Is
that what you were thinking?’

She stared at him confused.

‘Is-that-what-you-were-thinking...’ he
pushed, sounding agitated.

The back of his hand smack hard across
her face suddenly, whiplashing her head to one side. Nancy cried out and
dropped to the floor, then lay out of view down besides the gurney.

‘Get up!’ Corrigan ordered, his voice
infused with a simmering hatred. ‘Get up!’

I watched in horror as he swung his right
leg back and kicked her hard in the stomach, making her cry out with pain. Then
he pulled her up by the hair so that her bloodied face hovered at his fly once
more.

‘That’s better...Now where were we?’

Nancy stared at him shell-shocked, her
body limp with defeat. Corrigan worked the tight gloves over his fingers then
flexed both his hands as if checking they were a comfortable fit.

‘You assumed that I was after some sort
of sexual gratification, is that it?’ he questioned, after a few seconds of
painful silence.

She didn’t respond at first, unsure of
what to say, then looked up at him teary-eyed and uttered the word ‘no’ feebly.

‘I think you did, you see, and that’s
just plain insulting. It would rile any god-fearing man in fact...You know what
I think?’

She shook her head tentatively.

‘That you’re just a two-bit trailer trash
whore who the good Lord has sent to tempt me...’

Nancy lowered her head and wept as the
verbal onslaught continued, until another physical one came crashing across her
face, sending her back to the ground.

‘Get up! Or so help me god, I will kick
you into the next world!’

I hammered my fists against the door in fury
as Nancy tried to right herself, as Corrigan readied himself to put the next
boot in.

‘Let her go, you bastard!’

Corrigan turned, his face filled with
contempt.

‘Shhh...’

‘If you’re going to do anything, do it to
me!’ I yelled again.

Nancy dragged herself back up and looked
despondently in my direction.

‘Blake…help me…’

‘No one can, honey...’ Corrigan sneered,
towering over her. ‘You see, you environmental types try to interfere at every
damned level, damaging my reputation, disrupting the good work we carry out
daily to provide energy for this great country of ours…’

Corrigan grabbed her chin and squeezed,
forcing Nancy to look him in the eyes.

‘And you expect me to just let you go
when it blows up in your face, some cheap hippy whore who’s happy to blow me in
front of their friend?’    

She spat a mouthful of blood at him then
attempted to stand with every last ounce of her faltering energy. Corrigan
laughed and threw her to the floor - this time harder, this time with venom.
She groaned and bravely tried to stand again. He grabbed her by the hair. She
shrieked. Then he forced her to kneel in front of him again, his striking hand
raised, willing her to remain still, willing her to submit.

‘I think you’re in need of redemption
lady, and I am going to help you find it...’

Corrigan grabbed her by the throat
suddenly making her eyes spring wide-open with terror.

‘No!’ I cried out desperately,
shoulder-barging the door.

‘Blake…’ she gasped, trying to pull away
from his grip.

‘All your efforts on Black Mountain will
come to nothing, missy, I just want you to know that before you die…’

‘Please…’    

Her petrified eyes looked over in my
direction, searching in vain for some last-ditched hope.

‘Blake…’ 

‘I’m here darling,’ I yelled helplessly.
‘I’m here…’

‘Please…’ she gurgled. ‘Please...’

Corrigan laughed.

Then Nancy started to gag and gasp, her
lungs were beginning to burn.

I slammed my fists against the door over
and over, wanting her to live, willing her to breathe.

‘Blake...’

‘Nancy...’

 A final breath petered out from her
bloodied lips before Corrigan let her lifeless body drop. Then he straightened
himself and drew a long hard inhalation, his nostrils flaring, as if he had
just consumed her very soul.

‘No…’ I said, falling to my knees, not
wanting to accept the reality of what I’d just seen.

After a few seconds I hauled myself
upright and stared at the man who had eradicated such beauty so easily, then
thought how I was going to tear him limb from limb as soon as I had half the
chance.

Unaffected, Corrigan walked over to a
cord hanging by the door, then pulled it casually as if calling his butler.
Shortly after, the same two security guards strolled back down to attend to his
needs.

‘Keep her here for now. We’ll dump her
off in Gallow’s Creek on the way over to the lodge tonight. It’s where she
belongs, this one…amongst the toxic waste.’

Through glazed eyes I looked on as
Nancy’s limp body was carried back to the cell, then I eyed Corrigan with a
cool hatred as he and his men headed upstairs, leaving me alone with the dank
basement, the odour of death, with the barbaric scene of Nancy’s death scorched
into my mind.

I stared through the grill into the
gloom, trying to imagine Nancy still lying on the trolley alive, looking over
at my cell with her warm chestnut eyes as I tried to reassure her. For a while
I pretended that was exactly how it was...

‘Nancy,’ I said softly after a while, my
words echoing out, as if searching for her departed soul. ‘I’m so sorry...’

I sank to my knees my body shaking, my
head lowered in defeat, then cried like I hadn’t done since Laura’s funeral.
Then I stared into the darkness like a madman until I saw Nancy’s face
shape-shift before me, her beautiful brown eyes just beaming forgiveness...

‘Nancy...’

I clamped my own shut, counted to ten
then opened them slowly. The image was gone...Now it was just the bitumen
blackness of the vile cell again, the vacuous darkness that was eating into
me...

I hauled myself up and placed my hands
against the wall, head still lowered, trying to comprehend Corrigan’s actions,
trying to analyse my choices that had led to Nancy getting killed. Then I froze
suddenly. I could feel something on the wall, gouged into its surface...

I dragged one hand over the wall in a
tentative arc, distracted for a second. My fingertips brushed over what
appeared to be broken lines scraped into the paintwork…I stopped and felt
again, this time in larger circles. The lines felt like letters. I checked them
again methodically, following the curve and direction of each new line until I
could make out discernible words. Words...