SHUDDERVILLE THREE (3 page)

Hector rooted through his pocket and took out a jackknife. “Help yourselves to whatever. Don’t mind me. I was right in the middle of something.” He bent over a cardboard box and slit it down the middle along the crease with a slender blade. His hair was black and thick as guitar strings. His eyes narrowed critically as he parted the box flaps and took out a large candle. There were a dozen more candles inside with their long wicks poking out in all directions.

Hector cackled, resting the candle on his knee and paring off the wax. He worked the knife around inside until the candle cracked in half, revealing a plastic baggie full of white pills, pink caplets and black capsules. “Go ahead, grab yourselves a couple of beers,” he said, amiably enough. “This could take a while.”

Ryan and Cassie sat nursing their beers while Hector pried open the candles one at a time. He pulled out the plastic bags and laid them on the floor, propping one against another. When he was done, he sat back on his haunches and counted his bounty. Then he picked up a bag and weighed it in his hand. He slit it open and poured some of the pills onto his palm. “You like X? You guys up for that?”

Ryan nodded.

Cassie nodded.

Hector laughed. “Sure. Everybody’s always up for ecstasy.” He dropped the knife and stood up. He had a little strut in his walk. He dipped into the kitchen, where he grabbed a beer from the fridge and opened and closed a cupboard door. He strolled back into the living room and handed each of them a couple of pills. “Maybe drugs fuck you up in the long run, but the ride getting there sure is pleasant.”

“Yeah,” Ryan agreed.

“You?” He pointed at Cassie.

“I’m down with that,” she said.

He guffawed and repeated, “I’m down with that. Heh! That’s rich.”

Cassie glanced at Ryan’s impassive face and watched as he swallowed the pills with his beer before she did the same. Outside, the night spilled its darkness over everything.

“So?” Hector grinned as he plopped down in a purple canvas butterfly chair. “What’s this all about? Tobias sent you, huh? How is the old fucker?”

Ryan ran a hand through his thick, dark hair and said, “He gave me a list of names, and you’re on it.”

“List? What list?” Hector asked suspiciously.

Cassie leaned forward, wondering the same thing.
What list?

“This one.” Ryan opened his wallet and produced a folded piece of paper, which he unfolded and handed to Hector. “He wrote down three names and said one of these people would be able to help me.”

“Help you do what?”

Ryan hesitated before saying, “Help me not be immortal anymore.”

“Immortal, huh?” Hector laughed. Then he studied the piece of paper and nodded thoughtfully. “Remove the curse, heh?”

Ryan shrugged nonchalantly. “I don’t want to be immortal anymore.”

Hector gave an impressed whistle. “What’s so bad about that, amigo? That’s a good one, man. Shit. Look at me.”

Cassie looked at Hector, wondering what he had wished for, but it was left unspoken, and she was too afraid to ask.

“I’m sick of living this way,” Ryan grumbled.

Hector ogled Cassie. “What’s so terrible, man? Your old lady’s hot.”

“Gee, thanks,” Cassie said smugly.

Ryan sighed and said nothing.

Hector studied the list again. “Okay. So Tobias is up to his old tricks again, huh? You realize what this means, don’t you?”

Ryan nodded.

“No. What does it mean?” Cassie nudged Ryan. “What does it mean?”

He refused to meet her gaze.

“It means he’ll be dead,” Hector explained. “For real.”

“Dead?” she repeated numbly.

“As a doornail. Instantly. He’ll be toast.” Hector turned to Ryan. “You realize that, don’t you? This’ll be the end of you, my friend. Sayonara. No foolin’.”

Cassie felt a knock of horror in her chest. She reached out and touched Ryan’s arm. “We should talk about this,” she whispered.

“Are you saying you can do it?” Ryan asked Hector with an edge of skepticism.

The drug dealer didn’t answer. Instead he got up and wandered into the kitchen, where he stood with his head in the fridge. “You’re welcome to stay as long as you like, I’ve got a spare room, whatever.” He came back into the living room and finished off his beer. “Well,” he said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “It’ll cost you.”

“How much?”

Cassie’s stomach churned sourly. “Ryan, we really need to talk about this.”

He silenced her with a look.

Hector was grinning. “Ryan, Ryan. Looks like your old lady wants to discuss things first, huh?” He laughed.

“How much?” Ryan asked, taking out his checkbook.

Hector shrugged. “Ten grand.”

“Okay.”

“Ryan,” Cassie said helplessly. It was all happening so fast. She had to stop him. “Ryan, wait.”

“No checks,” Hector said.

“You want cash?” Ryan put his checkbook away. “Fine. Ten grand? Be right back.” He got up and headed for the door.

Cassie stood up. “Where are you going? I’m coming with you!” She stumbled after him—wobbled for a moment. She felt dizzy and hysterical inside. She chased him down the stairs, frantic to slow things down. “Ryan, wait up!”

Outside in the parking lot, beneath the full moon, she watched him rip apart the inner door panel of the Range Rover and pull out a wad of bills from a hidden compartment.

“What are you doing?” she cried. “What’s going on? Don’t you even care what I think? Can’t we talk about it first?”

“Cassie. Stop it.” He stood up and rested his warm hands on her arms. “You have to accept this.” He reached up and stroked her cheek. “You have to forgive me, and you have to let go. This is what I want.”

“Death?”

“You have no idea how good that sounds.”

She took a shuddering breath and sobbed bitterly and without shame.

He held her in his arms and gently rocked her back and forth. His hands soothed her, and after a few minutes, her sobs bubbled away, and the anger took over. “When did Tobias give you that stupid list? How come I didn’t know about it?”

“It was our wedding gift.” He handed her the list. “Here. Read it.”

With trembling fingers, she unfolded the piece of paper. There were three names written in a palsied scrawl on ivory stationary, along with the accompanying addresses. “He gave this to you on our wedding day? Why?”

“I don’t know.” He sighed cynically. “He enjoys tormenting people.”

“But Hector said you’d be dead if you went through with it. Did you not hear that part?”

He held out his hand for the list, but she refused to give it back. She hid it behind her, adrenaline shooting through her body. “You can’t do this to me. You can’t leave me like this. I gave up everything for you!”

“Cassie. Nobody asked you to.”

“But I’ll die if you leave me!”

“No, you won’t. Don’t be foolish.” His demeanor softened. “You saw what happened on the mountain, didn’t you? How do you think that makes me feel?”

Tears stung her eyes. “I don’t know. I don’t know.”

“I was deeply in love once, and I watched her grow old. And you know what? I didn’t give a shit, just as long as we were together. But it tore her apart. She hated herself for this perfectly normal process called aging. She tried to stay young for me. She went to a plastic surgeon, and he bungled it. He ruined her smile. He destroyed her beautiful face. I won’t go through that again. It’s too painful.”

Cassie crumpled up the list and threw it at his head, and he scrambled to catch it before the wind blew it away. He tucked it back in his wallet.

She stood sobbing before him. “This is so unfair. I wouldn’t have made my wish if I knew you wanted to die. I love you, Ryan! Don’t do this to me. Please!”

He held her by the shoulders. “Listen to me. My future is an endless pile of days full of pointless rituals, and nothing ever ends. It
never ends
. Want to know what I’ve discovered? It’s infinitely boring to be immortal. It’s like listening to a dripping faucet in the middle of the night. Drip-drip-drip. You can’t do anything about it. You can’t turn it off. So if you love me, Cassie, if you
genuinely
loved me… you’d help put an end to my misery.”

“I can’t,” she gasped, terrified.

He took out his phone. “I’ll call a cab. They’ll take you to the airport.” He peeled off some money and handed it to her. “Here. Take this.”

“Maybe you won’t die?” she said hopefully, clinging to him. “We don’t know for sure what’s going to happen, do we? Maybe Hector is lying? Maybe we could have a future together? Maybe one of the people on that list has the power to make you live out the rest of your life just like any other normal person? Maybe this is a test? Maybe Mandelbaum is testing you? Maybe everyone on that list can help you? But you have to pick the right person, the one who won’t kill you? Isn’t that possible? Don’t you think it’s possible? You said so yourself—Tobias enjoys toying with people, right?”

He hugged her. His mood darkened. “Sorry, Cassie. There is nothing behind door number two. Tobias made it quite clear. If I chose to become mortal again, then that’s it. Game over. I’ll be dead in an instant. That’s the deal.”

She drew back. “No, no, no.”

“Sorry, but it’s not your decision.”

“But I’m your
wife
,” she said stubbornly.

He lost his temper. “Why do you think Tobias gave me the list in the first place? Think about it. Why now, after all these years, when I’ve been begging him to reverse my wish? Why do you think he pulled this little trick now, Cassie? On the same day he granted you
your
wish? Any clues? No? Because he thinks it’s funny! He’s amusing himself. He’s like a cat playing with a mouse before he devours it whole. It tickles him.”

None of that mattered to her. She said, “You can’t leave me, Ryan.”

“How selfish of you.” He turned and headed for the apartment building.

“Wait!” She hurried after him. She didn’t want him to think she was a selfish brat who always got her way. A spoiled-rotten princess. Cassie wanted to prove to him how much she loved him. That she wasn’t just some little rich girl throwing a hissy fit whenever she didn’t get her way.

Inside the apartment building, Cassie had to grip the banister for support. She felt a combination of dizzy, heartsick and scared to death. There must be something she could do. Her mind went into overdrive. How could she prevent this from happening? She hated Tobias Mandelbaum. God, she wanted to kill him. Her fingers twitched on the railing, and her heart constricted. She was running out of time.

Back inside the apartment, Ryan handed Hector a wad of cash.

With a satisfied grin Hector counted out the hundred-dollar bills.

Cassie stood swaying on her feet. She would have to prevent this from happening. Maybe Hector could be bribed with something other than money? Or maybe she should call the cops? Yeah, that was it. She discretely took out her phone, but before she could dial 911, a musty smell filled her nostrils, and she had trouble catching her breath. She wheezed and clutched her throat. Something was wrong. She couldn’t breath. She dropped the phone and collapsed on the rug, landing hard on her knees, and soon Ryan came crashing down beside her, his eyelids fluttering like trapped moths.

Her body jerked with pain. Hector towered over them, his face full of rancor and bitterness as he growled, “Tell Tobias if I ever run into him again, I’ll kill his miserable ass. Got that?”

Cassie stared at the looming vengeful face and pleaded for her life, but met his iron will. “Please don’t, please don’t,” she whispered before everything crumbled to dust.

*

She woke up sprawled across the hardwood floor of Hector Mendoza’s living room. She got up and stretched, feeling achy all over. Hector was gone. The candles were gone. The apartment was filled with a honey-colored morning light. Her mouth was dry as dirt. She shook Ryan awake. “He drugged us,” she said. “Get up, Ryan. He’s gone. He took the money and split.”

Ryan sat up and rubbed the back of his neck. “Great,” he groaned, looking around at the empty apartment. “Damn.” He leapt to his feet. He searched every room. His hands were balled into fists. His face was grim. “Come on.”

Cassie followed him out the door. The early morning stillness made her shiver. Tree branches scratched at the rising sun, a big yellow orb. Cars driving by on the road cast enormous dew-soaked shadows.

“Where are we going, Ryan? We’re not chasing after him, are we?”

“No.”

She was relieved. They got in the Range Rover and took the interstate south, a ribbon of unraveling road. “So where are we going?”

“Whoever’s next on the list.”

Her face dropped. Her heart slowed. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“You don’t have to tag along, Cassie. I can drop you off at the airport.”

“
Tag along?
” she said angrily. “I’m your wife! I want to stay with you.”

He scowled at her. “Getting married was
your
idea. Not mine.”

He was right. She hadn’t even considered the possibility that he might not want her. It was her wish, after all. Wishes could be perfectly selfish. She stared hopelessly ahead, hot tears spilling down her cheeks.

“So that’s it?” she said. “You just want to die?”

“It’s not like that. It’s not that
I want to die
. It’s more like I
can’t go on living this way
. Okay? There’s a subtle difference. Anyway, look. I’ve made up my mind. So quit trying to talk me out of it.”

She gazed at his tired face and the way his short brown hair lifted and flared in the wind, and she fell into a state of lethargy. She closed her eyes and pictured the house where she’d grown up, a high Victorian in a well-to-do Boston suburb. She remembered playing with her Barbies on the living room floor and waiting for her dad to come home. She’d hop up to greet him and fling her arms around his neck, and he’d laugh and twirl her around. He would always bring her something from the office—a ballpoint pen, a jumbo paperclip, and other humble objects she cherished.

Now a slice of sunlight gnawed on her skin, and she studied Ryan’s angry profile in the morning glare. He wasn’t talking to her right now. He probably thought she was daddy’s little princess, but Cassie’s father had always expected her to pitch in. She’d worked hard to get good grades at school and had helped pay her way through college with a series of thankless part-time jobs. Her parents had never lavished her with gifts or credit cards. She’d grown up thinking she was special because her father had told her so. He’d taught her that life was for the taking.