Zeke (33 page)

She slipped on a peasant skirt and
pulled on a pair of dark purple knee socks, a lilac-colored sweater, and her boots.

“You’ll see,” Zeke said darkly, his
eyes unfathomable.

They stepped outside under a gray,
overcast sky. A light fog lay over the town, and Sue searched signs and
storefronts for a clue to their whereabouts. Zeke hummed to himself as he
drove. Finally, he pulled into a hardware store where they bought a shovel and
another flashlight.

Sue peeked into Zeke’s wallet as he
pulled out the bills to pay for their purchases. There wasn’t much left of her
money. Unless he had it hidden somewhere and she doubted that. He wouldn’t want
to take a chance of her happening across the hiding place. She hoped he’d ask
for more so she could use the ATM. If anyone
was
looking for her, this
would be like leaving a message. A way to be saved.

Their next stop was a drive-through
burger joint, and Zeke ordered cheeseburgers and sodas.

“We’ll eat while we drive,” he told
Sue, taking a big bite before pulling onto the street. The town looked ghostly,
draped in fog. Pedestrians, streetlights, and even other cars with their lights
on passed quietly in the misty white. She chewed her food slowly.

Sue frowned as they pulled up
outside a shop named Merlington Floral. Through the window, she could see a
gray-haired lady behind the counter and was reminded of her grandmother. Her
throat tightened on a rush of emotion. She forced it away into a small corner
of her mind.

“What are we doing here?” Her
curiosity made her ask the question without thinking as she swallowed the last
bite of food and washed it down with her drink.

“Well, now, that’s none of your
business. But let me tell you something. If you cause any trouble, Sue, I’ll
slice the old lady and gut her like a fish. Would you like to see that?
Granny’s intestines spill out on the floor?” His grin was maniacal.

Sue shook her head. “No. I won’t
cause any trouble, Zeke.” Her voice trembled.

“Ah, honey, I’m just kidding!” Zeke
punched her in the arm like she was a boyhood buddy before wrapping his arm
around her shoulders and escorting her inside. Once there, he purchased a dozen
bright, cheery daisies. He even joked with the clerk as he paid for them,
telling her that daisies always seemed like such happy flowers.

Sue stood silently beside him
wondering why everyone was fooled by his shallow charm. She was uncertain he
would make good on his threat if she tried to signal the clerk in any way, but
she couldn’t risk it.

The clerk gave Zeke a delighted
smile. “You’re right, these do look happy. Are they for your honey, there?” She
nodded toward Sue.

“Sadly they’re not.” He glanced at
Sue. “They’re for a lost friend.” Zeke passed the flowers to Sue and said,
“Hold these for me, sweetie.”

“These are perfect, Zeke.” Sue put
stress on Zeke’s name, hoping the clerk would remember it if someone came
asking about them, though she figured the chance was slim to none that anyone
would check for her here. Or check for her anywhere as far as that went. After
all, she had told her parents that she was fine. She wished she could go back
to that conversation and scream for her mom and dad to help her, to come find
her.

“Which road do we take to get to
the old cemetery?” Zeke asked the clerk just as they were going out the door.
She gave him directions and Zeke walked Sue to the passenger side of the van,
opened the door, and helped her in. She clutched the bouquet tightly to her
chest. The pleasant smell of the flowers contrasted with the stench in the van.
They really needed to clean up. She shook her head, mentally reprimanding
herself. What did she care about the condition of the vehicle? She only wanted
out.

They left the busier streets behind
and traveled to the edge of town, an ugly area of factories and warehouses.
Before long, they were in the country and Zeke was peering intently over the
dash, turning this way and that. The fog was thicker outside town, and Sue
strained to see the countryside, but could make out very little of their
surroundings.

“How far is it to the cemetery?”
she asked.

“What cemetery? Oh, you mean what I
asked the old lady. That’s not where we’re going, but it’s close. I just needed
a reference point. It’s been a while since I was here. But, I think you’ll like
the place.”

“Where, Zeke?”

“You’ll see.” Zeke flashed a
humorless grin. “No more questions right now, Susie-Q. I’m not in the mood.”

She placed the flowers on the ice chest
between the seats and sank down, pulling her coat tighter around her body. The
cheeseburger had left her feeling queasy. Her eyes filled unexpectedly with
tears; she wanted her mother. She wanted to be home, stretched out on the sofa
under a warm blanket, while her mom brought her soup, and Sprite in an icy
glass. And a cold cloth for her forehead. She glanced over at Zeke, his face
twisted in some private amusement. How odd that she ever thought him sensitive
and kind. She couldn’t see those traits in him at all anymore.

Zeke turned into a lane flanked by
denuded trees, their branches and limbs swathed in fog. Ahead, Sue could make
out an old barn looming in the whiteness.

They bumped over the ruts and drove
up to a broken down gate.

Sue sat up in her seat.
When he
gets out to open the gate, I’m going to slide over and lock the doors. Then
I’ll slam it into reverse and floor it out of here. I’ll go to the police. I
don’t care what the consequences are. Jail would be better than this.

But Zeke didn’t get out. He tapped
the gate with the front of the van, bit by bit swinging it out of the way. When
he stopped in front of the barn, he stared at the graying structure and
grinned. “Ah, the memories,” he said softly. Then he told Sue, “Grab those
flowers, and come on.”

He lifted the shovel from the
backseat and got out, walking around to her side of the van. She still sat
frozen, staring straight ahead. Zeke yanked the door open and repeated his
order.

Slowly, Sue picked up the daisies
and climbed out. A thin frost covered the brittle dead grass causing the ground
under their feet to crunch as they walked. The doorway to the barn yawned just
ahead, a dark mouth waiting for a tasty morsel. Sue looked around the dim
interior as they entered and noticed strips of dusty light seeping through the
cracks in the boards. The building was empty except for an old rusty implement
of some kind and a few rotting burlap bags piled against one wall.

“Hold the flashlight.” Zeke shoved
it toward her and she took it in her trembling hand. “Shine it in that corner.”
He strode to the spot, shovel in hand.

“What are you looking for?” Sue
asked, shaking more from trepidation than from the cold. She prayed he wasn’t
digging her grave, worried the flowers were for her.

“I told you no more questions. Now
don’t piss me off or you’ll wear this shovel up side your head.”

He began digging in the dirt floor,
grumbling and swearing every so often.

“Where the hell is it?” he mumbled
to himself. The hole in the ground grew in size. As did his frustration.
Finally, he exploded and threw the shovel away from him. It hit the wall and
bounced to the ground. He turned in circles, his hands clutching his hair. Sue
wanted to run, but they were miles from anywhere, and he had the van keys. She
knew she wouldn’t make it far on foot. Suddenly, he stopped and a beatific
smile spread across his face.

“Ah, shit,” he laughed. “I was
digging in the wrong corner.”

He retrieved the shovel and moved
to a different corner to dig, Sue trailing obediently after him. Soon, he was
making noises of pleasure as he lay the spade aside and reached into the hole
to brush some dirt away.

“Look here, Sue,” he instructed.

She stepped closer to where he
crouched.

He gazed up at her expectantly, his
eyes shining. “Look, look at that.”

Sue bent to peer in the hole and at
first couldn’t make sense of what she saw. It was gray and dingy with a vaguely
round shape.

Zeke brushed more dirt away, and
the image resolved itself in her mind. “Meet Daisy.” Zeke smiled gleefully,
looking back and forth between the hole and Sue.

“Oh, no!” Sue backed away, the
daisies falling from her hand. “Oh god! Oh, no!”

Resting in the cold ground was a
head. Details of the grisly image seared Sue’s mind: long dark hair still
attached to a rotting scalp, eyes gone from their sockets, flesh pulled away
from bone.

Keening like a wounded animal, Sue
ran for the barn door, but got turned around in her flight and didn’t find it
where she expected. She spun in panicked circles, searching for the opening
before collapsing to the dirt floor where she vomited her lunch. As she knelt,
dry heaving now, she lost control of her bladder and urine soaked the front of
her skirt. She put her hands over her face and sobbed.

Zeke was instantly at her side. He
took her arm and pulled her to her feet. He tried to hug her, but she strained
away, flinging her arms, and whipping her head from side to side. Grabbing a
flailing arm, he jerked her to him and wrapped her tightly in his arms.

“Come on, now, it’s not so bad,” he
crooned, rocking her slightly. “Come on, come on. Didn’t you ever take biology
class? It’s just a head. A head, that’s all. Stop crying now.”

“Oh, Zeke. Did you kill her? Why?
For the love of God, why?”

“God?” Zeke giggled. “Well, let’s
face it, Susie, God wasn’t here that night. And besides, it was an accident. Do
you really think I would deliberately hurt someone? Kill someone? Use your
head.” Zeke forced Sue’s face upward so she had to look at him. “Susie, you
know me better than that. Stop and think. Have you ever actually seen me
physically hurt anyone?” His eyes were bright with conviction.

Sue swallowed and tried to slow her
breathing.
Only me. And you’ve threatened
to hurt others, including
Dilly.
But Sue kept these thoughts to herself, knowing instinctively that
her life now depended on her reactions. She finally shook her head and said,
“No. But…what did happen?” Sue steadied herself and managed to ask the question
in a calm voice.

Zeke released her and walked
nonchalantly back toward the hole. “I got a little carried away, is all. You
see, Big Ben was making love to her, handle first, of course, and somehow he
got a bit turned around. Lord, Susie, you should have seen it. It was one big
mess.”

His tone was casual, as if he had
just confessed to drinking more beer than was naturally good for a person. Sue
tried to hide the fact she was shaking from head to toe.

“Want to touch it?” Zeke offered.
“It’s kind of mummified. Doesn’t even feel like flesh anymore.”

Sue reacted without thinking.
“You’re sick!” She began backing away. “You’re crazy in the head, Zeke.”

Zeke hurried to block her escape.
“Never talk to me that way again.” He buried his hand in her hair and pulled
her face toward his. “I mean it, Sue. A man can only take so much.”

The fight drained from her as she
envisioned the poor girl bleeding to death here on the dirt floor of an
abandoned barn. She didn’t want to end up like Daisy. She wept quietly.

Zeke released her hair and took her
by the hand, pulling her back toward the hole.

“I need to cover that up,” he said.
“Rebury her, if you know what I mean.” He started throwing dirt back into the
hole, covering the head once more. “Pick up those flowers for me, honey. We’re
going to leave them here. Daisies for Daisy. Fitting, don’t you think?”

Sue gathered the flowers, her hands
shaking so badly she could hardly hold them. Zeke finished filling the hole and
stomped the dirt down. He then took the flowers from Sue and laid them on the
ground.

They walked in silence to the van.
Zeke tossed the shovel in back before moving around the van to open the door
for Sue.

“I know what you’re thinking,” he
said. “Why did I show Daisy to you? Well, I did it so we won’t have any more secrets
between us. It’s a gesture of
trust
. We need to get that back into our
relationship, heal the damage you caused. Plus, I want you to understand what
happens when I can’t get the satisfaction I need. Daisy used to help me find
girls, you know. She understood; she was really special. But then, one day she
just refused. It was like she didn’t care anymore. About me, or even about
herself. It’s a shame when that happens, you know what I mean?” He took Sue’s
arm in a firm grip. “From now on, if I say we need to find a girl, you better
by god help me find one. Or it could be you that ends up dead. Accidentally, of
course.”

Sue’s teeth chattered. She could
think of no response.

Zeke really took in her appearance
for the first time since they’d entered the barn. “What the hell happened to
you? Goddamn. Did you piss yourself? What do I have to do? Put you in diapers?”

Sue hung her head in shame as Zeke
tore away the offending garment and flung it into the weeds alongside the
driveway. “Get in.”

“Like this?” Sue sobbed.

“Yes. Like that. Jeez, I buy you
nice clothes and you pee all over them. Your mom forget to potty-train you or
something?”

She stepped into the van, pulling
her legs up inside her coat.

Zeke leaned in and looked into her
eyes. “So, we straight about you getting me girls when I need them?”

Sue agreed. She kept nodding her
head on the drive back to town. Her mind grappled to find some kind of answer,
some way she could survive. She cried softly, tears of sorrow for herself, and
tears of grief for a girl named Daisy, who must have been at some point just as
stupid, gullible, and starry-eyed as she herself had been.

When they arrived at their motel,
Sue dashed into the room as soon as Zeke opened the door. He closed and locked
it behind them, then went to the bathroom to wash his hands. Sue stared at the
locked door with longing, but she knew he would be after her in a heartbeat.