Love Lies Dying Read online

  John nodded his head. It sure sounds like he was, he thought.

  She stared directly into his eyes with pure hate, “Men can be bastards sometimes, and he was the worst bastard there is.”

  She took a deep breath, “Or was.”

  “So you killed him?”

  Zoe glanced over at the gun on the hallway floor.

  “Yes,” she said. “With that gun.”

  John turned and followed her glance, “But couldn’t you have gone to the police or put a restraining order on him, or something?”

  She shook her head, “You don’t understand, Johnny. I couldn’t go anywhere without one of his thugs following me. It got so bad that I even think I was being spied on inside his own house when he wasn’t there! Like there were cameras or microphones in the walls or something. There was no way I could make a call without it being logged and there was absolutely no chance that I’d be allowed to just walk into a police station to make a complaint.”

  “Yeah, I guess so. But what about your work as a researcher?”

  “As I said, I was freelance. Freelance usually means ‘rarely employed’ in my line of work. A bit like ‘between jobs’.”

  “I see,” he nodded.

  “I mean, I was working in a coffee shop trying to make ends meet when one day this suave guy walks in and orders coffee. Then he starts to come in every day of the week and won’t take his eyes off me. For fun, I flirt with him and then, one day, he asks me out. What am I, crazy? He was so good looking and fun to talk to. So I say yes! We have a great dinner at a five-star restaurant and we go back to his place for coffee. Once I see the house I know I’m never going to have to serve coffee or research anything ever again if I play my cards right. But at that stage I didn’t know what kind of business Ricky was in. And when I did find out, there was no way I could leave.”

  “So he had you trapped?”

  “Sort of. But last month was the final straw. I couldn’t take it any more. We went out to some party somewhere. See? I don’t even know where we went! He wouldn’t even tell me that much. I was just the girl who had to hang from his arm and smile and be nice and speak when I was spoken to. And that was it. It was a big party. Ricky was getting some citizen’s award for outstanding development or civic duties or something, he has so many anyway, and while he was on the stage giving his speech I was talking to a guy who was sitting at our table. He was fun and nice and good looking and so I thought I was doing the right thing by sitting there and talking and laughing and trying to have a good time. But I paid for it when I got home. Paid for it badly.”

  John shook his head, “He beat you for that?”

  She nodded, “As soon as we were in the door. It turns out the guy was some kind of competitor or enemy or something. But how was I to know? I thought I was doing the right thing! I tried to tell him but he wouldn’t listen.”

  Zoe stopped talking.

  John thought she was going to start crying again.

  “Don’t go on…unless you want to.”

  Zoe smiled, “No, it feels good to get this all off my chest.” She reached over and patted John on the arm. “It feels good to confide in you, Johnny.”

  “I’m a good listener,” he replied.

  She giggled, “Yeah, I can tell. And I’m a good talker, as you’re finding out.”

  “Go on when you’re ready.”

  “I hope you’ll confide in me one day,” she said.

  “Go on.”

  Zoe sighed once more.

  “Okay. So, let’s just say that he beat me unconscious that night.”

  “What?”

  Zoe nodded, “He did a lot of things to me that night, if you know what I mean... But the end result was that I was knocked out. It was the first time he had gone that far and it scared the hell out of me. He knew his stuff; he didn’t hit anywhere where the bruises would show. He never broke any bones because he didn’t want doctors to be involved. That’s why he was paid so much by these people he worked for. He knew how to cause the right pain in the right places.

  “I woke up bruised and sore – both inside as well as outside. You should have seen me! Luckily, I heal pretty quickly and the bruises have all gone now, but I couldn’t walk for a day or two. I just sat in bed and tried not to move.”

  “Sounds like a real asshole.”

  “You said it. And I was mad at him, but even madder at myself. Does that make sense?” She stared deeply into his eyes, searching his soul for the truth.

  “I guess so.”

  “Because I’d placed myself in this situation and I hadn’t really tried to get out of it.”

  “So you decided to do something about it?”

  “Well, what made me really mad was that the couple of days I spent in bed and in pain stopped me from continuing with a plan I had already started. And, after that beating, I wished I had completed my plan earlier.”

  “So you had decided to break it off with this guy?”

  “Yeah, but I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.”

  She smiled at him, let go of his hands, leaned back and lifted her black top up off her stomach.

  John’s eyes were drawn to the diamond sitting in her belly button and the tanned and muscled skin surrounding it.

  Zoe slapped her stomach with the palm of one hand.

  The noise of skin on skin sounded loud in the room.

  “See this stomach?”

  “Ahh, well, yeah.”

  “It wasn’t always like this, you know. I was a bit more, shall we say, plump when I first met Ricky.”

  “Really?”

  “Not obese or anything, don’t get the wrong idea. Just a bit more, well, let’s say undefined.”

  John smiled back, “Okay.”

  Zoe pushed her top back into place and John found himself trying to burn the memory of her stomach into his mind.

  “And, after all, he wouldn’t let me out of his house unless someone was with me, so I ended up using his gym equipment. And believe me, he could afford almost a fully functional gym! So, more out of boredom than anything else, I thought to myself, girl, it’s time to get in shape.

  “When I began, I was still in love with Ricky and thought he was my knight in shining armour. The least I could do was get in shape for him, right?”

  “Yeah, I suppose so.”

  “Well, that’s what I thought too. So, with all this time on my hands, I started to get fit.”

  “It was certainly worth the trouble,” he smiled at her.

  Zoe giggled once more. “Thanks, that’s really nice of you to say that. I can tell you really mean it.”

  “I do.”

  “Ricky always lied about things. All the time. He was going to give me this and that and we were going to live happily forever. But then he turned into a bastard and got all jealous even if I just looked at someone. Shit, one night he got me home and punched me hard in the stomach because I talked to a girl for too long! He thought I was turning into a lesbian!”

  John shook his head, “He sounds crazy.”

  “He was. Believe me. And then, no matter where we went or who we saw, when we’d get home he would always check me out.”

  She paused.

  “Huh?” John said, unsure of what she meant.

  “You know,” she whispered, her eyes dropping to the floor. “Internally.”

  There was silence between them.

  She sighed and continued, “He would check me out internally to see if I’d been with anyone.”

  “No!” John was disgusted. “He treated you like that?”

  She nodded, “Yep. Even if I’d been with him all night, as soon as we got home, he would make me strip naked and bend over. Then he’d use his fingers to check if I was wet or…you know…different inside.”

  “That’s disgraceful,” John muttered.

  “I know.”

  She stopped talking and John held her hands, giving her time to compose herself.

  She sighed deeply and continued, �
��So, in the end, I decided I was getting fit and using his gym not just to pass the time of day, but to help me get out of there. There was only one way I could escape his house, his compound, and that was if I could fight my way out. I was going to confront him last month, but he wasn’t around too much because of business and then there was this party and I decided to stick by him until after he received his award.”

  “And then he beats you unconscious.”

  “Exactly. But not before he checked me out again because he thought I was getting it on with the guy at the table. And then he did more…”

  “More?”

  “Yeah. He sort of fooled around with me while I was unconscious.”

  “You mean…?”

  She nodded. “Sexually, yes. But worse than the other times. And he used things on me. I’m trying to forget it all, but it’s hard.”

  “Fucking sick bastard.”

  “I know. Men like that shouldn’t be allowed to live.”

  “I agree.”

  “So that was it. But I had to wait until I could move again and put up a good fight before I tried to leave.”

  “And you did that earlier this week?”

  Zoe nodded her head, “Yeah, Tuesday night.”

  She was silent again.

  There was a long pause. John wasn’t sure how best to handle the situation. He didn’t want her breaking down again, he knew this was going to be hard for her, but he needed to know everything if he was to help her.

  “So, when did you buy the gun?” he asked, hoping this would make it easier for her.

  “What?”

  “The gun,” he pointed over to it. “When and how did you get away from him and his people long enough to buy a gun?”

  “I didn’t,” she replied in a whisper. “It’s Ricky’s gun.”

  “Oh,” John replied. “I just assumed –”

  Zoe nodded, “That’s okay. I would have assumed it too. But that’s not the way it happened.”

  She uncrossed her legs and scooted further up the sofa to be closer to him. They were face to face now, no more than inches apart, and she placed her hands on his thigh. He could smell her once more; the fresh smell that intrigued him so much. Her eyes were big and dark, he felt himself falling into them.

  He wished he could.

  He stared at the scar cutting across her left eyebrow and wondered if Ricky Fox had inflicted the pain that caused it. All of a sudden, he felt so sorry for Zoe. She was a slight, slender woman, young and full of vitality. She deserved so much more than an asshole like Ricky Fox.

  So much more…

  “Tell me what happened and I’ll do anything I can to help.”

  She smiled her engaging smile once more. “Thanks Johnny. I knew you would.”

  Glancing over at the gun again, she continued.

  “Tuesday nights are the nights he goes out to bars with some friends. Usually, he takes his best guards with him to keep them happy and loyal. They go to strip clubs and watch girls undress for money and they drink too much and usually come home so drunk they just fall into bed and remain unconscious for hours. I’m often left with some of the younger, less experienced guards and I thought this would be my best chance. I’d never thought much about trying to leave before. I was always going to sit down and try and reason with Ricky to let me go.”

  “Guys like that usually don’t take reason too well.”

  “Yeah, I’d come to realise that. So, when I finally decided how best to plan my escape from Ricky, I worked out Tuesday nights were the best. He’d be out with his best men, they’d be drunk, and sometime during the night I could bribe one of the younger guys to let me go.”

  “But how much money would you need to give them? Surely they’re paid really well by Fox.”

  Zoe stared deep into his eyes. “I wasn’t going to bribe them with money.”

  “Oh…” John whispered, turning away.

  “I’m a pretty girl, Johnny. Aren’t I?”

  Ain’t that the truth, he thought.

  John nodded his head. “Yes, you are.”

  “People would like to have sex with me, right?”

  “Ah,” John was suddenly finding it hard to speak. “Yes, you’re probably right.”

  “They’d like to run their hands over me and explore me and find my most secret places.”

  “Yeah, okay, I get the picture.” John adjusted his seating position so she wouldn’t see his erection starting to grow. “So you were going to have sex with one of Ricky’s guards?”

  “Exactly. And I knew which one too. There was a young guy, he didn’t seem to speak much English, but I’d caught him watching me a few times. And he always seemed nice and willing to help me with anything. So, my plan was to get out of there with his help.”

  “I see.”

  “But it all went wrong.”

  Zoe sat back in the sofa and stared off into the distance. Emotions danced across her face as her thoughts played inside her head. She was reliving the scene and John could tell it was going to be traumatic for her.

  “Go on,” he squeezed her hand.

  “Something went wrong. Ricky came home early. It was as if he expected something was going to happen. He came home without any of the other guards and snuck into the house and caught me in my room throwing my clothes into a suitcase. He must have sent the others on ahead of him and doubled back to check on me. Maybe he really did have cameras in my room after all! I really don’t know how he got there or how he knew I was going to do something, but one second I’m packing my case and the next he’s screaming at me from the bedroom door.”

  She paused to compose herself, her hands automatically fixing the hair in her ponytail, even though no hair was out of place.

  “He had the gun and he had a handful of cash. He told me he’d tried everything to keep me happy; money and jewels, a fast and happy life. He didn’t mention the beatings though. It was as if he never remembered hitting me or doing anything else. None of the bad stuff. Like he had selective amnesia or something.”

  “Women-beaters can be like that, I hear.”

  “Well, it’s certainly true. He threw the money at me and it spilled onto the floor and bed. He said he’d got it that day when he closed a deal and that he was working his arse off to keep me in this kind of luxury.”

  “What kind of deal?”

  “I didn’t ask and I didn’t want to know. It was a lot of money though. A real lot. So I assumed he’d killed someone for it.”

  “You really do think he would kill people?” John was astounded.

  Zoe nodded. “Yes, of course. He did go that far, and often. Which is why I was scared that if I did something wrong one day he’d go that far with me too.”

  “That’s understandable, I guess.”

  “Luckily, I was already pumped up because I thought I was going to get away from him and that place. His arrival surprised me, but I was also ready for the unexpected just in case the young guard turned me down or something. So…I can’t believe this…”

  “Go on.”

  “So, I…I marched up to him and told him what I thought of him.”

  Zoe turned to John and smiled. Suddenly she looked radiant.

  “Really?” he asked, smiling back.

  “Yep, I went right up to his face and screamed at him that he was a no-good slimy little woman-beating fucker with a small mind and even smaller dick.”

  John couldn’t help it, he burst out laughing. He tried to stop himself, but he couldn’t. He didn’t want to upset Zoe, but one look at her showed him his laugh was the best thing for her right then.

  Zoe started to laugh too.

  Within moments, they were both laughing hysterically. John watched Zoe as she threw her head back and laughed. All of a sudden her features became even more breathtaking as her face became so vibrant.

  They continued to laugh for some time, until John’s sides started to ache. He hadn’t laughed like that for a long time.

  For yea
rs…

  “Sorry,” John said as they began to calm down. “I didn’t mean to –”

  “That’s alright” Zoe replied. “I’ve been living with this tension for three days. I feel great now that I can laugh it off.”

  “But there’s more to the story, right?”

  “Yeah, and this part isn’t funny.”

  “What did he do?”

  “He was stunned. He really was. He didn’t know what to say or do. He just stood there with his mouth wide open, like he was in mid-scream or something, but he just stood there. I said I’d packed my bags and there was nothing he could do about it. But then he came at me with the gun raised like he was going to hit me with it, you know? I mean, he didn’t have it pointed at me by then, he was holding it the other way, by the barrel and it was like he was going to hit me with the handle-part.”

  “The butt of the gun?”

  “Yeah. But I was ready and I was pumped and I wrestled with him.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, it’s hard to believe, I know. He was a big guy and I didn’t know if I was strong enough. But this was the first time I had shown any resistance so I think he was a bit surprised and that’s why I managed to throw him off balance and we ended up on the bed.”

  “Good for you!”

  “It was a surprise to me too, though. One moment I’m yelling at his face and the next we’re on the bed and I’m on top of him and we’re wrestling for the gun.”

  “So what happened then?”

  “Ricky’s fighting me with one hand and trying to reach the phone on the bedside table. When you picked up the receiver and didn’t dial, it would go straight through to the gatehouse where security was stationed. That’s what he was trying to do. He was trying to knock the phone off the hook so the guards could hear there was trouble. So I had to try and keep him away from the phone and fight him for the gun too. The next thing I know, we’re both tumbling off the bed, the bedside table is falling on top of us along with the phone, the lamp and vase, and we hit the floor all at once.”

  Zoe took a deep breath.

  “And that’s when the gun went off.”

  John rubbed her arm and nodded his head. “Okay, but it was self defence, right? I mean, he came at you with the gun. They can’t hold that against you.”

  “But that’s just the problem,” Zoe replied. “Don’t you see? I panicked. I didn’t stop. I screamed when I noticed he wasn’t moving. I jumped off him, grabbed my suitcase, the gun, and as much of the money as I could and ran. The guards were panicking too because of the gunshot and I managed to slip through them while they were looking for Ricky.”