Chapter 11
After breakfast, Jill sent Jackson in search of a screwdriver to remove the window mirror from the guest bedroom.
Convinced that the mysterious return of Velma from her grave was getting to J. Carl Cardwell, Jill made up her mind to get the campaign rolling in high gear. One more message could do it, she told herself.
Even as she did though, she sensed that it could take a lot more than that. Still, no mat ter what was required or how long it took, she was going to get to him.
He had murdered two people and he was going to pay for that with his life. She thought too of how he had ruined his wife's life to the point where she could never catch up. There was still a chance that the children could develop normally, but she wasn't too sure of that either.
For all the evil he had done in his sick role of great avenger, she would make him pay. In fact, Jill told herself, I will be the avenger. I'll set the price and make sure that he pays it in full.
But while Jill wanted to concentrate on the serious work at hand, she knew that three others had entirely different ideas which had nothing to do with work in any form.
As if to confirm her fears, Lucy walked into the room, her eyes glowing with the hungry fires of passion which she made no effort to hide.
"Jill," it was an excited whisper, "are you going to do things with Amanda and Jackson this morning?"
"I don't know, Lucy," Jill stalled. "I know I made them a half promise, but I have so many important things to do. You know why I'm here, Lucy, I must not let myself become so busy with pleasure that I forget the purpose of all I have in mind."
"I know how important this is to you, Jill," the woman persisted, "but it would be such a treat for them and for me too."
"For you, Lucy? I don't understand."
"Well," the woman hesitated nervously, "I thought that maybe you would let me be in the room when you do things with them. You know, like a man and a woman together. I've never seen it you know. Oh please, Jill, you mustn't say no, it would mean so much to me."
The pleading tone of the woman's voice brought tears of pity to Jill's eyes. Carl had destroyed her even more thoroughly than Jill had realized.
Yes, she thought, he raped and murdered Velma, but her suffering ended there. With poor Lucy, he has tortured and twisted her mind until she begs me to let her watch her own stepson making love to me. Surely in this he has committed an even greater crime than either rape or murder.
The sincerity of the woman's plea clawed at her heart, but Jill doubted that she could grant the bizarre request no matter how much it would hurt the woman. There would have to be some other way out, it was going to be up to her to find it.
"Try to understand me, Lucy, I know how much you have missed in life, but you must trust me if I feel that what you are asking may be wrong. You have so many things to learn and I must be careful how I teach these things for fear that I may do you great harm."
"But surely," the woman argued, "there is no harm in what we have done together. It was so nice and it made me feel so good."
"I don't deny that, dear, but to many people, the things we did were wrong. Society says that two women should not make love."
"Do you believe that, Jill?" Lucy seemed horrified by the suggestion.
"No, Lucy, I don't believe it for myself, but you must be careful that your friends never find out. They could make life unbearable for you and for your children."
"Oh, Jill, you're getting me all mixed up with all this talk about right and wrong and society. Please do something for me."
Jill reached for the woman and hugged her. "I will promise to do something for you this morning, Lucy. I honestly don't know what or when, but I won't leave you in misery."
"Oh thank you, Jill," the woman reached to kiss her boldly on the mouth. "This time, you'll let me do it for you, won't you?"
"Yes, Lucy," Jill patted her lightly on the bottom, "I'll let you do it for me. In fact, I think I'll enjoy that very much."
As she looked into the woman's face, Jill saw the look of absolute happiness. She decided to add to it right then.
"I'll tell you what, Lucy, while you're waiting, why don't you go up to my room and pick out a nice set of lingerie to wear. Help yourself to anything and everything you like."
"Are you serious, Jill?" It was as if the woman was not able to believe that she was free to wallow in such exotic luxury, to try on the soft garments as if they were her own.
"Of course I am dear," she patted her on the bottom again, "now run along and help yourself or I'll turn you over my lap and really spank that cute, chubby backside of yours."
As she hurried from the room, Lucy was actually giggling like a schoolgirl. Jill knew that she really could pull the woman over her lap, bare her bottom and spank her.
Her mind moved back to sorority days and she felt the old thrill at the thought of the almost forgotten spanking games. For just a moment, she considered doing it.
She forced herself to reject the thought though. There had been too many spankings in her life for Lucy to see any joy in them. She would submit, but she could not possibly understand or enjoy the act.
Besides, Jill reminded herself, I'm supposed to be concentrating on getting the job done, not looking for kicks like a teenager with a burning itch deep inside my panties.
Her decision was reinforced then as Jackson arrived on the scene bearing a screwdriver and a very happy looking smile.
"What's mom looking so happy about?" he asked.
"That's a little secret between your mother and me," Jill added a note of mystery and smiled at his frank look of puzzlement.
It wasn't difficult for Jill to understand the happy look on the woman's face. For the very first time in her life, her virginal body would know the sweet, seductive kiss of nylon.
"Come on you," she nudged him, "what say we talk less and work more."
Laughing, Jackson followed her out of the room and up the steps.
In the guest room, it required little time or effort to remove the screws and pull the mirror away from the wall to provide an entrance. Jill twisted through the narrow door and Jackson followed close behind her.
Bending, Jill reached under his desk to remove the tube of lipstick she had taped there on her previous visit. After all, she had reasoned, this has to be the safest place in the house to hide it. Carl would surely never think of looking in his own private room for it.
In fact, she encouraged herself, if everything goes according to plan, as it seemed to be doing, he will be absolutely convinced that Velma has actually returned from the grave to write the messages on the glass. In that case, there would be no reason at all for him to even think of looking for lipstick.
"Jill," Jackson interrupted her train of thought, "let me look at some of the pictures please."
She heard the excitement in his voice and didn't have the heart to say no.
Getting the keys out of the desk drawer, she opened one of the drawers and handed him a thick envelope of the precious pictures.
"Be careful, Jack," she cautioned him, "they must stay in exactly the same order." The subject of the set she had given him appeared to be an eighteen or nineteen year old girl and Carl's camera had caught her in every possible pose. Jill knew the pictures would keep him occupied while she wrote her next ghost message for Carl.
Jill was a little angry at herself for not having prepared the message, but the feeling passed. Anything she wrote would serve the purpose, she knew. The only thing that counted was the Carl should believe Velma was reaching back from death to threaten him.
She wrote quickly then and was satisfied with the message she had left for him.
"CONFESS OR JOIN ME IN DEATH.
V."
Jackson looked up from his pictures and read the message.
"Boy, that should really grab him," he enthused.
"I hope you're right, Jack. I want it to grab him so hard that he'll lose control of himself and do what we need to expose him."
"It will, Jill. He's gonna go right out of his skull."
"Then let's not spoil it by being caught in here. Come on, let's get out of here."
On that note, he parted with the pictures willingly and Jill replaced them in the cupboard. Following her usual practice, she checked the room to make sure all was in order before they left.
Back in the bathroom, she watched as Jackson screwed the mirror back into place. It was important, she knew, that there be no trace of their means of entry. Even the slightest clue would destroy her whole plan.
Only when she was completely satisfied that the mirror had been replaced perfectly did she leave the room after asking Jackson to replace the screwdriver where he had found it.
"Aw gee, Jill," he protested mildly, "couldn't we do that later. He's not going to go looking for it."
"Jackson," Jill made her voice just stern enough to get the point across without actually upsetting him, "we have too much at stake here to risk destroying everything by a careless move. You be a good fellow now and make sure you put it back exactly where you found it."
He was not prepared to argue the point. Jill had been too good to him, had given him too much to risk incurring her anger now when it was another emotion he was hoping to arouse in her.
Throwing her a wide smile to show that he was not angry, he ran from the room. Jill congratulated herself on having played it just right.
She hoped she would be able to handle the family as well the rest of the day. Both Lucy and Jackson had made it clear that they favored some rather wild activities in which the whole family would participate. Jill couldn't understand why she was against it, but something told her it would not be a good idea.
She knew she wasn't concerned about the moral aspects of it after all she had been through with them, but whatever the reasoning was, she sensed that she was going to have to play it very cool. Somehow, she would find a way to placate the family.
As she walked into the living room, Jill stopped short as she saw Lucy posing in the middle of the room. She was absolutely stunning.
Her generous breasts were tucked into a tight fitting, pale blue nylon bra which showed an exciting expanse of tops of the two confined globes.
Forcing her eyes downward, Jill saw that the woman more than filled the transparent, pale blue nylon panties with an effect that was nothing less than erotic.
Under them, a slightly darker blue satin garter belt pinched her waist. The suspenders tugged at the fully expanded tops of a pair of nylons whose dark shade made a lovely contrast against the white skin of the upper thighs and the blue of the panties.
"Lucy," Jill enthused, "you look absolutely ravishing. I never dreamed what a difference a few clothes would make."
"Isn't she just yummy, Jill?" Amanda called from across the room.
Jill had not see her there. As she turned, she saw that the girl too had adorned herself in the luxury of her lingerie. In Amanda's case, she had chosen black. It had an effect on her creamy white young body that caused Jill's breath to catch in her throat.
"Well, I must say, you are a couple of real beauties in your lovely outfits."
"I hope you don't mind, Jill," Amanda began to apologize.
"Mind? Of course I don't. I seem to re call telling both of you to help yourselves to anything you wanted. I wonder though how Jackson will react if he barges in here and sees the two of you."
"I can guess," Amanda giggled, "and I like the things I'm guessing."
"Well I'm not sure I do," Jill masked her fears with a smile. "The poor boy may go right out of his mind and start chewing the wallpaper off the walls."
"I don't think that's what he'll do, Jill," Amanda corrected her. "As a matter-of-fact, I guess we're about to find out."
Jackson took about two steps into the room before he froze in his tracks. His mouth fell open and his eyes tried to open as wide.
"For the luvva Pete," he gasped as if he would never be able to find any other words.
Up to that point, he had soon only Lucy. A moment later, Amanda walked across the room to stand beside the woman and Jackson's eyes opened a little wider.
"Oh boy, "he managed to speak again, "what a party this is going to be. Come on Jill, let's see what you got on under that dress."
Looking from one to the other, Jill was unable to control an involuntary shudder. The woman was smiling at her stepson in obvious invitation. She liked the way he was looking at her. Her terribly abused mind couldn't understand the enormity of her desires toward the boy.
"Just a minute, Jackson," Jill had no trouble injecting a tone of severity into her voice, "I think I should have something to say about what goes on around here."
"Aw heck, Jill, don't be a spoil sport," Amanda took up the protest.
Jill looked toward Lucy, but knew she would find little support there either. This was something she was going to have to handle all by herself. At the moment, she didn't have the faintest idea as to how she was going to do it. It was more than clear that the other three didn't want to be handled with reason.
They were all talking at once then and Jill saw that it would be useless to try to interrupt them. The previously quiet room had suddenly turned into bedlam as the three tried to talk her into going along with their plans.
Over their mingled chatter then came a much louder sound. It was a scream of outrage from the doorway where a pale, shaking J. Carl Cardwell stood rooted, his face turning an ashed white for just a moment before purple rage flooded it.
Stricken with chilling terror, Jill saw the man's eyes move from his wife to his daughter and then to her. With each second, his color deepened, his hands shook with rage that was not to be controlled by him or by anyone in the room.
Again his mouth opened as he emitted a roar like nothing Jill had ever heard. It was the cry of a crazed animal. If the man had been insane before, Jill sensed, then this could push him all the way. It was clear that he was not thinking in terms of punishing with a strap.
"I'll kill you!" he roared the first words he had been able to find. "I'll kill all of you. I'll bring down the revenge of Sodom and Gomorrah on the sinful evil of all of you."
As he lunged, it was obvious that Jill was to be his first target, but he didn't reach her. Instead, Jackson threw himself in front of her and stood, his feet braced wide apart, blocking the man's path.
"Move aside," the man roared at his son.
"Get out. I'm not afraid of you now," Jackson spat with the confidence of his new found manhood.
The red of Carl's anger burned to purple as he turned the full force of rage on his son.
With surprising speed, his right arm flashed out with a force that could have knocked Jackson off his feet if it had connected.
Fortunately, the boy saw it coming in time to twist out of range so that while the fingers burned across his cheek, he was not really hurt.
Jackson moved, Jill saw, without the grace of a fighter, but his youth and strength compensated for this lack. His right arm flashed out and his fist plowed into the face of the charging man.
Jill saw Carl's head snap back and hoped his neck had not been broken. His shoulder hit the wall and he slumped to the floor with blood and spittle trickling from his broken mouth.
He was making ugly, animal sounds as he crawled to his feet. Jill hoped he would turn and run, but that was not to be. Instead, his head down like a charging bull, he threw himself toward Jackson again.
This time, the boy was not as fast in sidestepping the attack. By the time he moved, the man's head and shoulder had slammed into his ribs. Jill saw Jackson begin to fold and braced herself for the trouble that could follow. Without the boy to defend them, there was no way the three females could defend themselves against the attack of the man whose sanity had completely vanished now.
Carl looked at the sprawled form of the boy and turned his attention to Jill.
"Jezebel! Instrument of the devil! Evil incarnate! You come into my home and spread the poison of your evil lust over my family."
His hands moved into a strangling position as he advanced toward her.
"I must rid the world of your sin. Your wicked woman body must die before you corrupt others and lead them into sin. It is my duty to free the world of lust and evil."
Jill moved to fight him off then, but it was too late. His fingers were already around her throat, his body pressed against her so that there was no leverage for her to fight back.
"Dad, I saw Velma today. What did you do to her?"
Jackson's voice knifed into the silence of the room and froze them all. Jill felt the hands relax on her throat and watched as the man turned silently to meet his son's glance.
"What did you say?" His voice was little more than a terrified croak.
"I said I saw Velma in the hall upstairs. I didn't tell anyone because I was afraid. She had no clothes on and there was blood on her body. It looked like one of her breasts had been bitten. There were ugly welts on her backside as if she had been whipped. She walked to the door of your room and then she was gone."
Jackson paused for a moment, his eyes glassy, trance like.
"She just disappeared right through the door. I got scared and ran back to my room."
Anger drained from Carl's face. What had been red and purple moments ago, turned to a chalky white. It was as if the face would crack into pieces and fall apart before their eyes.
Like a creature without a life of its own, he turned then and walked from the room. As he left, Jill turned to the others and indicated they should hurry into their clothes.
She turned to Jackson with a look that told him he was all man.
"Thanks, Jackson. I guess you know you saved my life and probably the lives of your mother and sister. That was very quick thinking on your part. I hope you know how very proud of you I feel right now."
"Thank yourself, Jill. If you hadn't given me the idea with those weirdo messages on the glass, I wouldn't have thought of it."
Lucy had just opened her mouth to add something to the exchange, when the quiet of the house was rent by a scream that sounded like something from another world.
While the others stood frozen in terror, Jill hurried down the hall and pressed her ear to the door. As she did, she heard the sound of Carl dialing the phone.
"Jeff," she heard him say with a breathless urgency, "you have to come over right away. I want to make a confession."
There was a brief pause before he spoke again.
"Don't argue with me, Jeff, just get here fast before it's too late. I'll tell everything then."
Jill heard the phone being dropped back into the cradle. Almost immediately, there came the sounds of crying from inside the room.
With a sigh of relief, she stepped back from the door. The plan she had instituted when she came to live here had seemed wild and foolish and completely disordered at times. Yet now, there was every promise that it had worked. It looked as though Carl had been terrified into confessing the murder of Velma for which her husband had died.
A new thought occurred then and Jill hurried down the stairs. When the phone rang at the newspaper office, the girl who answered said that Bob was in and that she would call him to the phone.
Jill saw the danger that Carl would be listening on the upstairs extension, but it was a chance she would have to take.
"Bob! No questions, just get over here as fast as you can. I'll tell you all about it then."
Without waiting for an answer, Jill hung up the phone and went back to meet the rest of the family who still huddled in her room as if not knowing just what they should do.