Chapter 9
"Don't kill me!" she begged, her terrified eyes imploring him not to do it. "I don't want to die, Charles! Oh, dear God, I d-don't want to die!"
"Kill you?" he asked, apparently astonished by her fearful pleading. "I'm not going to kill you, Susan! Christ, where did you get that idea? The knife? It's for the ropes, honey! I'm going to cut you loose!"
"Oh, Charles!" she sighed. "I nearly died of fright! I thought you were going to ... to cut my throat!"
He shook his head. "Your throat is much too pretty for that. Now, listen to me, Susan. I want to help you get this mess cleared up once and for all. If you'll forgive me for all the shitty things I've done, I'll cut you loose and take you to the police right now. I'm not a murderer. I swear I'm not! And I don't want to go to jail for rape, either. You'll have to promise not to press charges against me."
"I won't have you arrested, Charles! I swear it! I never intended to! Help me! I'll be so grateful to you if you will! I forgive you! God, yes! Gladly!"
Charles cut the ropes. She dressed hurriedly. They went out through the French doors, onto the veranda and around to the back of the house.
The dog was at the edge of the woods, howling its fool head off. They could see him in the moonlight. Evidently he saw them, too, because he came at them as fast as he could run. Charles was opening the garage doors and turning on the light when Perro reached them. The dog started barking insistently, prancing, then running a few steps towards the woods and back again. He kept it up until Susan said, "Do you think he's trying to tell us something?"
"Looks like it," Charles said. "I think he wants us to go with him. Maybe we shouldn't, but I want to see what he's up to."
Susan nodded. "All right. Let's go."
They had to run to keep up with the excited animal. Perro led them into the woods, and directly to a place where he'd been digging. Enough moonlight filtered through the trees for them to see the hole. When they squatted beside it, they saw what it was for. Miss Olson's sudden disappearance was no longer a mystery. She lay dead in a shallow grave. Her face was recognizable, but not her once-lovely body. Her throat was laid open. Her nude body had been slashed repeatedly with a knife. Butchered.
"My God!" Susan gasped, staggering back in horror. "Who would do a brutal thing like that?"
"Not me," Charles insisted. "Don't even think it! Let's go, Susan! Let's get to the police, and fast!"
Susan and Charles were panting for breath by the time they neared the garage again, both of them running for all they were worth. The back door of the house slammed just as they rounded the corner of the old carriage house. A figure rushed toward them. Susan and Charles were inside the garage, one of them on each side of the car, when Simmons burst through the open doorway with his gun in his right hand and the case of coins under his left arm.
"Get away from the car, Charles! Susan, get in, darling. I've found the coins! We'll go to the police. They can deal with Reyes and Charles. Everything's going to be fine now, my sweet. You'll see. Once these murderers are out of our hair, we can get married as planned. Then everything will be lovely. Why aren't you getting in the car, Susan? Charles! Stay away, you killer!"
"You're the killer," Susan said, trying to sound brave but feeling sick on the inside. "You didn't see Miss Olson leave. You killed her! You killed her and buried her in the woods! You're insane, Simmons. I'm not going anywhere with you."
"So you found her body, did you?" Simmons said, moving cautiously into the garage, waving Charles away from the driver's door of the car with the pistol. His eyes looked like those of a cornered animal, though his voice was steady and rather calm. "I suppose that wretched dog led you to her. All right. I admit it. There's no reason to play games any longer, is there? I killed Krista. I had to, after what she did to me. Don't you see? She left me no self-respect! But let's set the record straight. It was Krista who killed Bitch Robards. The old Lesbian became outrageous in her sexual demands, and Krista strangled her in a fit of rage. I helped Krista bury the body, was all."
"Where did you find the coins?" Charles asked.
"In the wall behind the vain old woman's portrait, right where I should've known to look at the very beginning. Ah, well, it doesn't matter now, does it?"
"Open the case, Rob," Charles urged. "We agreed to divide them, remember?"
"You're even more of a simpleton than I thought, Charles. Divide the coins with you? Don't be absurd!" Simmons caressed the case of coins. "These are mine. I put up with the old witch for years! I deserve them all!"
"Come on, Rob," Charles said, inching forward. "We agreed, damn it!"
"Back up, you fool!" Simmons yelled, brandishing the gun. "You, too, Susan! The both of you get back there in the corner. I'm leaving, and taking all of the coins with me. But first I have to do something. You young people shouldn't have been so curious. Now I've got to kill the both of you, because you know too much."
Gun in hand, Simmons made Susan and Charles back into the old carriage house until they were standing side by side against the back wall. "It's a shame," he said, taking aim at Charles' heart. "I never wanted to kill anyone."
"For God's sake!" Susan screamed. "Don't kill us, Simmons! Take the coins and go ... but don't shoot us!"
"I'm afraid I can't afford to risk-"
Simmons' sentence was cut short by Reyes' bull-like bellow as he charged across the back lawn toward the garage. "You dirty sonofabitch!" the enraged gardener was shouting. "You found the coins! You're trying to sneak off with all of them! I'm going to stomp your ass!"
The butler whirled around reflexively and fired. The bullet hit Reyes in the right shoulder. The big man went down, screaming and clutching his shoulder. Before Simmons could turn back around, Charles dove at him, tackled him and wrested the pistol from his hand.
"Now, you mother fucker!" Charles hissed, and he cold-cocked Simmons with the pistol butt.
Susan stood at the rear of the garage, chewing her nails and shaking like a leaf.
"Get me some rope, Susan!" Charles yelled. "Hurry! We've got to get Jesus to the hospital before we take Simmons to the police!"