Page 55 of Mail Order Bride

“Fun?” I say, watching Gina pull out of the parking lot like a bat out of hell. She gives me the finger. Nothing about this day has been even remotely tolerable, much less fun.

“Yeah, you know,” Yvette says. “Fun.”

Chapter Forty-One

Journal Entry

Author Unknown

The world’s oldest profession. Can’t blame a girl for wanting to make a buck. Seems like there are easier ways, but maybe she enjoys living on the edge. Or shall I sayenjoyed.

I hate to spoil the ending, but she's dead now.

In her line of work, I suppose she craved the excitement of not knowing what’s going to happen next. I wanted to give her that.

So I did. She was in the trunk of my car as I continued to drive. The car wasn't moving fast, but it was moving. She was getting dizzy, lightheaded. She wanted out of the trunk and she wanted out now.

“Hey,” she yelled. “Hey, stop this, will ya? It's not funny.”

I continued to drive all through town, and I agreed. It wasn't funny.

“You have to stop! I’m getting sick in here!”

She began to freak out. I think she was sensing things might not turn out so well for her. She started to shiver, and she couldn't stop it. She struggled against the feeling, but it was stronger than her. She considered trying to climb out of the trunk and running, but she was afraid that I would catch her and hurt her, or worse, so she stayed put. Her body went numb. Or so she said. She was very vocal, this gal; I presume this must have made her popular among her clientele.

“Hey!” she shouted. “Please, stop this. You have to stop it.”

I stopped the car.

She closed her eyes and waited.

I know because she still had them squeezed shut when I opened the trunk.

You ever hear the one about how you can lock a human and a dog in a truck together and leave them there for two days, and at the end of the two days, when you let them out, the dog will still be glad to see you?

Well, yeah, this was a little like that. Except there was no dog.

In the end, her corpse lay on the ground. Later, much later, a knot of detectives would gather around her, poking and prodding at her decaying body. She couldn’t have looked more dead: her throat had been slit from ear to ear and her head was nearly missing. Foul-smelling, bloody clots of hair were scattered around her body.

A few of the men would stand around the corpse, discussing the case. The wooded area was cluttered with discarded clothing and belongings. She was wearing a white dress, but the rest of her was now unrecognizable.

I’ll be curious to see if anyone figures it out. I can't help but feel like I'm not the only one who knows.

Chapter Forty-Two

Gina

Abetrayal like that, and who knows what to believe? Not all that long ago, I wanted nothing to do with being someone's wife. Now I know why.

I should have listened to my father about Joel. He tried to warn me. Why couldn't I have just listened? I think about the letters, and I wonder,how had I not seen this coming?

After I leave the motel, I'm fuming, and I do the only thing I can think of doing. I drive out to my father's house. I have to return the car anyhow, but more than that, I don’t want to go home. I’m afraid of what I might do if I see Joel’s face.

I haven’t even slammed the screen door when Mona greets me. “Hey, honey,” she says, and I don’t know what it is, but I see her face and then I just lose it. I fall to my knees and the tears start, and they just won’t stop.

“Come,” she says, helping me over to the couch. “I’ll put on a pot of tea.”

My father appears from the bedroom, looking disheveled like I’d woken him from a deep slumber. “I told you not to marry that bastard,” was all he said.

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