Page 88 of Crawl
“Key West Police Department, how may I direct—”
“Your detective is a trafficker,” I say.
The line is silent. “I’m sorry, sir, did you say—”
“He’s buying women on the dark web and raping and killing them,” I say emphatically. “He has had that track record since high school. You need to investigate him.”
“Sir, if you could just—”
I hang up. The police will be forced to investigate, and once the information leaks, he’ll be all over the news. Punishment like that always riles up the media. And when Remedy sees it, any doubts she has will be gone.
At the estate, I check in with Remedy, kissing her lips, full of tension and force. I scrape the hell out of her back while she melts into me, but I rip myself away before I get distracted. I make sure she’s occupied upstairs so that I have time to work. In the downstairs office, I remove Winstone and the stepdad. The white primer makes the stepdad look like a puffy balloon, but with Winstone, it’s like a shriveled banana peel. I chop and toss them into the black garbage bags too.
In the evening, I rent a tow truck with cash. I can’t get all the dents out of the detective’s car, but most of the blood is out. It takes all night to make it to the center of the state. I stop at different veterinarian hospitals and funeral homes on the way there, picking locks when I can and starting the incinerators and crematories to take care of the remains. Eventually, the body parts will be ashes, and so spread out, no one will notice the difference.
In Central Florida, I drop off the detective’s car at a scrap metal junkyard. It’s a friend I’ve used from time to time; I like that he doesn’t ask questions.
When I get back to the estate in the early afternoon the next day, Remedy is asleep by the front window, waiting for me. The windows are open like I always leave them, but now she’s comfortable, letting the breeze come in. The sun lights the deep tawny skin on her neck and her open, purple lips. I’ve never cared for kissing, but finally kissing her creates this urge inside of me to make up for never doing it. I need her mouth on mine all the time, even if I can’t breathe.
I sit by her side. The cut on her face is healing rapidly, but I make a plan to peel the scab later, to make sure that it scars. It’s fair, considering the damage she did to my back. I’ll even let her scar my face too. Seeing her like this, she reminds me of an angel of darkness. She brings blood into the world, and with my last breath, I’ll make sure that nothing ever hurts her again.
No one can hurt Remedy, but me.
I move a black tendril of hair out of her eyes, and she stirs, but she doesn’t flinch away.
“You’re home,” she says in a drowsy voice.Home.I’ve never had a home. But if home means I’m with her, then yes. I’m home.
She rubs her eyes and sits up, letting out a yawn. The corners of my mouth lift; she takes my breath away.
And I’m going to protect her darkness with all of my fucking soul.
“We should talk,” she says.
“We should.”
“If we’re going to do this,together,” she uses a strangely stern voice, almost as if she’s joking, though I know she’s not, “then you need to admit that you have feelings for me.”
“I know.”
She presses her lips together, stunned for a second. “You know?”
I shrug my shoulders slightly. “Finish your speech.”
“Is this love, or is it obsession?” she continues. “I need to know. Either way, you have feelings for me, but as long as we know where we stand, we can figure out what our future means. If that means we’re together or not.”
I killed her boss, killed her ex-boyfriend, killed her stepbrother,helpedher kill her stepdad, watched her kill a cop, then covered up those deaths so that she’ll never be found. And if I need to, Iwillsacrifice myself. As long as she’s safe.
Loveisan obsession to me. Everything is dull, given to the same predictable tendencies, but Remedy isn’t. There’s a darkness inside of her that draws me in. And I know we’ll be the end of each other, but I also know I’ll die happy.
“Does it make a difference?” I ask.
“Yes,” she snaps, crossing her arms. “It lets me know where I stand with you. And like I said, Cash, I’mdonewith your bullshit. If you’re obsessed, then you’ll lose that obsession over time, and we have to figure out a long-term arrangement that works. But love?Love stays.Love doesn’t give up just because you lose interest. So I need to know.” She stares at me with that fiery little gaze, and I want to fuck her into oblivion. To show her exactly how obsessedandin love with her I am. “Do you love me?”
“Come here.”
She hesitantly inches closer to me and I cloak her in my arms until she’s completely consumed by my touch. She lays her head on my chest and I nuzzle the top of her head.
“I’m not sure what this is. This feeling,” I say. I stroke her hair, the silky strands mixing with my bumpy fingers. “But it’s warm and it tingles and it consumes me whenever you’re near. And I’ve never felt it before.” I position her until we’re looking into each other’s eyes, and I search her, making sure she knows that I’m here for her, and only her. “I’m not sure what love is, but I know I will die for you. I will kill for you. And if you have to, I want you to kill me too.”
