“You evil bastard, you’re going to die in jail for this,” Henry spat, clearly shaken to the core. I stepped forward and pulled him to his feet, trying my best to calm him down.
“Henry! Talk to me! What happened?”
He grit his teeth, squeezing his eyes shut, “He…he….the daughter is dead.”
Tommy started to laugh, “Oh… what a horrible misunderstanding. Despite all appearances, I assure you she’s very much alive,” Tommy turned his head back to stare at us. “I care deeply about that little girl. I would never kill her. She was just being punished for using the phone.”
Henry’s eyes bulged, “Oh my god…” and then he torn back up the stairs, screaming to hold on.
My world was spinning, the events before me unravelling at a speed I couldn’t keep up with. I kept my gun pointed at Tommy and glanced at Mary who was curled up into herself on the floor, sobbing.
“Where’s your husband!?” I asked, desperate to make sense of something, anything, “What the hell is going ON here?!”
Mary rocked back and forth, her mind quickly disintegrating under the mental agony she had apparently undergone. She didn’t answer and so I got down on one knee and gripped her by the shoulder, spinning her to face me.
“MARY! Where’s your husband!?”
Through tear streaked eyes, she pointed upstairs, her voice cracking and shaking under an avalanche of sorrow, “H-he took him…i-into the bedroom…I-I think….” and then she was lost to me again, retreating back into herself.
I pushed the brim of my hat up, mouth dry, trying not to look at Tommy who was smiling at me from the floor.
Suddenly, Henry’s voice blasted down to me from upstairs, “Get up here, I need help getting her down! She’s still breathing! HURRY!”
What the hell, I thought, shooting a look at Tommy to make sure he was secure before racing up the stairs. I reached the top and could hear Henry down the hall, struggling with something, but all sound suddenly faded as my eyes absorbed the scene at the opposite end of the hall from Henry.
I was staring into the master bedroom, the corner of a king sized bed poking into view. Four ornate bedposts rose from each corner, and impaled on one, was the husband.
Upside down.
His mouth was split open and his lips kissed the foot board, blood pooling at the base. The wood spire disappeared into his throat and reappeared out of his groin. His body hung, completely naked, his skin a mass of bruises and cuts. Blood and shit coated the floor and I took a step back, a scream rising in my throat.
What the fuck, what the fuck, what the FUCK…
I could hear Henry screaming my name, but the visceral vision held me like a vice. I felt vomit tickle the back of my throat, but found I didn’t have the breath to expunge it from my body.
Suddenly, a new cry cut the paralysis, a shrill, high pitched scream.
Mary.
Something thudded down below and then I heard a scraping noise like something being dragged across the floor. Mary’s screams ceased almost as soon as they had started.
Henry was howling to call for back-up, for EMT’s, but my mind was beginning to strain under the horrors I was experiencing. I blinked and felt dizziness rock me and I had to catch myself on the wall to keep from falling. I stumbled forward towards the balcony and looked down at where I had left Tommy.
He was gone along with Mary.
