Chapter 14

He is an angler in the lake of darkness

 

 

 

 

Delia didn't return to the bakery. She went straight to Freddy and pulled out of the customer parking lot. 

Her heart nearly burned a hole in her chest. 

I have you now, Eddie. Thomi will believe me. If she doesn't …

Delia refused to think about that. She said out loud, “I believe in you, Thomi. I know you will see the truth. I know you will. I know you.”

Off the interstate, she roared into the Boroughbridge House’s gravel and parked Freddy next to Thomi’s Aztec.

There was Eddie's Mustang, too, just a few spaces away and gleaming in the early light of day like a wet black cat. Delia could almost hear it growling. 

She went to the second floor and knocked loudly on Thomi’s door.

After a minute passed, she hit the wood again, this time with her fist. “Thomi. I must talk to you. Please open the door.”

There was only silence.

Acid bubbled in Delia's stomach. She didn't want to go to Eddie’s apartment. 

I have to. If Thomi’s there, I have to warn her before it’s too late.

She trudged up the next set of stairs and then stood on the landing for a moment, trying to work up the courage to travel the carpeted hall and knock on Eddie’s door.

The door opened before Delia took one step. 

Eddie stepped into the hall and faced her squarely. He was in jeans and a dark gray sweater. His dark hair was wet, as though he'd just showered. Suddenly, Eddie grinned at Delia and waved her forward.

Thomi poked her head out of the doorway, and she stared at Delia for a long moment. Her hair was up in a knot, and she wore a brightly colored scarf around it. She took a long breath that made her nostrils flare. Then she pulled her head back into the apartment.

Delia still hadn’t moved.

Eddie continued to wave her forward. “Delia, Delia, come here. We have happy news.”

Her legs barely moved. She wondered if this was what it was like learning to walk on stilts.

Eddie reached left, grabbed something—no, someone, and pulled Thomi out the door to stand next to him. “Come on, Delia. We have news, and it’s time for you and Thomi to make up.”

 He released Thomi and stepped aside to allow Delia to enter the apartment. 

Thomi jerked to the side and then turned her back on Delia. She went to the black leather sofa and sat at the edge of it. She wore beige wide-legged pants, and a long brown sweater with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. There were streaks beneath her eyes—as though she’d been crying.

 Eddie followed Delia inside and shut the door. 

It sounded like a nail in a coffin.

“Delia,” he said magnanimously. “We want you to be the first to know. Thomi and I were married last night.”

The entire inside of Delia froze over as though an ice storm had just made its way through. “Married?” she asked. Her voice sounded frozen, too. It came out as though it had icicles on it. “But … that’s illegal.”

She smoothed her expression, trying not to give away anything. “That’s illegal.”

Eddie’s expression went from surprised to furious in the space of half a second.

Thomi jumped from the couch and threw her hand out at Delia. “Why did you tell her? This is what we get from Delia; don’t you understand yet? She is so hate-filled, so jealous.” She turned her burning eyes on Delia. “Get out.”

A long exhale of breath came out of Eddie.

Even Thomi seemed to notice, and she turned toward him.

He said, “Oh, my god. Did you figure it out, Delia?” He tilted his head, and a slight smile played on his lips. “Just when I thought you wouldn’t. How did you do it? I’ve been so careful.”

“I met Nancy Edgar today.”

“Ohhh,” Eddie said, really exaggerating. Then he shook his head. “Still,” he said, shaking his head and wagging an index finger, “that was a long stretch to figure it out.”

 “Not when you have all the clues and a trash bag full of Ahead of the Hunt rubbish.”

He shook his head again. “I’m going to take your word for it.” Eddie’s voice sounded almost thrilled, as though he was really enjoying the game. 

Tres chilling.

He leaned a little away from her and stuck his hand in his pocket. 

Eddie meant to kill her. Delia accepted it. But, she wanted to go down with a bit of dignity anyway—not crying and apologizing. No, Delia wanted Thomi to know the truth. She wanted her friend’s respect in the end. She gazed at the girl, who still had her brows pulled together and gazing, staring at Eddie, and then Delia.

Delia told her, “You married your half-brother, Edmund Edgar.”

“I am NOT EDGAR!” Eddie screamed.

Both Delia and Thomi jumped.

“I will never be Edgar. I changed my name, purposely, when Nancy gave me up. Oh, now she wants a relationship, but it’s too late.”

Thomi had her hands on the sides of her head. “Wait. Wait a minute.” She shook her head. “Nancy Edgar. Is that the woman I spoke to the other day? You said her name was Nancy Gloucester.”

Delia turned toward Thomi. “She was married to Louie after he left your mother, Thomi. They had Eddie and then Louie left them.”

“I don’t care about her,” Eddie said, spitting out her like it was acid on his tongue. “I never cared about her. I only wanted to know my father.”

“I don’t understand, Eddie,” Delia told him.

And, I’d like to before I die. 

“Most people look for their birth parents and want a relationship with them. All you wanted to do was destroy Louie.”

Eddie took a long breath and closed his eyes. He pulled his hand out of his pocket.

There was something silver in his hand.

A pistol!

It was a silver-plated Derringer, and it fit so neatly in the palm of his hand that it almost disappeared in his flesh. He opened his eyes. Eddie looked much calmer then, and he smiled at Delia. “That’s not true. I wanted a relationship with Louie. I met him. We got together a couple of times. I told him about my dreams of owning a craft beer and CBD oil business.”

He lifted the gun and studied it, checking the chamber for bullets. “I asked him to help me start the business. I wanted to do it with him.” He gazed at Thomi—not with love in his eyes, but something else. It was a dull emotion coming out, tedium, maybe, or loathing. “Louie thought that all I wanted was his money. He planned to give everything to Thomi.” Snapping the barrel back into place, he palmed the weapon again. “So, I showed him that Thomi didn’t love him. She tried to kill him with her car.”

Thomi’s face had lost all emotion. Her eyes had grown enormous, and she stared at him without blinking. “That’s not true.”

“Well, I did borrow your car that day,” he said, waving the gun. “And, it worked beautifully, too. He blamed you.” Eddie let out a delighted chuckle. “But then the old man figured it out and hired bodyguards and refused to see me. And stole my idea for Tipsy Louie’s.” He turned to Delia. “Do you know that I came up with the name? I was willing to name it after my father.”

He faced Delia again, very determinedly. “What I didn’t expect was that he brought your father into it, Delia. Louie tried to protect himself like that. He knew I wanted Tipsy, so he brought in old Geoff Leary. So, you see, I had my choice. I could manipulate you,” he said, testing the aim of the pistol—at Delia. “Or Thomi.” He dropped the gun to his side. “Thomi was always the obvious choice, of course.”

He smiled gently at his bride. “So deliciously desperate for love. I get it, Thomi. Louie didn’t love you any more than he loved me.” His dark eyes switched back to Delia. “What I have found hilarious, however, is that Thomi always talked about your self-esteem when she has none herself. Isn’t that funny?” He leaned toward Delia as if expecting her to join him in his joke. “Isn’t that hilarious? But, you weren’t fooled, were you, Delia? I couldn’t even get you to kiss me. I think I would’ve liked playing you two against each other.”

“Like you played Sanya and Jeanette against each other.”

“Oh, wow. Yes.” He shook his head. “Those two. I actually did love Jeanette, though. It’s funny. I don’t miss her. I don’t miss either of them. Do you think there’s something wrong with me?”

Holla.

“I do,” Eddie said, answering himself. “I think there’s something broken inside of me.”

“You’re a sociopath,” Thomi accused.

“Right,” he said, pointing the gun at her. “Right you are! I’ve read all about myself and taken tests online. I read the Glamour magazine article about Are you dating a Sociopath? You were, Thomi, and now you married me.”

“Why did you kill Alfie?” Delia wanted to know, hoping to get his attention off of shooting Thomi.

“Oh, right,” Eddie said, spinning back around. “I promised to tell you everything, didn’t I, cute little Delia? Little Miss Nosy.” He dropped the pistol to his side again. “I killed Alfie for two reasons. One, he wouldn’t hire me because I couldn’t produce documents for the last name of Chester. I have one now, but it’s too late. And, two, because he had an affair with Courtney Kent.”

Talking to a madman gave Delia a headache. “Why did you care about that?”

“I didn’t care as much as you did, obviously—or as much as Isaac did. Courtney destroyed her husband. All Isaac cared about from then on was what Courtney was doing, instead of doing his job. He’d follow her everywhere. So, since Mate couldn’t finish the job, I had Daniel finish the job in Shakespeare Gardens. I thought it was an appropriate spot. Isaac and Courtney lived their lives like all of Shakespeare’s characters, with little information and plenty of rages.”

“Why did you want to work for Louie? He’d know it was you. Or, is that why you had him blinded?”

“Louie was so oblivious to his staff. I would’ve destroyed him from the inside out.”

“So, why blind him?”

“That was genius, don’t you think? I’m dating my sister beneath my father’s nose.” He tut-tutted and smiled at the Derringer. 

“Louie was catching on,” Delia told him. “He said you reminded him of someone but that you were too old.”

“He’s so stupid,” Eddie said, the words tainted with rage. “I told him I was in my forties.”

“You’re not?” Thomi asked, as though that was the big betrayal here.

“I’m younger than you, boring Thomi.”

Tears washed down her face, unchecked. She barely blinked, only stared at Eddie.

Delia asked, “You killed Mate because he knew too much?”

“Because he stabbed me, the ass. He didn’t kill Isaac and was about to kill you. I hadn’t decided whether I could use you or not, Delia. I didn’t want you dead yet.” Eddie leaned against the side of a leather chair and crossed his legs. “Mate was making too many decisions on his own.” His eyes hardened. “And dammit, he stabbed me. So, he had to come out of jail.”

“You have people working for the police?” she asked, nodding.

“Who do you think messed up the evidence so I could get Mate out of jail?”

“Jeanette got him out.”

“Right,” he said, swinging his gun hand in an arch. “But, I paid for it.”

“And then you killed Mate.”

“No, Daniel did. He’s very taken with Mate’s old flame.”

Delia wondered at him. This was all so macabre. “Daniel killed Mate, his own brother?”

Eddie shrugged. His eyes were on the pistol again. “What’s so hard about that?”

She lifted her chin. “Daniel has been arrested, and so has Chu Hua.”

He let out a sharp laugh.

Delia jumped. It’d gone right through her.

Eddie lifted his eyes to hers again. “Do you think they’ll rat me out? They won’t.”

“Because you’ll kill them,” Delia said, already knowing the way Eddie worked.

“Yes, before they leave a jail cell.”

Thomi’s breathing grew heavier and heavier. “You killed my dad!”

Eddie lifted his brows and stared at Delia—almost comically. “God, she’s slow, isn’t she?” He turned to Thomi again. “Yes, I killed our dad, Thomi. But not before he knew exactly who I was. I told him right before I put the pillow over his face.” He let out another laugh. “Oh, you should’ve seen his expression. I told him that I was going to marry you. I told him that I’d end up with everything one way or another.”

“And, now what, Eddie?” Thomi screamed. “NOW WHAT?”

He shrugged and lifted the pistol. “You die.” 

Delia didn’t think, only responded. She dived at Eddie.

A bullet left the chamber.

Delia’s hand hit the gun, causing it to sail toward the ceiling. Thomi fell first onto the sofa and then onto the floor, holding her stomach.

Delia rushed toward her—but then slowed when she saw blood pouring through Thomi’s fingers. Her large amber eyes landed on Delia. She opened her mouth.

“Thomi!” Delia screamed, falling to her knees on the floor. Hot tears flooded the corners of her eyes. “No, Thomi, no!”

“Delia,” Thomi said. She trembled with shock and loss of blood. Her entire body jerked violently. “Delia. Oh my God. You were right. You were right about him. I’m sorry, I’m sorry …”

Delia’s heart had come back to life for a brief second, only to shatter into a million pieces again. “Stop it. It’s okay. It’s okay.”

Something hard hit the back of Delia’s head. Stars cast across her field of vision, and she fell onto Thomi. Then Delia rolled onto her side and got to her knees.

Eddie’s face was a mask of hate. It reminded Delia of the logo she’d seen on the side of his business building. 

Suddenly, he flew at Delia like a bullet. He got his hand on her throat, and she felt her breath cut off. She writhed and struggled to escape, but Eddie was so much more powerful. Lights flashed in front of her eyes.

“Time to die, Delia,” he said, standing over her. “Don’t feel too bad. You weren’t stupid, and you didn’t do anything wrong. You were always going to die. So were Geoff and Louie. Thomi, too.”

Delia grabbed Eddie’s wrist. They were like steel rods. “Montague.”

“You think he’ll charge me?” His grip lessened for just a moment. Long enough for him to say, “You came in here with a gun. You charged me with it. Thomi got to you first and choked you. Then she shot herself out of remorse.”

Delia tried twisting away from him. All she did was lose her balance and spin on her knees.

Eddie’s fingers tightened. “Bye, pretty Delia.”

She clawed him—just to mark him. Nicolo would find evidence this time. She slashed and slashed until she had no energy remaining.

Delia’s peripheral vision went first. She couldn’t hear anymore …

Except, the gunshots.

Eddie’s body jumped. His fingers slackened on Delia’s throat.

Delia gasped for breath—oh, it hurt so bad to breathe. She saw Eddie fall to his side. There was blood on the front of his sweater. She turned her eyes toward someone in the middle of the room.

Thomi? Oh my god, Thomi?

The girl raised the gun, face pale, her hands shaking, but she took another shot. The Derringer roared two more times. The last bullet hit Eddie between his eyes.

Delia fell to her side, her eyes still on her friend. 

Thomi had blood all over the front of her sweater. She’d gone so, so pale. Then she fell sideways onto the couch.

Everything was going black. Delia gasped again for air, but it was almost too much to breathe.

And, then, there was another voice floating toward her. Was that Titus’ voice? Banjo strumming Titus? 

Play Viva la Vida…