“ He killed J.P.”
“ Load him on the boat,” Wolfe Stewart said.
“ I was afraid of that.” Judy turned ashen, her voice cracking.
“ I’m sorry. I tried, but I was too late.”
Wolfe started for the unconscious man when Judy said, holding back her tears, “I know that man.”
Rick Gordon and Wolfe Stewart stopped.
“ He took me to dinner.”
“ He won’t be taking anyone else to dinner,” Rick said. Then to Wolfe Stewart, “Let’s get him on the boat.”
Wolfe took Storm under the arms, Rick grabbed the legs and they hauled him out of the back of the car and up onto the deck.
Wolfe went up to the bridge and started the engines. Judy released the lines and Rick went to the galley and gulped water from the faucet.
Judy hopped on board as the boat started to pull away from the pier and stood over the unconscious Sam Storm, eyeing the man, more out of curiosity than anger.
“ I would have expected tears,” Rick said, coming up from behind.
“ She will have time to cry later, after we dispose of Mr. Storm,” Judy said.
“ She?” Rick leaned against the rail for support.
“ Haven’t you wondered about all this? Haven’t you asked yourself, why? Why you?”
“ Yes.”
“ And?”
“ And I think this is the galka that Ann was afraid of. I think he can’t be killed, or is damn hard to kill.”
“ Go on,” she said.
“ I think that when he dies, he moves into another body, someone close by.”
“ That’s why you want to dump him at sea? Alive?”
“ Yes.”
“ So he’ll be alone in death?”
“ Yes.”
“ How far away do we have to be when he goes?”
“ I don’t know.”
“ What if we’re not far enough?”
“ I don’t know.”
“ What if we’re not far enough and he tries to take over you?”
“ I don’t think he can.”
“ Or me?”
“ I don’t know.”
“ He can’t take me.”
“ Why not?”
She moved in close and kissed him on the lips, then she ran her tongue along the scar under his ear. “This is why not. It’s you and me Flash, just like it always was.”
“ Ann?”
“ I’m here, Flash.”
“ What are you talking about?”
“ I’m here, inside, with Judy. That’s why I came to you instead of waiting for J.P. You were in trouble and we thought, in error, that J.P. wasn’t.”
“ This can’t be happening.”
“ We are Marangit, you and I. We are the sum of everything and everyone that made up those old Aborigines. I am the sum of all the old woman’s lives plus Judy’s, or put another way, she is the sum of all the old woman’s lives plus mine. Either way, I’m here.”
“ I don’t believe it.”
“ Believe it, Flash.” She kissed him again as only Ann had been able to kiss him and once again she ran her tongue over the scar. “Believe it.”
“ Why don’t I feel any different?”
“ Usually it takes a while before one realizes he is Marangit. Sometimes one never knows, but usually when the Marangit are called upon to fight the Galka, one knows, or is made to know. When that happens, the strongest personality, or the most capable, takes over the living body.”
“ And you have taken over Judy?”
“ Not exactly. We’ve decided to share, to merge ourselves. My memories are Judy’s and Judy’s are mine. I’m not Ann and I’m not Judy.”
“ You kiss like Ann. You know about the scar, and only Ann would know that. You called me Flash, and only Ann did that. But I’m finding this hard to buy into.”
“ You bought into the galka concept. You’re taking a barely alive man out to sea to die far away from any potential victim.”
“ I’m not sure I believe in God, but if I was going down for the third time, I’d pray.”
“ You’re doing this, just in case?”
“ No, I guess not. He’s evil. He is what you were afraid of. He is the Ragged Man.”
“ And me?”
“ You’re Judianne.”
“ A nice name for us, because now we are one.” She paused for a second, then said, “Say it.”
“ Judianne.”
“ Say it, and kiss me.”
“ Judianne.” He took her in his arms and kissed her.
She broke the embrace and said. “We still have a problem.”
“ We have lots of problems.”
“ No, we have an immediate problem. The galka can’t take you and it can’t take me, but what about Wolfe?”
“ Did I hear my name?” the bearded sea captain said, walking toward them, holding a well-worn flannel shirt.
“ We were just wondering,” Judianne said, “if you’ll get into any trouble for helping us.”
“ I’ll take my chances.” Then he added, “And I think right now it would be a good idea, Judy, if you took Mr. Gordon into the galley and cleaned him up some. Then he can get into this,” he offered the shirt. “It might be cool, but you can burn just as well on a cool day at sea as you can a hot one.”
Judianne took Rick by the arm and said, “Lean on me. The captain’s right, you need to clean up, and that shoulder needs looking at.” She started to lead him away.
They heard a grunt of surprise as they moved away from the captain. They turned to see Sam Storm grab Wolfe Stewart from behind the left knee and jerk him to the ground. With rattlesnake speed he grabbed Stewart’s Bowie knife from its scabbard and slit his throat, all the while staring at them with death defying eyes. He put the knife to his mouth and licked off the captain’s still-dripping blood.
“ I heard what you said.” Blood dripped from his chin as Rick and Judianne stood spellbound. “I enjoyed the killing. It’s like I have a bad side. It wanted me to kill, but I picked the victims.”
“ You didn’t try to fight it?” Rick asked.
“ I didn’t want to. I’d been beaten down all my life, a nobody man in a nobody job. I had a chance to shine when the RIAA hired me to track you and your bootlegger pals down, but I couldn’t even do that. Then, all of sudden, in that bait store, when you killed that man with the bottle of wine, I was somebody. I was supreme, above anyone, above the law, above fear, till I tried to fuck her.” He pointed at Judianne with knife. “Then I knew I was in for a fight, but I won’t die easy and I’ll win in the end.”
“ Bootlegs? You did all this because of the records?” Rick couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“ And what about any of this does?” He looked at the knife, turned it, as if he were fascinated with it. “And one more thing,” he said, “the boy is alive. He’s in your upstairs bathroom, tied with a noose around his neck, sharing a tub full of water with a radio on a timer set to go off at noon. Pretty quick the boy fries.” He brought the sharp edge of the blade to his lips again and licked off the remaining blood.
Judianne reacted with a combination of Ann’s determination and Judy’s youth. She screamed and charged the wounded man, kicking him in the face, driving the blade of the Bowie knife through his mouth to the back of his head. Then she whirled, building momentum, and slammed her foot into his blood gushing mouth with full force, splattering blood and brains on the deck.
She looked down at what she had wrought and said, “He was wrong, he died easy.”
After he caught his breath and allowed his thumping heart to cool down, J.P. wanted a drink. He looked at the blood tinged water and the thought of drinking that made him gag. He reached his right hand behind his back, stretched and managed to turn on the cold water. He set the tap at a dribble. Then he cupped his hand, grabbing a lap of water and brought it to his lips. Repeating the gesture several times he was able to satisfy his thirst.
When his parched throat no longer screamed, he looked at the clock and frowned, 11:15. He had forty-five minutes left.
He wanted out of the tub. He wanted clothes. He wanted his mother. And he knew that help was probably not coming. He was on his own.