“Poured it into his can of beer. I’ll wager he won’t fail to drink that.” “Drinking on the job, how distasteful. How long do you suppose before the medication takes affect?” “I don’t expect it to be long, even on a big man like that. Let’s sit on the bench, have a sip from that flask in your purse, and see whether he gets out of that truck again.” **** Twenty-five minutes of waiting and shifting about on the hard bench convinced Samantha and Eleanor that their sedative had worked. They hurried, in their own slow way, to each truck door and climbed inside. “Help me, Sam. He’s heavy.” “I’m trying. Just shove him and let him fall in the floorboard. Yes, that’s it, one more time.” He tumbled off the seat with a thud. “Now, what do we do? Should we kill him right here?” “And how do you propose we do that? Strangle him?”
“Of course, I did. Now, go slow or you’ll hurt him.” The truck rolled forward, the rope drew taut, and his body slid smoothly to the ground on his side. “Well, I’ll be darned. It worked.” Eleanor took a baseball bat from behind the seat and rounded the truck. “Just like a woman beater to carry a bat around.” She handed it to Samantha. “What do you want me to do with this?” “Bash his head in.” “You want me to kill him with his own bat?” “Absolutely. It’s poetic justice. You just pop him right there between the eyes, split his forehead, and I think that should do it.” Samantha handed it back to her. “Well, if it’s so easy, you do it.” “We’ll both do it. I’ll hit him, and then you hit him. That way neither of us will rat the other out, if the cops come snooping around.”
“Oh, that would be ghastly, but we have to do something. People will be looking for him soon.” “Well, climb onto the seat, and we’ll take him out of town.”
“That’s fair enough, I suppose. Go ahead, let him have it.”
“You can’t drive, Ellie.”
“Is that as hard as you can hit?”
“The fact that they won’t let me drive doesn’t mean I can’t drive. Shut the door, and let’s go.”
“I did my best.”
“But, where am I to put my feet?” “I don’t care if you put one in his face and the other up his butt. Let’s go. **** A tall oak lent its shade to a green truck, sitting deep in the woods near Perkins’ Creek. An elderly black woman stood beside the passenger’s door with her hands propped on her narrow hips. “He’s too heavy. I bet that guy weighs two hundred pounds.” “I got the rope out of the toolbox for you. Do I have to tie it around him too?” “I am quite capable of looping a rope around a man’s chest. You make it sound like I never did that before.” Samantha tried to hide her smile as she worked the rope under each arm and secured it with a knot. “Did you tie the other end to the tree?”
Eleanor lifted the bat and slapped it into his head.
“Lord almighty, you didn’t even raise a whelp. Give it back to me. I used to play golf. I’ll show you how to kill a man.” She grabbed the bat, lined it up on his head, took a healthy backswing, and drove it home.” He groaned and rolled onto his back. “What, who, did somebody hit me?” “Yes, I struck you with your baseball bat, but it appears I only woke you.” “What are you trying to do, you crazy, old woman?” “Obviously, she was trying to kill you. I tried, but I don’t have the strength to break that hard head of yours.” “Two old hags trying to kill me? I must be on dope or something. Am I tied up?” “Naturally. Samantha tied your hands with a scarf, and I think you’ll find it quite resilient. I wrapped your legs with that silver-looking tape.”
November 2013 | 89