he grunted and groaned, trying (but not trying) to remove the ring from the man’s thick fingers. “Won’t budge, bro,” he said. “It’s stuck fast.”
The man with the welt continued in the vein of his friend’s theatrics with an exaggerated frown and sigh. Taking a few steps forward, he squatted down next to the man with the shaved head. “Let me have a try,” he said.
The man with the welt took hold of the large man’s ring finger and violently jerked it to its left. There was an exceptional crack like a branch being snapped in two. The large man cried out through his gag, the cloth muffling the sound but not the intensity.
“Did that get it?” the man with the shaved head asked.
“Nope. Still on there,” the man with the welt replied.
“Better try again.”
The man with the welt took hold of the broken finger and now jerked it to its right. No crack this time, just a grinding noise like popcorn kernels being munched. The large man’s cries were long drawn-out moans now, the pain shockingly worse than before.
“Anything?” the man with the shaved head asked.
“Still nothing,” the man with the welt complained.
The man with the shaved head huffed, stood up, and exited the room. He returned moments later carrying a large kitchen knife, a good portion of it coated in dark, wet red. The big man’s eyes widened when he saw the bloodied knife.
“Ah, don’t worry about her, big fella,” the man with the shaved head said. He looked at the knife as he spoke, rotating it back and forth in his hand, studying it. “We made it fairly quick. Still, a pig like that’s gonna take a lot of sticking before she eventually stops squealing, yeah?” He laughed and shook his head without a trace of sympathy. “Poor fat slut was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
The man with the shaved head handed the kitchen knife down to the man with the welt who was still squatting in front of the big man, his calm, almost lazy eyes never leaving the big man’s panicked, unblinking pair. His confident smirk never waning. The same confident smirk he’d flashed at the large man before exiting the bar after the fight. Admittedly, that smirk had caused the large man a brief hint of concern as they left the scene. Now it terrified him.
“Okay,” the man with the welt announced. He took firm hold of the twisted ring finger in one hand, and tapped the flat of the blade against the big man’s forehead with the other, clucking his tongue with each tap like a metronome. “Let’s see if we can’t get that scary ring off once and for all.”
12
Patrick and Amy were awake but still in bed. The sun had just come up.
“How’d you sleep?” Patrick asked.
Amy was resting her head on his chest while he stroked her hair. She waited a few seconds before responding. “About as well as I could given the circumstances. How about you?”
“Okay I guess,” he said.
What followed was a brief silence Patrick utilized to prepare for what he felt was the inevitable question to come.
“You don’t believe me do you?” she asked. Her head was still on his chest, her query was soft.
Patrick hadn’t dared voice any of his skepticism last night; his wife’s rage would have made arguing his case nigh on impossible. But now, after some sleep, and a chance to reflect without a condescending local sheriff to answer to, Patrick felt that maybe his wife would be a bit more receptive to what he had to say.
“I’ll never doubt you, baby,” he said. “You tell me the earth is flat and the moon is made of cheese, and I’ll stand up in court and swear under oath that my wife is telling the absolute truth.” He heard her laugh softly through her nose, her head still resting on his chest. “And I still don’t doubt that you saw something in that window.” He took a breath, ready to take the leap. “But I do know a few things. I know that what happened at Giant with that perverted asshole was a big deal, and that it upset you big time. I know that we had a bunch of drinks over at Norm and Lorraine’s. I know that sometimes the dark can play tricks on our eyes. And I know that since we’ve been up here we’ve experienced an odd incident or two to say the fucking least.”
Another small