Chapter 44: Sally Goes Free

[Author’s Note: This chapter contains violence.]

“Get us some steaks, David; I’m hungry now.”

David hit the intercom button on the wall near Sally’s legs and ordered three steak dinners. There was a table and chairs in the next room, and when they arrived at the door, David opened the door and brought the wheeled cart over to the table. Semen time had expired, so Sally was able to get out of bed and join the two men for the meal.

As they ate, they were having some friendly small talk. At one point, she dribbled a bit on her boob and playfully wiped it up with her fingertip, then licked it clean with a grin. She spoke up once they had all finished.

“Here, I’ll put the dishes back on the cart.”

They didn’t notice, as she stood, that she had one of the sharp steak knives in her hand. She stepped behind Paul, grabbed and pulled up his hair, and then used the knife to slice open the carotid artery on one side of his neck. In almost a continuation of the same motion, she stretched out her arm and buried the knife in David’s eye, deeply enough to penetrate his brain. Paul tried to block the blood flow with his hand, but the swift loss of blood pressure incapacitated him quickly, and he slumped face-first into his plate.

Gritting her teeth and squinting her eyes, Sally took her knife and buried it in her upper arm, then pulled it out and folded David’s dead fingers around the handle. Finally, groaning in pain, she went back out by the bed and used the intercom to beg for help before sagging to the floor with her back against the wall and blood oozing down her arm.

In front of Elias and his local tame police detective, Sally gave her tearful explanation.

“We were having a nice meal together. I was trying to find a way forward with her new husband. But David was getting more and more agitated; he seemed to be afraid that Paul would be sending him away, back to the streets or something. Suddenly, David struck out with his knife and cut open Paul’s neck! Then, David swung his knife at me and got me in the arm, but I had a knife in my other hand and, I, I, in his eye...”

Elias was paying attention to Sally’s story but seemed determined to get the whole sordid mess over with quickly. He kept quiet although his thinking was pretty obvious.

“It was bad enough that my son and heir was a homosexual. For him to be killed by another one of them out of jealousy! It needed to be hushed up.”

And then there were the many hundreds of thousands Paul wasted chasing Sally’s sister Patricia and getting nowhere. Elias was DONE.

“I want nothing more to do with the Larkins, their two daughters, their mercenary parents, or their business!”

“Sally, thank you for explaining what happened. I’m sure the police have what they need for their report.”

He glared meaningfully at the official, who understand it was time for him to leave. There was nothing more to be done with the case; it was clear. He thanked Sally and left quickly.

“Sally, in the middle of all that, he never had a chance to make you pregnant, right?”

“That’s right, Elias.”

“Then, I think it’s time to send you back to America. Technically, I suppose, you’re Paul’s heir, but I don’t think you want any further contact with our family or its holdings. I’m willing to put $5 million in your account so you’ll forget about this whole misbegotten mess and have no further contact with my family. Will that be acceptable?”

“Well, there’s one other thing. Paul pursued my older sister, Patricia, for months. She’s been in hiding; I actually don’t know where she is. I think she would have something to say, even if I don’t.”

“I understand. I’ll give you another $3 million to pass on to her once you’re back in the US. Anything else?”

“Two more things. First, since I am under 18, you need to transmit all the money to Patricia. I assume you’re going to put it in a non-US account, Cayman Islands, or something. Second, for the same reason, I don’t have a personal credit card, so I need some of it in cash, some dollars for me to live on. Is that acceptable? Good, thank you.

“Elias, I hope if someday I have a son, he doesn’t cause me as much trouble as yours did for you.”

Twenty-four hours later, Sally was resisting the urge to kneel down and kiss the oily asphalt at the private hangar in New Jersey. She had tens of thousands of dollars in cash with her and the access codes for Patricia’s account at EFG Bank on Grand Cayman.