Chapter 27: Wednesday March 16: A Shock For Dad And Connie!

"Just what do you mean Friday night's orgy is cancelled? You know very well that Connie looks forward to it, in fact it's almost the highlight of her week."

"Just what I said pop, Saturday is the culmination of almost two months preparation and we need an early start because Anne and Meredith have to meet this Bristoll at six-o-clock. Then when they go we follow two hours later."

"What do you mean we? Connie and I aren't going to follow, I mean we've had nothing to do with this since the whole thing started have we honey?"

I watched dad move the naked body of Connie Smith from her seat at the kitchen table onto his lap, watched her as she shook her head in agreement.

"I mean all we've ever done is be here for you," continued my father as he began to toy with her tits, "all we've ever done is amuse ourselves while we waited for you to return, while Anne here took over our home with that horrible fellow, while Morrie and his wife played at happy families." My father continued looking at me as he gently toyed with Connie's stomach. "I know things have changed over that same period you're talking about, I mean I'm not that silly Winston. You think I can't put two and two together and make four? Well I can.

"You think I don't notice that you've suddenly developed into the world's greatest lover every time you have sex, something that Connie's struggling to come to terms with, even though she's obviously enjoying every second of it. Then other things begin to happen outside of the families business interests. Two blokes get killed in St. Kilda on the night I needed you to do a job, and that was followed on the Monday night by the killing of that girl, who by some extraordinary coincidence just happened to be the sister of one of those two blokes.

"You killed her in the woods and needed us to supply you with an alibi which as it turns out doesn't seem necessary.

"And what about those other blokes that got beaten up? I mean that happened about the same time as you brought Meredith here. And last but not least of course is this business with Anne and that kid, I mean just what is all that about?"

"That's not important, all that is important pop is that you be prepared to drive me out to this property, and be here for both Anne and Meredith and myself so that you can be ready to rush out to pick us up when I give you a call. Apart from that you have to continue to do as I say because after Saturday we're going to need all the help you can give us, and all the help of the rest of the rest of our little family."

"But why should we help? After all we're like the mushrooms in that old joke, you just keep us in the dark and feed us bullshit."

'Then maybe you should tell him Winston.' It was the voice of my brother returned. 'Maybe you should give a little demonstration, I don't think it'll hurt at this late stage do you?'

Just then Anne and Meredith walked into the kitchen wearing what the wore to bed, Anne a black lace diamond cut teddy that displayed all her attractive features to great advantage and Meredith a short-short nightie that show clearly that she wasn't wearing anything underneath.

Anne managed to size up the situation quickly as she looked questioningly in my direction. "Is he... ?"

"Yes he is Anne, would you go and get a knife for me, it seems that I have to give one final demonstration for the benefit of my father and Connie."

I watched along with my father and Connie and Meredith as the jiggling flesh of Anne's buttocks moved in concert with her swaying hips as she headed out of the room.

Her departure signalled the obvious question from my father. "Just what do you mean by another demonstration? Just what is it you're going to show us?"

'You heard my father Colin, just how are we going to handle this?'

'You're going to tell Anne to give the knife to Meredith and she's going to stab you with the knife for two reasons, first because you need to reinforce what you've already told them, confirm what they believe. And secondly it'll help convince your father and Connie of their need to help without me needing to interfere.'

"Come on son--" continued my father "--what's all this about, and why the knife?"

Just then we saw Anne walk back into the room from outside, in her hand was one of my double-edged long blade knives. She was smiling a little nervously, a little sheepishly as if she wanted to know what I was going to ask of her.

"Give the knife to Meredith, Anne." I turned to Meredith. "I think you know what to do. It'll help settle things once and for all."

Anne gave the knife to Meredith before stepping back to stand next to my father and Connie who looked nervously from my father, to Connie, and finally to me.

"Is this... is this what... er... he wants?" asked Meredith.

I nodded my head as I turned to my father. "This is a waste of a perfectly good shirt but it's worth it to prove a point. Now I want you to watch very carefully what happens here, then I want you to listen as I tell you why and how."

Finally I turned back to Meredith, held my arms above my head and thrust my chest out. "Do it Meredith, come on you know it'll be okay." I gripped her hand and pressed the point of the blade at my chest. "After all you saw what happened at that hotel."

After a couple of seconds I turned back to my father. "That's something else you can put down to us. You remember the incident at that hotel in Footscray where thirteen members of the sharks were killed?"

"BULLSHIT! You're not going to tell me you and Anne and Meredith here could handle a gang like that? Not in your wildest dreams. I mean stuff like that doesn't even happen in the..."

"Movies pop? This isn't movies this is real life." I turned back to Meredith and barked out a two word order. "DO IT!"

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?" Screamed Connie as she tried to pull Meredith's hand away. "Why the knife? What do you want Meredith to... ?"

'For heaven's sake tell her to shut up Winston, tell her you know what you're doing."

So I did, then I waited as Meredith hesitated before shoving the knife into my chest to the hilt. When nothing happened I looked at my father and Connie before pointing at the knife. "Quite a party trick huh. Tell you what dad why don't you take it out just to prove that what you saw really did happen."

He didn't hesitate, after all he was only taking it out not putting it in. When he removed the knife he looked at the knife and the little cut in my shirt. I expected my father to continue by undoing the buttons on my shirt, but instead it was Connie who couldn't contain her curiosity. She undid the buttons quickly, pulled the shirt apart and checked where the knife wound should have been.

"B-But... but there should be..." she felt around the area where the knife had gone in. "There should be a wound, a scratch, a mark, anything to show what happened. How can this be?" She went to take the knife out of my father's hand but I beat her to it. "It certainly doesn't look like a trick knife Winston but I don't know how else to..."

"No Connie it isn't a trick knife."

I slammed the point of the blade against the surface of the table and watched the expressions of my father and Connie change as the knife penetrated a full inch and a half into its surface.

"But then," I pulled out the knife and handed it to my father, "maybe you'd like to try, purely to satisfy your own curiosity of course."

"I don't think so, I think I'll..." Then I saw a sudden change in his expression. "Hell maybe I will, after all it's what you want."

I watched with mild surprise as my father took the knife in his right hand and looked at it before stabbing me in the chest. I had thought he would refuse point blank because it was hardly a thing you'd expect your father to do.

'Just goes to show you doesn't it Winston, you see father wanted to but he couldn't convince himself that it would be okay, so I kind of like persuaded him. Now take a look at the expression on his face, I really think he believes you now.'

"This can't be happening." My father looked at me and the knife in my chest, looked from Connie to Anne to Meredith who had performed the initial stabbing and then turned his attention back to me. "Tell me I didn't do that. Will somebody tell me I didn't just stab my own son." He was shaky, nervous and stammering as he watched me pull the knife out of my own chest. "I mean I started to say no, you heard me Connie didn't you?" He grabbed her by the naked flesh of her shoulders and forced her to look at him. "Tell me you heard me."

I watched Anne quickly respond, watched her take my father's hand in hers. "It's okay Cyril you didn't do anything wrong, and if everyone sits back and relaxes while I pour some more coffee I'm sure Winston will explain, I mean--" Anne turned to me "--he wants you to doesn't he?"

"Just who the hell is he?" Asked my father as he watched Anne pouring the coffee.

'Better tell him little brother, father won't believe you any more than Anne did at first but like her the idea will grow on both him and Connie simply because they won't be able to think of another explanation.'

"There really is no other way to put this. What you saw just then, what you just did was all as a result of my brother, your son! Now don't ask me to explain why he's here or how he can manage to do what he does because I don't know. All I know is that he can."

Boy if I wanted a reaction I got it.

"How dare you blame all these weird things, your strange behaviour on Colin. As far as I'm concerned he's dead and forgotten. Next you'll be telling me he's back to extract some sort of revenge for getting killed, that that's the reason for Anne going with..." He stopped suddenly an expression of amusement and disbelief on his face. "You are aren't you?"

"Nathaniel Bristoll was the boy who came home and found Colin and his mates in his home, got hold of a gun and killed them in cold blood. With Colin's help we're going to kill him, a few of his relations who have the same designs on his inheritance we do, and a rather unpleasant man and his girlfriend. You see the man is proving to be more than a little bit of a nuisance."

"All right, if he does exist, and I'm only saying that because I don't have any other explanation, why do we need his help? Why can't we kill him ourselves? I mean it's not as if we don't have any experience. And as for the money how the hell are you going to persuade him to part with his money?"

"We take Colin's help because we have no choice, because he'll help us get away with it. And we can get the money the same way you suddenly changed your mind about using the knife on me. I mean Connie heard you say no. You didn't even realise you'd stabbed me. That happened because of Colin, because you really wanted to prove to yourself that what you'd seen when Anne stabbed me really did happen. After that nothing was simpler.

"It'll be the same with Bristoll, he feels so guilty about a couple of things he's done recently and how they've affected his relationship with Anne, who of course he knows as Susan Dixon, that he'll be willing to part with some of the money rather than risk another episode with the police. After that it'll be a simple case of Colin convincing him to commit suicide when Anne tells him what a jerk he really is and finally rejects him."

I had been looking at them in turn but I stopped at Connie when I saw that something was clearly on her mind. It became apparent immediately what it was.

'Dead right little brother, she really is pretty sharp you know. Guess you'd better let her ask the question, after all I think she's starting to believe.'

"Winston?" Connie leant forward, elbows and naked breasts resting on the table, mug in hand and looked curiously in my direction. "Now I may not be the sharpest knife in the cutlery drawer but something does occur to me. That first Wednesday night when we went from a quick wham-bam-thank you-ma'am to the worlds most fantastic sex, would I be right in assuming that your brother was responsible, that he was the reason you were able to stay hard for so long? Does that mean that he was in the driver's seat every time you fucked me and Anne and later Meredith, that he was the reason you were the star turn at our Friday night fuck-fests?"

'Ask her if she's complaining little brother. Ask her if she has any real objection to such great sex, and while you're at it ask your father if he has any objection to winning large sums of money on a regular basis from the casino and at the track.'

Naturally I did as I was told which prompted another question from my father.

"And just how do you plan to keep getting away with all this killing? I mean the police aren't stupid, even if they don't seem to have any sort of a clue about those other killings, at least so far."

"Don't you think, dad, that if you believed in what we've managed so far with Colin's help then you'd have to believe that what I said before is true, that he's responsible for making sure no one sees us, for making sure we don't do anything stupid. Besides, whether you believe me or not, it was Colin told me there was no need for me to change tyres on the night I killed that girl because it was going to rain, Colin that was responsible for me winning the money that Saturday at the races and at the casino." I held up my hand stopping my father who looked as though he was about to ask another question. "If you bear with me a minute dad I'll ask Colin if he minds paying a visit to Flemington this afternoon just to prove a point."