Brett McBean - Tales of Sin and Madness

“Well you can’t play along with his game. That’s for sure.”

“I have to,” Ray said.

Jerry stared at him, his thin face contorted so he looked like some evil little gnome. “Why? He’ll probably kill ‘em both anyway.” He winced. “Sorry, Ray. But it’s the truth.”

“I can’t take that chance,” Ray said. “He said if I don’t decide then he’ll decide for me.”

“So? It’s better than you having a death on your conscience.”

Ray shook his head. “It’s not that simple.” He breathed deeply. “If I don’t choose, or if I don’t answer the phone or if he feels in anyway that I’ve called the cops he’ll kill Kim and Rebecca in the most painful way imaginable. Torture of every kind, the kidnapper said.”

“And if you do choose?”

“He’ll kill whoever I decide quick. With a single shot to the head. And let the other one go.”

Jerry nodded slowly. It seemed the situation was becoming clear to him. “That’s fucked,” he said.

“So I have to decide which one dies, and soon.”

“How about I drive around? See if I can find them. Or at least find some clues.”

“It’ll be a waste of time,” Ray said. “You won’t find anything. Including Kim and Rebecca.”

“Well I can try,” Jerry said, and started to get up.

“I said don’t worry.”

“Hell. Why not?”

“If he hears you coming, he’ll kill ‘em both. That’s if you find them, which you won’t. So don’t waste the petrol.” Ray stood. He was too emotional to be sitting down. He needed to move.

“Okay, if you say so,” Jerry sighed and sat back down. “So what the hell does this guy want? He must want something? What’s the point of kidnapping your family?”

“He doesn’t want anything,” Ray said. “No money, no nothing. Just…” As he paced back and forth, what the kidnapper had said rolled around in his head.

“Just what?” Jerry asked, craning his neck so he could look at Ray.

“I did ask him what he wanted. I told him I would do anything. Give him anything. He just laughed and said all he wanted was to have fun.”

“Jesus,” Jerry said, turning back and shaking his head.

Ray kicked his old card table that sat to one side of the room, dirty from years of cigarette ashes and beer stains. He sent it crashing into the wall. One of its legs snapped off. “Fuck!” he roared. “How could this happen? How could some stranger just come into my house and take my wife and child?”

“God I wish we knew where he was,” Jerry said. “I’ve got my shotgun in the van.”

Ray continued wearing out the carpet between the TV and the entrance to the kitchen. “Okay, let me think this through,” Ray said.

“Think what through?”

“What do you reckon? Who I’m going to choose.”

Jerry made a face. “You’re not really going to decide are you? Shit. You can’t, Ray.”

“I have to. I have to pick one to save the other.”

“But…come on.”

“What do you suggest, huh?” Ray barked, stopping and gazing at Jerry. “My wife and kid are out there somewhere, trapped by this psycho mother-fucker, and if I don’t pick one of them to die, then he’ll torture them both. And do you know what he told me? That he has a boot full of tools — pliers, hacksaw, hammer, nails… Fuck man. I don’t wanna even think about what he has in mind.” Ray took a much-needed breath. He felt faint. He could really do with a beer. “We haven’t a clue where they are, and I’ve only got…” He looked down to Jerry’s watch.

“Fourteen minutes,” Jerry said.

“Fourteen damn minutes before he rings back and wants an answer.” Ray continued pacing. “Okay. Let’s make a list.”

“A list?”

“You know, one of them pro and con lists.”

“You’re not doing your fucking shopping, Ray. This is your wife and kid’s lives we’re talking about.”

“I know that,” Ray said. “but this is the easiest way I can think of to decide. You got any better suggestions? What if it was Carol and Brad who were kidnapped and you had to decide which one to kill? How would you decide?”

“That’s easy. Brad’s a loser. A drugged up fucker. I’d choose him.”

Ray let out a quick, demented laugh. “Bad example.”

“Anyway, it’s different with you. You’ve got a great daughter and a great wife.”

“That’s why I’m making this list,” Ray said. He bolted into the kitchen and grabbed a pad and pencil. He brought them back to the lounge. He sat down on the couch and drew up a rough graph. Four columns — a pro and a con for Kim and the same for Rebecca. “Let’s start with Kim,” he said. “Okay. Pro — I love her.”

“You love both of ‘em.”

“Well it’s a start. Jesus. Okay, how about this. I’ve known her for longer, therefore I’ll miss her more.” He scribbled it down.

“Fair enough,” Jerry said. “But look at it this way. Since you’ve known her for longer, you’ve spent more time with her. That’s a con.”

Reluctantly, Ray wrote it down.

“Also, she’s had a longer life. She’s seen more things and done more.”

He wrote it in the con column. “Okay, another pro. She’s my soul mate. I can’t kill my soul mate.”

Jerry nodded.

Ray added it to the pro column.

“Sex, you’ll miss the sex.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Ray said. “A big pro.”

“But you can always re-marry.”

“I can always have another daughter,” Ray said. “Forget that. Doesn’t go on the list.” He looked down at the scrap paper. “Okay, so far that’s four pro and two con. How much time do we have?”

“Seven minutes.”

“Okay, Rebecca. Pro — I love her. And she hasn’t been on this earth for as long. Only sixteen years. Hasn’t had a chance to really live.”

“Again, the other side of that is since she hasn’t had a long life yet, she won’t miss it as much.”

Ray frowned. “Pretty fucking stupid, but okay.” He wrote it down. “Con. She’ll be more affected seeing her mum die than Kim will be about seeing Rebecca die.”

“Ya think?”

“I think it’ll screw her up in the long run, yeah. Maybe I’ll be doing her a favour killing her. I mean, seeing her mum being blasted away will be like dying a hundred times.”

Jerry shrugged. “Maybe.”

“I’m putting it down,” Ray said.

“You really think this guy will let either of them go? I mean, they’ve seen his face. Heard his voice. He won’t take that chance.”

“Only a person with a really sick mind would be doing a thing like this. Who knows how his mind works? He really might be getting off on me having to choose. Maybe the killing is just an end to the more important act of making me live the rest of my life knowing I gave the order for one of my family to be killed.”

Jerry shrugged.

“Well I have to hope that’s the case, anyway. Besides, maybe they haven’t seen his face. He might have knocked them out and is keeping them blindfolded or something.”

“I suppose. So what does that make? Two each for Rebecca?”

Ray looked down at the sheet of paper. He nodded. And tried thinking of more reasons not to choose his daughter. “I can’t think of anything else for her,” he said after a bit.

“Neither can I,” Jerry said. “So what does that mean?”

In a voice that sounded more like a little kid’s, Ray said, “It means I’m gonna choose Rebecca”

“Are you sure? Christ man, she’s your daughter. Your daughter!”

“I know that,” Ray growled. “But what else can I do?”

Jerry didn’t reply.

“Exactly.”

They didn’t talk for the next few minutes. The silence was broken when the phone rang. It sounded very loud, louder than usual. Ray gazed at Jerry. “This is it.” He stood up and hurried into the kitchen. Jerry was close behind.