J. Ellison - Judas Kiss

B lood.

It was everywhere. The floor, the walls, the body. All over the jeans and T-shirt too. Damn, how was that going to come out? With a grimace, the killer set down the weapon and stood over the now inert body. No more arguments. No more screaming about failure, lost promise, disappointments. The wail of a child built in the distance, drowned out by the fury humming in the killers ears. A smile broke.

You horrendous bitch. This is exactly what you deserve.

Ten hours later

Mama?

Mama, Mama. Hungy. Cookie, Mama. Cookie.

Wake up, Mama, wake up.

Went potty, Mama. Good girl.

Mama?

Mama owie? Owie? Boo-boo? Mama fall down?

Bankie, Mama.

Bankie. Teddy.

Mama! Mamaaaaaaaaaaa.

Night-night, Mama. Bye-bye.

Michelle Harris sat at the stoplight on Old Hickory and Highway 100, grinding her teeth. She was late. Corinne hated when she was late. She wouldnt bitch at her, wouldnt chastise her, would just glance at the clock on the stove, the digital readout that always, always ran three minutes ahead of time so Corinne could have a cushion, and a little line would appear between her perfectly groomed eyebrows.

Their match was in an hour. They had plenty of time, but Corinne would need to drop Hayden at the nursery and have a protein smoothie before stretching in preparation for their game. Michelle and Corinne had been partners in tennis doubles for ages, and they were two matches from taking it all. Their yearly run at the Richland club championship was almost a foregone conclusion; theyd won seven years in a row.

Tapping the fingers of her right hand on the wheel, she used her left to pull her ponytail around the curve of her neck, a comfort gesture shed adopted in childhood. Corinne hadnt needed any comfort. She was always the strong one. Even as a young child, when Michelle pulled that ponytail around her neck, the unruly curls winding around her ear, Corinne would get that little line between her brows to show her displeasure at her elder sisters weakness.

Remembering, Michelle flipped the hair back over her shoulder with disgust. The light turned green and she gunned it, foot hard on the pedal. She hated being late for Corinne.

Michelle took the turn off Jocelyn Hollow Road and followed the sedate, meandering asphalt into her sisters cul-de-sac. The dogwood tree in the Wolffs front yard was just beginning to bud. Michelle smiled. Spring was coming. Nashville had been in the grip of a difficult winter for months, but at last the frigid clutch showed signs of breaking. New life stirred at the edges of the forests, calves were dropping in the fields. The chirping of the wrens and cardinals had taken on a higher pitch, avian mommies and daddies awaiting the arrival of their young. Corinne herself was ripe with a new life, seven months into an easy pregnancy-barely looking four months along. Her activity level kept the usual baby weight off, and she was determined to play tennis up to the birth, just like shed done with Hayden.

Not fair. Michelle didnt have any children, didnt have a husband for that matter. She just hadnt met the right guy. The consolation was Hayden. With a niece as adorable and precocious as hers, she didnt need her own child. Not just yet.

She pulled into the Wolffs maple-lined driveway and cut the engine on her Volvo. Corinnes black BMW 535i sat in front of the garage door. The wrought iron lantern lights that flanked the front doors were on. Michelle frowned. It wasnt like Corinne to forget to turn those lights off. She remembered the argument Corinne and Todd, her husband, had gotten into about them. Todd wanted the kind that came on at dark and went off in the morning automatically. Corinne insisted they could turn the switch themselves with no problem. Theyd gone back and forth, Todd arguing for the security, Corinne insisting that the look of the dusk-to-dawns were cheesy and wouldnt fit their home. Shed won, in the end. She always did.

Corinne always turned off the lights first thing in the morning. Like clockwork.

The hair rose on the back of Michelles neck. This wasnt right.

She stepped out of the Volvo, didnt shut the door all the way behind her. The path to her sisters front door was a brick loggia pattern, the nooks and crannies filled with sand to anchor the Chilhowies. Ridiculously expensive designer brick from a tiny centuries-old sandpit in Virginia, if Michelle remembered correctly. She followed the path and came to the front porch. The door was unlocked, but that was typical. Michelle told Corinne time and again to keep that door locked at night. But Corinne always felt safe, didnt see the need. Michelle eased the door open.

Oh, my God.

Michelle ran back to her car and retrieved her cell phone. As she dialed 911, she rushed back to the porch and burst through the front door.

The phone was ringing in her ear now, ringing, ringing. She registered the footprints, did a quick lap around the bottom floor and seeing no one, took the steps two at a time. She was breathing hard when she hit the top, took a left and went down the hall.

A voice rang in her ear, and she tried to comprehend the simple language as she took in the scene before her.

911, what is your emergency?

She couldnt answer. Oh God, Corinne. On the floor, face down. Blood, everywhere.

911, what is your emergency?

The tears came freely. The words left her mouth before she realized theyd been spoken aloud.

I think my sister is dead. Oh, my God.

Can you repeat that, maam?

Could she? Could she actually bring her larynx to life without throwing up on her dead sisters body? She touched her fingers to Corinnes neck. Remarkable how chilled the dead flesh felt. Oh, God, the poor baby. She ran out of the room, frenzied. Hayden, where was Hayden? Michelle turned in a tight circle, seeing more footprints. No sign of the little girl. She was yelling again, heard the words fly from her mouth as if they came from anothers tongue.

Theres blood, oh, my God, theres blood everywhere. And there are footprintsHayden? Michelle was screaming, frantic. She tore back into the bedroom. Something in her mind snapped, she couldnt seem to get it together.

The 911 operator was yelling in her ear, but she didnt respond, couldnt respond. Maam? Maam? Who is dead?

Where was that precious little girl? A strawberry-blond head appeared from around the edge of the king-sized sleigh bed. It took a moment to register-Hayden, with red hair? She was a towhead, so blond it was almost white, no, that wasnt right.

Hayden, oh, dear sweet Jesus, youre covered in blood. Come here. How did you get out of your crib? She gathered the little girl in her arms. Hayden was frozen, immobile, unable or unwilling to move for the longest moment, then she wrapped her arms around her aunts shoulders with an empty embrace of inevitability. Pieces of the toddlers hair, stiff and hard with blood, poked into her neck. Michelle felt a piece of her core shift.

Maam? Maam, what is your location?

The operators voice forced her to look away from Corinnes broken form. She raised herself, holding tight to Hayden. Get her out of here. She cant see this anymore.

Yes, Im here. Its 4589 Jocelyn Hollow Court. My sister They were on the stairs now, moving down, and Michelle could see the whispers of blood trailing up and down the carpet.

The operator was still trying to sort through the details. Hayden is your sister?

Hayden is her daughter. Oh, God.

As Michelle reached the bottom of the stairs, the child shifted on her shoulder, reaching a hand behind her, looking up toward the second floor.

Mama hurt, she said in a voice that made her sound like a broken-down forty-year-old, not a coy, eighteen-month-old sprite. Mama hurt. She doesnt anymore, darlin.