First to Die

Chapter 124

SHE LOOKED like a bizarre disfigurement of the beautiful woman she was. Her hair was matted and dyed gray and red. Her face still carried the marks of her disguise, a man's sideburns and flecks of a red beard. She was holding a gun tightly, pointing it directly at him. "I have a present for you, Nick." "A present?" Jenks said in desperation. "What the hell are you talking about?" "That's why we're here. I want to renew our vows." Chessy took a small pouch out of her jacket and tossed it at his feet. "Go ahead. Open it." Nicholas Jenks knelt stiffly and picked up the pouch. He opened it, the contents spilling into his palm. His eyes bulged in horror. The six missing rings. "Chessy, Christ," he said. "You're out of your mind. What do you want me to do with these?" He held out a ring. "These will put you in the gas chamber." "No, Nick," Chessy said, shaking her head. "I want you to swallow them. Get rid of the evidence for me." Jenks's face twitched in apprehension. "You want me to what?" "Swallow them. Each one is someone you've destroyed. Someone whose beauty you've killed. They were innocent. Like me. Little girls on our wedding days. You killed us all, Nick- me, Kathy, Joanna. So now give us something back. With this ring, I do pledge." Jenks glared and shouted at her. "That's enough, Chessy!" "I'll say when it's enough. You love games, so play the game. Play my game this time. Swallow them."" She pointed the gun. "No sense pretending I won't shoot, is there, dear?" Jenks took one of the rings, raised it to his lips. His hand was shaking badly. "That was Melanie, Nicky. You would've liked her. Athletic a skier… a diver. Your type, huh? She fought me to the end. But you don't like us to fight, do you? You like to be in total control." She cocked the gun and leveled it at Jenks's head. Jenks put the ring in his mouth. With a sickened expression, he forced it down his throat. Chessy was losing it. She was sobbing, trembling. I didn't think I could wait any longer. "Police," I yelled. I stepped forward, two hands on my38, leveling it at her. She spun at me, not even showing surprise, then back to Jenks. "He has to be punished!" "It's over," I said, carefully advancing toward her. "Please, Chessy, no more killing. " As if she suddenly realized what she had become, the sickening things she'd done, she looked at me. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry for everything that happened- except this!" She fired, atjenks. I fired, too, at her. Chessy's slender body flew backward, hitting the wall hard and crumpling against it. Her beautiful eyes widened, and her mouth sagged open. I looked and saw that she'd missed Jenks. He was staring at her in disbelief. He didn't think she could do it, didn't think she hated him that much. He still believed he controlled Chessy, and probably that she loved him. I hurried to her, but it was too late. Her eyes were already glazed, and the blood was streaming from her chest. I held her head and thought that she was so beautiful- like Melanie, Rebecca, Kathy- and now she was dead, too. Nicholas Jenks turned toward me with a gasp of relief. "I told you… I told you I was innocent." I looked at him in disgust. Eight people were dead. The brides and grooms, Joanna, now his own wife. I told you I was innocent? Is that what he thought? I swung, my fist catching him square in the teeth. I felt something shatter as Jenks dropped to his knees. "So much for innocence, Jenks!"