Dark Woods by Steve Voake Read Free Book Online Page B

do?’ he asked. ‘Are you going to kill me? Or are you going to stop this nonsense so that everyone can go home?’
    Cal saw the hesitation in Eden’s eyes and knew that Jefferson saw it too. When he pulled on the end of the gun, there was no resistance; Eden loosened her grip and he took the weapon and placed it on the table.
    ‘You don’t have to hate me, you know,’ he said.
    Eden narrowed her eyes, concentrating all her emotions into a single stare.
    ‘I don’t have to like you either,’ she said.
    Jefferson’s lip quivered momentarily and it made Cal think of a small boy standing alone in a playground, waiting to join in the others’ games.
    But then Jefferson’s anger returned.
    ‘We can do this easy,’ he said, ‘or we can do it hard. Either way, it’s going to get done. So what do you say?’
    ‘I say we do it easy,’ said Cal quickly, before Eden could start another argument. ‘Why don’t you go and lie down, get yourself comfortable? Then when you’re ready, we’ll see about finding your dog.’
    ‘Is that a promise?’ asked Jefferson suspiciously. ‘Do you give me your word?’
    Cal nodded.
    ‘I promise,’ he said.
    When he heard this, Jefferson seemed to calm down a little. He walked across to the kitchen cupboard and took out a mug and a bottle of whisky.
    ‘I don’t want your friend in there,’ he said, half-filling the mug with whisky and taking a mouthful. ‘She’ll ruin it. Same as she probably ruins everything. I knew I shoulda left her back there in the woods.’
    ‘Whatever you want, OK?’ said Cal as Eden sat on the sofa and folded her arms, refusing to look at them. ‘Whatever you want.’
    Outside, the sun was setting and a pale moon rose above the trees.
    Jefferson lit the oil lamp and placed it on the table. Then he walked towards the bedroom with the whisky in one hand and the mug in the other. He stopped in the doorway and turned back to look at Eden. ‘You upset me, you know that? How am I going to find my dog with all that bad energy running around in my head?’
    ‘Maybe you should have thought of that before you drugged me and threw me in your van,’ said Eden.
    Jefferson took a slug of whisky straight from the bottle and shook his head.
    ‘Just keep her away from me, OK?’ he said. Then he walked into the bedroom and closed the door.
    ‘What are you doing?’ hissed Cal.
    Eden turned to look at him, her green eyes sparkling with anger.
    ‘What am I doing? What are you doing, more like.’
    ‘I’m trying to get us out of here without anyone getting killed.’ He looked at the gun on the table. ‘And I mean any one.’
    ‘I should have done it,’ said Eden. ‘I should have pulled the damn trigger.’
    ‘Yeah, because you so would,’ said Cal.
    ‘How do you know I wouldn’t?’
    ‘Because you’re a good person,’ Cal replied. ‘And good people don’t kill other people.’
    ‘Maybe they do if they have to.’ Eden walked over to the table and picked up the shotgun.
    ‘Don’t, I mean it,’ warned Cal. ‘Let’s just do what we have to do and get out of here.’
    ‘My thoughts exactly,’ said Eden. She turned the shotgun over in her hands and Cal guessed she must have handled one before on her dad’s farm. Holding the barrels in one hand and the stock in the other, she put it over her knee and broke it open.
    ‘Well I’ll be,’ she said.
    She turned the gun around to show Cal.
    ‘It was never loaded,’ she said. ‘The chambers are empty.’
    ‘That’s what I was trying to tell you. He doesn’t want to hurt us, Eden. He just wants us to help him. And when we’ve done that, we can go home.’
    ‘You really believe that, don’t you?’
    ‘Yeah. What’s wrong with that?’
    ‘You’re a fool, Cal. Don’t you see? There’s no way he’s going to let us go after this. He knows if he does then the authorities are going to find him and lock him up for a long, long time. You really think he’s going to let that happen?’
    Cal