“I know.”
He squeezed her fingers until they turned white. “When we leave, you’re going to wait three hours. Then you’re going to take your gun, put it in your mouth, nice and deep, and pull the trigger.”
“Okay.”
“Okay, what? Tell me.”
“When you leave, I’m going to wait three hours. Then I’m going to take the gun, put it in my mouth, nice and deep, and pull the trigger.”
“Are you afraid to die, Elfrieda?”
“No.”
He released her hand. It dropped limply into her lap. “Do you have regrets?”
“I never had a child,” she replied without hesitation.
“Maybe you should have.”
“I couldn’t pass it on. But I wanted a child.”
He thought about this for a moment. “I was told you had no reaction to the shot. You have nothing to pass on.”
“Yes.”
“Yes, what?”
“Yes, I had no reaction.”
“So you have nothing to pass on,” he said again.
Elfrieda said nothing. From the corner of her eye, she could see the gun. She willed herself to get up, to jump toward it, to grab the .38 from the dresser. Her body ignored her. She began to tremble.
“Your limbs are as heavy as lead. If you attempt to do anything other than what I ask, you will feel as if you are on fire. Understand?”
“Yes.” Elfrieda looked away from the gun, looked at him, stopped fighting, stopped trembling.
“I’d like you to tell me where I can find the others.”
“There are no more ‘others.’”
“Don’t lie to me, Elfrieda. It’s unbecoming of a woman such as yourself. Lying can also be quite painful. Telling a lie might feel as bad as, say…” David thought about this for a moment, then he had it. “Lying feels like swallowing a thousand fire ants, their stings as they ravage your throat from the inside. Wouldn’t that be just horrible?”
Elfrieda Leech nodded.
“Tell me where I can find the others.”
“There are no more…” But even as she said the words, the pain registered on her face. He skin went taut and pale, her eyes nearly popped out of her head. She screamed horribly loud.
David seemed to find enjoyment in this. He gave her a moment, he let her screams die away. “You know, telling the truth can have the opposite effect. With the truth, all that pain just washes down the drain, replaced with the most incredible euphoric sensation. So brilliant, it defies description. I imagine you’d like to feel that? Rather than those horrible ants?”
Elfrieda nodded quickly, tears streaming from her eyes.
“Tell me, Elfrieda, where can I find the others?”
This time, she did tell him. She told him all she knew. She didn’t know where they all were, only Dewey Hobson and the Brotherton woman, and that would have to do.
When she finished, when David was certain there was nothing else to gain, he smiled again. “Good. That’s very good. We’ll be leaving then, I think.” He turned, started for the door, then paused. With his back to her, he asked one final question. “Tell me one more time, what will happen next, after we go?”
