The Book of Death (Bourbon Kid 4)

himself.’
    ‘You stabbed your stepmother didn’t
you?’
    Beth swallowed hard, once more
tasting vomit. ‘What?’
    ‘Well you did , didn’t
you?’
    ‘In self defence!’ She suddenly
felt very angry at JD. This was not the man she thought she knew. How could he
do what he had just done? And not seem to care?
    ‘I did that for you,’ he said.
    ‘I didn’t ask you to.’
    ‘He’d have killed us both.’
    ‘You don’t know that.’
    ‘I couldn’t take the chance. He
had to die.’
    Beth stared again at the corpse
of Silvinho. ‘You did that without even blinking,’ she said.
    JD nodded. ‘Yeah. Used to be, I
coulda killed him with one punch. I made real hard work of that. I’m not a
killer any more. This was just self-defence.’
    ‘Any more? You’ve killed
before?’
    ‘Yeah. It’s a long story.’
    ‘Who have you killed before?’
    JD leaned down and wiped the blood
off the blade onto Silvinho’s shirt. ‘Vampires mostly,’ he said. ‘Some
werewolves too. A few zombies. And a few people who pissed me off. It’s all in
the past now though. I don’t kill any more.’
    Beth was astonished at his blasé
attitude to the killing. And his confession of other murders seemed to be
lacking in any remorse. ‘Why were you killing though? Were you a hitman or
something?’
    ‘No, nothing like that.’
    Beth pointed at Silvinho. ‘So
why did he say your face was on the news?’ As soon as she asked the question,
the answer hit her. ‘Oh my God, you’re…’
    ‘Not any more.’
    ‘You’re…’ she couldn’t bring
herself to say it out loud.
    JD shrugged. ‘Look, don’t
overreact,’ he said. ‘But, yeah, I was…’
    Beth shook her head. ‘No.’
    ‘Yeah.’
    ‘No. You can’t be.’
    ‘It’s no big deal. I’m not like
that any more.’
    ‘You’re the Bourbon Kid. You
killed Bertram Cromwell!’
    ‘No, I didn’t.’ JD approached
her, still brandishing the now clean knife.
    Beth raised her baseball bat in
self-defence. ‘Where were you this morning? When I woke up and you’d gone out?
You said you went out for some fresh air? Where did you go?’
    ‘I just went for a walk.’
    ‘Oh my God, you went out to kill
Cromwell didn’t you? That’s why you want us to leave town isn’t it? Your face
is all over the news. You wanted me to leave with you before I found out who
you really were.’
    His voice suddenly returned to
its usual calmer manner. ‘Beth, put the bat down. Come on, we’ve gotta go. If
this guy tracked you down, there’ll be more of them. They’ll find you and kill
you.’
    She backed away, holding the bat
up to keep him at a distance. ‘You’re not the man I thought you were.’ She
looked back down at the dead body of Silvinho one last time. ‘I don’t think I
want to be around you any more. What happens when we have an argument? Are you
going to stab me in the throat too?’
    ‘Come on, don’t be stupid. I
would never do anything to hurt you. I’m done with killing. This guy was a one
off.’
    She took a deep breath. ‘But you attacked him first. He hadn’t done anything to me. He was just asking me where
you were?’
    JD seemed to lose his patience.
‘Oh come on,’ he snapped. ‘Don’t be so naïve. Look at him. You can tell he’s
bad news the minute you lay eyes on him.’
    Beth shook her head. ‘Look at
yourself,’ she said. His face was covered in spatterings of blood, his hands
and shirt too. And he was holding a knife in an aggressive stance. He looked
every bit like the mass murderer she had heard about on the news.
    Outside, the sound of heavy
sleet and snow was suddenly punctuated by the blaring of a police car siren.
    JD held out his hand to Beth.
‘Come on. We gotta get outta here. Cops are coming.’
    She recoiled in horror. ‘I’m not
fleeing from a murder scene again. And certainly not with you. How could you do
that?’
    He stepped towards her, his hand
still outstretched. She backed inside her apartment door. ‘Get away from me.
I’m not going anywhere with you.’
    ‘Fucking cops are coming. We
gotta go! Come on!’
    Beth shook her head one last
time. ‘You’ve ruined everything.’ She reached into the front pocket on her
jeans and pulled out the cloth patch he had given her earlier. She threw it
onto the floor at his feet. ‘You may as well have that back,’ she said. ‘I
wouldn’t want you thinking you had a reason to come back for me. Goodbye,
Jack.’
    As he looked down at the cloth
patch at his feet