The Muse (Interracial Mystery Romance) (Dark Art Mystery Series) (37 page)

other way.”

“Exactly.” He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

“Who’s penis is in the jar?”

That question snapped his eyes back open. “Mine. Why?”

“Why?” I almost laughed at the absurdity of him being shocked that I asked. “Because it’s a penis in a jar!”

“You’re still upset.”

“Oh yes. You’ve trapped me for at least an hour in some metal room that smells like sweat and stupidity. You had me watch women die.”

“You didn’t have to watch. I didn’t force you. Your curiosity did.”

“Nevertheless, I hate you.”

“That’s fine.” He closed his eyes again as he rested his feet on the electronic panel. “I, for one, am happy I met you. Michael never captured your true beauty. He thought you were full breasts and long hair. He never discovered the true person within you. I did. Didn’t I affect your life in some good ways? I can’t be that bad of a person.”

“No, you’re not, but everything good you’ve done will be pretty much forgotten because of this craziness.”

“None of it will be forgotten. It hurt that you told me I was just like my dad. He killed women for immortality. But in the end. What you said was true, and even better, I got my immortality. I took it, and my art will teach my lessons to the world, things that people will be dissecting and analyzing for years to come, until some other mad genius thinks of something even better. Either way, my project will be the mad genius’s muse. Somewhere a little kid will open a magazine about my installation or walk into a museum where my exhibit will be and it will capture his heart. It will twist his mind so hard all of the things he thought he knew will seep out, and in its place will be space for his truths of life because in the end, that’s what it is. His truths. My truths. Your truths. We all see life in our own way, not one way. But his truths will spark more. That’s what all of us believed when we decided to do this installation. We hoped to inspire the next philosopher or leader of a country.”

“And did you realize that you would go to jail?”

“We won’t.”

“You will. There is no defense for willingly letting people die.”

He turned his face to me and opened his eyes. “Elle, you still didn’t guess it, did you? Do you think we all got together to watch ten women die? Do you think I would involve myself in something and not put my own actions where my mouth is?”

I tensed and sat up in my chair. “What are you talking about?”

“You asked about the jar and the penis inside. It’s mine like I told you. You want to hear about the collection?”

“I want to know what you mean about putting your actions where your mouth is.”

“How about I tell you about my collection, and then it will all click.” He cleared his throat. “My whole collection will be presented at X-lab. I didn’t think any other gallery would have the balls to show this, so I started my own gallery. Your painting with the cancer victims starts the whole collection. It’ll be the first thing the viewers see when they walk into X-lab. I have precise instructions for everything. A whole forest will be on the second level. It will be a maze of high walls within dim lightings and the walls’ surface will be TV screens. Videos of the women’s deaths and the world’s reactions will play as the viewer walks through the maze. Step by step they’ll go through our journey. There will be four paths through the maze, but each one will lead to the center where my penis will be resting in the jar. No matter where the person walks, all paths will lead to that jar. I considered my body to be the centerpiece, just a fully preserved corpse in a glass box, staring at the viewer as they walk into the center. Everyone said it would be too much. I thought it would be unique and—”

“Hex, wait. What do you mean, your corpse?” My hands shook.

“I’ll be gone in fifteen minutes tops, Elle. Let me tell you everything. No one else wanted to talk before they died. I always said I would talk if there was someone around to listen. I like talking and interacting. I think that would be good to do right before I die.”

I jumped up and went to him. “No. Hell no. You’re not dying right now, are you? No—”

“Do you know how important this is for me? I’ve always wanted to die. Always. But then Al left the navy and rushed to take care of me, and Grandma flew to the states with her chants of strength and hope. So I stayed for these years for them, so it all wouldn’t be a waste, but I always wanted to go to the other side. It’s peaceful over there.”

“You don’t know what it is. H-how would you know? Hex, please don’t do this.” My

movements were quick and jittery as I paced next to him. “Did you take something? Okay, wait.

What did you take? We still should have time.”

“We don’t have time and even if we did, I don’t want to be saved.” He formed his lips into a wicked grin. “Ever since I saw the first woman die by my father’s hands I yearned to go, too. I was done with this reality we call Earth. Done. If this world allows an innocent woman to be destroyed for the simple fact that she was unlucky enough to be caught by my dad, then I didn’t want any part here. I wanted to go somewhere else. I’ve just been a mummy the whole time.”

“Mummy?”

“A walking dead person. Unlike my friends, I was never bold enough to try to kill

myself, but I prayed for it just the same. No one ever grabbed me. I never drowned when I swam, got kidnapped or mugged, hit by a car, slain in a boating or plane accident, poisoned, electrocuted. Why was I so lucky? I figured the gods had a duty for me to say something important to the world and then once I did it, I could go off with them. I would be taken. So I painted. I created things. My work became famous, and then I waited to die. Surely, my art pieces were enough to earn my death. But it wasn’t.”

“Hex, this is insane.” Tears fell from my eyes. “Okay. Wait. You don’t have to do this. I think we could make you throw the sleeping pills up. That’s what you took, right? It would be easy to make you vomit—”

“Sierra.”

“What?”

“Sierra.”

“Who is Sierra?”

“Sierra was the first girl my father killed. Sierra. She was beautiful.” He formed his lips into a huge smile. “The first thing I saw was her eye through the tiny hole in the back of the shed. I knew she would be enchanting just from spotting one eye, and I was right. Once I finally saw Sierra’s face I was captivated.”

“Hex, listen to me. We need to focus on—”

“I fell in love with Sierra based on one eye. My grandpa says we have two hearts.”

“I know about the two hearts thing.” I tried to get him back on the topic of saving himself, but he ignored me.

“I gave Sierra my heart when I saw that one eye peek out of the shed. I tried to save her and the other women. Not only because it was the right thing to do, but because I longed to see Sierra’s face. The whole time I sawed that opening in the back of the shed and thought of how appealing that eye was and how I had to make sure everyone else could see it. It was the bluest eye I’d ever seen. Blue like cold diamonds floating on a Caribbean sea. Blue like the skies over heaven.”

“Enough about the eye! W-what did you take? Don’t tell me there isn’t—”

“I loved Sierra. There had been no one else in my life. I would dream about her late at night in my house and think about her in school, counting the moments until I could rush home and free her and all the rest. I was going to save them. I was going to keep them alive, and then one day after I figured out a way to stop my father for good, I would find Sierra with the bluest eyes.”

He’s not going to stop this. He’s really going to kill himself.

Tears continued to spill from my eyes. My vision blurred. I turned to the television screen. Alvarez walked in and spotted the dead women. Something clicked in the room that Hex and I sat in. It had to be the door, which meant the phones probably worked too. I could call the cops and get Hex some help. I ran to the phone.

“My dad killed Sierra first.” Hex grabbed my attention. “He stood her in front of him, but let her face me. She was naked and crying in front of me. I got an erection. Of all the things that could have happened. I got a damn erection, and then he killed her. One cut to the neck. One stab to her heart. One slice to her lower abdomen where her insides spilled out onto the bloody ground before her. He destroyed her, dropped her body like it was nothing more than a sack of potatoes, picked up the next girl, and did the same with the enthusiasm of a bored factory worker executing a menial task he’d done hundreds of times before. Why would I want to walk in a reality where something like that happens?”

I picked up the phone, heard a dial tone, and dialed what I hoped to be Alvarez’s number.

When I was preparing to leave earlier that day, I’d put his number into my cell phone and stared at it like a love-lost teenager, hoping the pattern of numbers held some clue about what to do when it came to us.

“That was the last time I got an erection, when Sierra was killed. That’s why I thought it would be fitting for my penis to be the center of the collection,” Hex said. “I’d cut it off years ago. The moment I got my first big check, I’m talking six figures, I jumped on an airplane, told Al I was going on vacation, headed over to a private hospital in Mexico, and had my penis surgically removed. It was the best thing I’d done.”

“Hello?” Alvarez’s voice came over the line.

My body relaxed a little. “Get a nurse, EMT, and police. The door should be open in the studio where we are trapped, but Hex took some sleeping pills. He’s trying to kill himself. I think they all are.”

“Who?” Alvarez sounded like he was running. I looked at the camera. He was no longer in the room and now raced down the stairs, wagging his hands at servants walking by.

“All of the artists a part of this installation. They are all going to kill themselves.”

“How is Hex?” Alvarez asked.

“He’s talking about what his dad did to those women and going on about how he always wanted to die.”

“No.” Alvarez’s voice sounded sad and worried. “Please don’t leave him. Please.”

“I won’t. I’m staying right here.” I kept the phone to my ear and walked over to Hex. The old phone’s cord extended and allowed me to make it to him without disconnecting the call. I grabbed Hex’s hand and held it. “Hex, everything will be okay.”

“Of course it will. I’ll bet there’s love on the other side.”

“There’s love on this side, too.”

“Not much.”

I wiped away my tears. “Don’t say that.”

“Stop crying. You should be happy for me. Don’t let my last image of this world be tears on your face. I love to see you smile.”

I forced myself to smile for him.

“Now that’s beautiful. Turn up and smile for the collection. There’s a camera right there.” Hex pointed to the ceiling with his free hand. “Show them there’s hope.”

“Show who?”

“The future viewers. The ones who will see this collection after I’m gone. Show the young mad genius that will be inspired by it all. Show him there’s hope.”

I turned toward the camera and managed to keep my weak smile on my face.

“I have a whole segment dedicated to you. My angel of death. The final floor will end with your video footage. I have images of you coming onto the property. The taxi cab driver who took pictures of you at the gate, that’s my video guy. He’s talented. He tried acting, but failed at it.”

“What? The one who took pictures of me on his phone?”

“Yes. That picture is what the viewers will see on the third level, the pretty angel in the sunshine dress with long, flowing hair. I have film of you walking onto the property as I sing in the trees, scenes of you talking about movies, all of your dancing at my party, the kiss you had with my brother, your lovemaking at the beach.”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s dark of course. My guy had a mini camera. All you can see are two distant images in the moonlight, but looking at it you just know something magical is happening.”

“You taped it all?”

“Everything. Your whole time here will be on the third level.”

“Why?”

“Because you know how to live, Elle. Whatever Michael did to you made you strong and want to strive for more. When you came here you lived like your life depended on it. That’s what I want the viewers to see last, the hope and the desire to move on after despair. My friends and I didn’t know how to show it. We never learned how to move on, but you did. I’m glad you came.

I had no idea what your place would be with us, but you completed the whole collection.”

And then Hex closed his eyes and died right there.

Epilogue

~Alvarez

My yacht journeyed through dark waters with only the moon to guide its path. I had a small staff steering and managing the vessel. I lay on my back, listening to the sound of waves splashing against themselves, within the stillness that one can only get in the middle of the ocean.

Thousands of stars glittered in the sky. They twinkled at me. It hurt to witness their mysterious beauty when the cost to see them had been so high. Of course, I didn’t pay the price.

Hex did. But still, I felt the loss deep inside of me.

Nothing hurts like the death of a loved one. I was angry, in pain, and numb to many things. The fact that the stars had dragged me out of my lower deck bedroom and kept my attention for these peaceful moments could only be due to the sweet medicine lying in my bed below.

Elle.

The day my brother took his life, I found her holding him. Tears decorated her face. She held his body so tightly it took my prying hands to get her to release him. The ambulance arrived soon after. I didn’t watch them load Hex’s body. I was busying holding my Grandma and Elle in my arms, keeping them close to me, just to make sure that they were okay, that I wouldn’t lose anymore.

The next morning the family’s lawyer handed over Hex’s will. For some reason, Hex had placed Reece in charge of executing all of his instructions. Perhaps he knew Grandma and I would be a wreck. Either way, Reece took control without any bitterness to my firing her earlier or all that had occurred between us. The first thing she did was place Dayanara in a mental facility. Next, Reece notified all of the artists’ families about their suicides. Like Elle guessed, every artist on the project, except for Elle, had killed themselves. Most died in the police station.