1979 - You Must Be Kidding Read Online Free Page B

Betty beside him. Then he remembered.
    Darkness!
    He groped around, found the bedside light switch and turned it on. By his side, satiated, Karen lay naked. Her long legs were spread wide, her hands covered her breasts.
    She opened her eyes as Ken swung his legs off the bed and stood up.
    He was staring at his watch. The time was 20.20.
    Karen had taken him like a widow spider, devouring him and utterly draining him. In his wildest erotic dreams, he had never imagined a woman could do to him what Karen had done. His lust for her had completely evaporated. Staring at his watch, he could think now only that he would be suspiciously late to join Betty at the party.
    ‘Look at the time!’ he exclaimed. ‘I must go!’
    ‘What’s the panic?’ Karen asked, her voice soft and lazy. ‘It was good, huh?’
    He was struggling into his clothes.
    He must have been out of his mind to have done this, he was thinking. Looking at Karen, as she lay on the bed, he felt revulsion. She was nothing better than a degraded whore. He had to get to Fort Lauderdale before the goddamn fireworks began!
    ‘I’ve got to go! My wife is expecting me!’
    She laughed, throwing back her head and arching her body.
    ‘So you have to go. Don’t get so worked up, Ken.’
    He was dressed now. He had no feeling except revulsion for her. He started to the door.
    ‘Ken!’ The cold snap in her voice stopped him. ‘You haven’t said goodbye.’
    He paused, staring at her.
    ‘I shouldn’t have done it!’ he said. ‘We were out of our heads!’
    She slid off the bed and came to him. Her nakedness made no impact.
    ‘Never have regrets, Ken,’ she said. ‘Always take an opportunity, and never regret.’
    He scarcely heard her. His one feverish thought was to get to Fort Lauderdale.
    ‘I must go!’
    ‘It’s dark. Can you find your car?’
    ‘I’ll find it!’
    ‘Wait!’ She crossed the room and took a powerful flashlight from a drawer. ‘You’ll need this.’ As she gave him the flashlight, her fingers caressed his hand. ‘You are a marvellous lover.’
    He paid no attention. Snatching the flashlight from her, he left the cabin and ran towards the path that led through the thickets. His one thought now was to get to Fort Lauderdale.
    Using the beam of the flashlight to light his way, he ran along the path. Halfway towards his car, surrounded by shrubs and trees, a stink of decomposition suddenly assailed his nostrils. He stopped short, grimacing. Some animal had died, was his first thought. Moving forward slowly, keeping the beam of his flashlight playing on the path, he was aware the stink became stronger. It was now stomach turning.
    He moved forward more slowly, then the beam of the flashlight lit up a body lying across the path. His heart hammering, bile in his mouth, Ken stared, then turned icy cold.
    The body of the girl was naked. From her crotch to her rib cage, she had been ripped open. Her intestines lay in a gruesome grey puddle of blood by her side.
    Ken shut his eyes, turned and started back along the path. Then the horror of what he had seen proved too much. He stopped and vomited. For several moments, he stood motionless, sweat running off his face, then slowly, with lagging steps, he returned to the cabin.
    He pushed open the door and moved into the big room.
    Karen had put on a wrap. She spun around as he came in.
    Seeing his deathly pallor, her eyes widened in alarm.
    ‘What’s happened?’ The snap of her voice helped to bring him to his scattered senses.
    ‘There’s a girl out there . . . dead! Some maniac has murdered her!’ He dropped into a lounging chair. ‘She’s ripped! It’s terrible!’
    She stood over him.
    ‘What the hell are you saying?’
    ‘Can’t you hear me?’ he shouted. ‘There’s a girl, murdered and ripped! We must call the police!’
    Looking at his sweat covered face, his pallor and his shaking hands, Karen went to the cocktail cabinet and poured a huge Scotch. She thrust the glass at