Never Again Part IV

"I know. We'll figure something out. Now that you're functioning on all cylinders again I'm sure we'll work it out together and he'll never touch you again."

Ed sat on the grass in the yard across the street and watched the house. The new tenants weren't home so no one told him to leave. He had already noted the locks had been changed and he couldn't find a spare key to get inside. He had a brown bag with him with a bottle showing out of the top. He drank heavily from it. Probation violation number two, or is it three, he wondered, since he wasn't supposed to be near either of the women and he was certain Janelle was in that house. And what was Eva doing home anyway; she was supposed to be at work? Damn the bad luck!

"He's still there and he is drunk," Janelle said. "He is real mean when he's drunk."

"He's real mean when he's sober. He's dangerous when he's drunk. I have an idea though. Go unlock that back gate."

"What?"

"Just unlock the back gate," Eva said. "He's going to try to get in eventually and we'll be waiting."

The women turned off the lights and sat in the kitchen. On his third bottle now, Ed was staggering drunk and they knew from experience, about to pass out. The neighbors were actually on vacation so they had never come home to run him off the property and empty bottles were now scattered at his feet.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Janelle asked Eva, whispering.

"There are a lot of witnesses that he is drunk. Someone is selling it to him; so he's on a surveillance camera somewhere staggering around. Did you see him the last time he left for more booze? I'm surprised he hasn't passed out by now or that the other neighbors haven't called the cops. They all know he's not supposed to be in the neighborhood."

"Most of them don't want to get involved. If he does something again, they'll bear witness that he was here, but beyond that, they'll stay out of it," Eva said. "They all know how mean he is and they don't want to get hurt."

A noise in the yard brought them on high alert. Ed had indeed come in the back gate. Eva had placed a bottle of liquor out on the picnic table where he'd be sure and find it. She wanted him passed out drunk. He staggered around until he saw the bottle on the table. He muttered something about the gods presenting manna from heaven and opened the bottle. The women shook their heads and watched in amazement. He turned the bottle up and downed the contents without stopping.

"Are you sure he isn't trying to kill himself with alcohol poisoning?" Janelle asked Eva.

"At this point, I don't know," she answered, "But I'm not taking any chances. Are you?'

"No," Janelle replied. "He's too volatile. I might be dead the next time and I can't hole up here in the house forever and neither can you. I'm glad they gave you a few days off from work though. You must be about out."

"I am out. Someone else gave up some time off so I could get off a few days while we see what Ed is going to do."

"Good friend," Janelle commented.

"Very good friend," Eva agreed.

Ed tried to yank the door to the porch open and the women jumped. The lock held even though he tried several times. In his drunken state he no longer had enough strength to yank it loose from the wood. They eyed each other, watching as he staggered backward and fell over. He didn't move and they watched him closely for a good twenty minutes. He didn't so much as twitch a muscle.

"You think he's dead?" Janelle asked.

"I don't know, but we'd better check. I don't want a body in my back yard."

She eased out into the yard and checked for a pulse. Suddenly Ed snored and she jumped and tried not to scream. Back in the house she told Janelle he was out cold but not dead.

"You know, he almost got that lock pulled loose anyway!" Eva told her.

"Damn," Janelle said under her breath. "What now?"

"Load him up, just like we planned," Eva said.

They wrapped Ed in an old and cheap tarp Eva had used to cover her floor when she painted and together they struggled to lift him and put him in the back of her car. They drove out to his favorite place in a wooded area at a local lake within walking distance of their home, and after unwrapping him; they pushed him into the lake and held him under. He never woke up or put up a fight.

"May God forgive us!" Janelle said wracked with sobs.

"We definitely have some penance to do," Eva told her, patting her shoulder, "But he was like a rabid dog, Janelle. He had to be put down before he killed us."

"I know, but can we live with it?" She wiped her face on her shirt tail.

"We'll see," was all that Eva could say. She rolled the tarp back up and stuffed it into her car. On the way home she stopped at a dumpster and shoved it inside.

There was knock on the door the next morning. Ed's probation agent was standing there. "You ladies look like hell," he said when Eva answered the door and let him inside.

"We'll Ed was across the street drinking most of the day and half the night, so no, we didn't get much sleep for wondering when he was going to break in," Eva said.

"I saw all the bottles in the yard over there as I drove up. He do that?" the agent asked.

"Oh yeah," Eva said. "He was staggering around so much I'm surprised anyone sold to him."

"Well, tried to check on him last night to tell him to stay away from here, but he wasn't there. I guess I should have guessed he was still here after you called. Why didn't you call again?"

"It didn't seem to do any good the last time," Janelle stated. She had been trying to stay quiet, but she clamped her mouth shut tight afterwards.

"Yes, and he was over there; not here. He was five hundred away. If he'd come back to the yard, I would have called the police," Eva said.

"When did he leave?"

"I think about ten. We tried to keep track of him, but that's about when he disappeared. I figured he finally got drunk enough and went home, wherever that is these days."

"He has an apartment rented by probation. He didn't go there last night. He has a roommate and he didn't see him."

"Then I don't know what to tell you. If he comes back we'll give you a call."

"Okay. Meanwhile I'll check with the bus company. He can't get here walking. I made sure he was too far away for that. It's the only way he could have gotten here. From the looks of that pile of bottles, he didn't pay for a cab; he didn't have that much money."

Three days later Eva opened up the newspaper about the time the phone rang. She read the headline as she answered on the fourth ring. MISSING PAROLEE FOUND DEAD IN LOCAL LAKE.

It was the probation agent. "I wanted to talk to you before you got the paper. We found Ed."

Too late. "Really?" Eva said, as if she hadn't seen the news. "Where's he been?"

"Dead," was the reply.

"Really? What happened?" she said as if surprised.

"The coroner says his blood alcohol level was lethal but he drowned. You know that lake near your place?"

"Yes," she said. "He liked to fish there. Is that where he was?"

"We think he must have staggered there while drunk and passed out in the lake. He was so drunk he never woke up."

"Oh, dear," she said, as if she thought it a tragedy.  "I certainly wanted him to go away, but dead? Never thought that would happen."

"Yes ma'am. It's being ruled accidental," he added.

"I'll let Janelle know. She's not up yet."

"Thank you," he said, and they ended the call.

"Well? Did they find him?" Janelle asked from behind her.

"Yes they did, and we are in the clear," she answered. Both women smiled.