Lethal Expedition (Short Story) Read Online Free PDF

thinking,
How much to tell this woman?
“He was a competent caver. I don’t think he liked taking direction from a woman.”
    “You were the boss?”
    “The expedition leader. I had more experience in caves than either of the others. He was nice to the third member of our team, though. Devan Halsted was younger and less experienced.”
    “He wanted something.”
    “Excuse me?”
    “Forget it.” Taylor moved the conversation back to Hallie, who talked about her brothers, and her job at CDC, and how she had ended up exploring supercaves. Taylor offered more coffee.
    Hallie said, “This must be very difficult for you. First losing Robin, and now Kurt.”
    “Not really.”
    “Excuse me?”
    “Hallie, I’m not from Washington. Baltimore born and raised. We don’t mince words. I saw through Kurt from the get-go. I told Robby, I said, this man is ten miles of trouble and slick as goose shit. Do
not
marry him.”
    “Don’t misunderstand this, but how did you know that?”
    Taylor chuckled sourly. “Like sister, like sister. I spent some years with the same kind of shit heel. A broken nose and arm finally helped me see the light.”
    “But your sister went with him anyway?”
    “Oh, he could be utterly charming. I’ll give him that. A skill sociopaths share, apparently. Ted Bundy and all. The bastard started playing around six months after the wedding. Waitresses, stews, pole dancers, whatever fresh meat he could get his hands on.”
    “How long were they married?”
    “Four years. Six months ago, Robby finally told me the whole story.” Taylor closed her eyes, breathed deeply. “Some of it was shocking.”
    “How do you mean?”
    “He wasn’t just playing around. Kurt was sick. He made Robin do things.” Taylor described a couple that turned Hallie’s stomach. “Sometimes he
hurt
her.” Taylor looked away, and Hallie knew that she was debating whether to say more. She looked back. “Robin was not a strong person. Easily influenced. I think that’s why he married her.”
    “That’s terrible, Maddy. It must have been awful for you, too.”
    “My little sister. I said, ‘Robby, you should talk to the police. Those things he does.’ ”
    “Did she?”
    “No. I think she was afraid.”
    “You said that he must have wanted something from Devan.”
    “Sex, probably.”
    “Excuse me?”
    “He played around with men, too. Can you imagine?”
    “Oh.” So Ely had told the truth in his note. Or some of it, anyway.
    Taylor finished the coffee, looked at her watch. “The reason I’m here: after Robin died, I wanted to pick up some stuff. Things from our family, pictures, old jewelry, you know.”
    Hallie nodded.
    “The bastard wouldn’t let me have anything. Wouldn’t even let me in.”
    “How
did
you get in, then?”
    “Robby kept a spare key under a flowerpot out back.”
    The conversation ebbed. Hallie thought it was time to leave, but remembered something. “You said Kurt was, well, weird. Did it go beyond his marriage?”
    Taylor sighed. “He had a thing about the government.”
    “What kind of thing?”
    “Like a Timothy McVeigh kind of thing.”
    Hallie’s gut clenched. “What?”
    “That’s probably exaggerating. But he
hated
the government.”
    “Do you know why?”
    “I know what Robby told me. Supposedly, his father got wounded in Vietnam but couldn’t get disability from the army.”
    “Why?”
    Maddy thought about that. “My guess? He was faking, if he was like Kurt. But then, since when did the government need a reason to fuck over somebody?”
    “What happened to him?”
    “He had a ratty apartment in Philly. Didn’t call for a while, so Kurt went up there. The old man had been dead on the floor for a week. Starved to death, apparently.”
    “Jesus.”
    “Kurt was never a model of mental health, but that put him into a real bad space.”
    “What did he do?”
    “The usual stuff. Letters to bigwigs, newspapers,
60 Minutes
. Tried seeing people,