Shut up!
That’s when Mina found her. The puppies gave away her location as easily as if she’d worn a blaring siren around her neck.
When Mina agreed to help cover her presence, she thought she’d won the lottery. It was stupid to take the puppies—Mina’s stupid idea. She didn’t fight her because all that mattered was that she got out of there and let Mina clean up the mess and hide any trace of her. Plus, her mother had been bothering her for a dog and she figured she’d kill two birds with one stone.
Everything was turning out well until she put the puppies in the Jeep. She was about to hop in the front and drive away when she heard Mina calling.
“He’s alive!”
No.
No, no, no, no.
Lyndsey shut the Jeep’s front door quietly and stood staring at the ground.
He can’t live. He can’t tell Mina what happened.
She ran around the house to the back door and slipped inside. She heard Mina and the twins talking in the kitchen.
She tiptoed as fast as she could to the servant stairs and crawled upwards to the hall across from Kimber’s room.
Why didn’t I pick this door instead of the puppies door? She’d forgotten which door was which. She could have gotten away clean. If I’d just grabbed this knob instead I wouldn’t be in this mess.
She bolted into Kimber’s room to find him still on the ground.
“Mina?” he croaked without looking. He seemed unable to move except for a slight rocking of his torso that made him look like a weary turtle after a week of trying to flip back to its feet.
Lyndsey looked down at the carpet, her mind racing with panic.
The iron rabbit doorstop stared back at her. The ears looked very much like a handle.
She stooped and grabbed it. In two strides she reached the old man.
I am an avenging goddess.
Lifting the rabbit above her head she swung down and struck his skull with all the force a lifetime of hate could build. She swung again before she realized his skull didn’t offer the same resistance it had the first time.
Too much. Stop.
She panted, taking a moment to catch her breath.
Mina will be back.
She scurried toward the servant stairs. A drop of blood dripped to the hall floor as she paused to open the door. She looked down at the rabbit in her hand. Its butt was smeared in blood and other bits she didn’t want to think about.
If I carry this to the car there will be a trail leading right to the Jeep.
She set the rabbit on the top stair, wiped away the blood drip and rubbed the ears with her shirt to remove her prints.
I’ll come back for you.
No one ever used the help stairs. It would be safe there.
She ran down the steps as fast as she could navigate them and slipped out the door. She had just closed it when Gemma came around the corner.
Gemma stopped.
“Hey,” said Lyndsey, trying to look as casual as possible.
Can she see my heart beating through my shirt?
“Hey. Did you hear about Uncle Kimber?”
“Hm? Sorry, I’m in a hurry.”
Lyndsey walked as fast as she could without running through the back door and then bolted to the Jeep. She drove away as quietly as she could down the long drive, opening her speed the moment she hit the road.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Mariska was watching a Hallmark movie when she heard a knock on her door. She glanced across the room at her stove clock.
Nine twenty-two.
It was late for someone to knock on her door.
Worried someone was in trouble, she rocked herself out of her husband’s deep La-Z-Boy and made her way to the door. Flicking on the outside light, she peered through the window to find a young woman standing on her doorstep.
“Crystal,” she said aloud, recognizing the girl. A thread of fear stitched through her.
The girl who’d killed her own grandmother.
Did she enjoy murder so much now she wanted to kill all the old ladies in the neighborhood?
Crystal spotted her in the window and waved.
Dang it. Too late to hide.
“Hi, Mariska. Can I talk to you for a second?”
Mariska pursed her lips.
That’s just the sort of thing a serial killer would say if she knocked on your door in the middle of the night.
Against her better judgement, Mariska moved to the door and opened it. She left the storm door closed and tried to casually lock it as she spoke.
“Crystal, it’s late. What are you doing here?”
“Um...”
She raised her hand and Mariska jumped back before realizing all she held was a crumpled piece of paper. The girl’s hands were shaking. She didn’t seem like a monster. Though physically she was a big girl, she seemed small and vulnerable.
“I have to show you this,” said Crystal.
Mariska considered asking her to press it to the glass, but felt silly being so afraid of a young woman who, without her scary eyeliner, looked like an orphaned rabbit. Mariska glanced behind her, hoping to find her dog ready to attack should anything odd happen, but the chubby mutt was nowhere to be seen. She realized she could hear Izzy in the bedroom with her daddy, snoring.
Useless spud.
Bracing herself, she opened the storm door and stepped onto the small stoop. The neighbors were more likely to hear her scream than her husband was. Bob slept like the dead.
Crystal presented the paper for her to take.
“What is it?” asked Mariska.
“You’ll see. You can keep it for a bit.” Crystal retreated down the two stairs leading to the driveway and pointed at a plastic shopping bag left
