“Wha…what?” I stuttered.
“This one’s for Kelly.” And then Susie grinned so wide, so Joker-esque, I thought I might pass out from the evil she oozed. “She knew just before she died exactly what happened, and she knew why, and I’ll go to my death with no regrets because of that. Because she deserved to die for ruining my baby’s life.”
Out of nowhere, I remembered two things. The text from Mitzy to her volunteers and what Mickey had said about the argument Mitzy had with someone in her hotel room, and while I was running out of things to talk about, it helped me to extend our conversation.
Running my tongue over my dry lips, I asked, “The text to her volunteers? You cloned Mitzy’s phone didn’t you?”
Susie winked and nodded. “Easy-peasy.”
“What about the argument you had with Mitzy the night before in her hotel room? One of her volunteers heard someone arguing with her about Kelly.”
Susie’s eyes looked confused when they popped open wide. “That wasn’t me. The first time I saw Mitzy was the night of her event.”
“And the EpiPens? You locked the volunteers in the janitor’s closet and swapped her purse out for an empty duplicate?”
“Yep. And I dumped it in a dumpster a couple of blocks away. Then I bought myself an ice cream to celebrate,” she said snidely. “Aaaand I took the EpiPen from Margot’s purse, too. All I had to do was put on a maintenance uniform sneak in, make the swap and voila. It was easy-peasy,” she said, sounding so pleased with herself.
Welp, I think that covered everything. So, as my mind decided I’d hit all the bases, I realized I had to act—and act fast. We’d run out of things to talk about, and Susie was going to want to get rid of all the evidence and get out of town.
But how do you come to a gun fight with a cup of coffee and a phone?
My heart began to clamor in my chest with such ferocity, I heard it in my ears. “Susie?”
“Yes, Trixie?”
“You don’t really think you’re going to kill me and get away with it, do you? People know I was coming to see you today.”
She shrugged, moving in closer, until she was only a couple of feet from me. She waved the gun at my face. “It won’t matter, Trixie. Don’t you see? By the time they find your body, I’ll be long gone. There are two flights that leave the country tonight, in about two hours. All I have to do is choose one. By the time they realize you’re missing, I’ll be long gone.”
In that moment, when all the people’s faces I loved flashed before my eyes, when the thought of never seeing them again really hit me, I knew I had to make a move.
“Susie? One last request?”
She made a face and sighed. “I really liked you, Trixie. You were so different from those juvenile, over-privileged jerks. The least I can do is grant you one last wish. What is it?”
My heart crashed against my ribs, my pulse slammed like high tide in my ears, but I had to go for it. “This!” I screamed, lobbing the cup of hot coffee at her with everything I had in me.
It hit her face and the floor with a splash, but it was just enough to create a bit of havoc so I could grab for the gun.
Susie screamed out her pain at the heat of the coffee on her skin, but it didn’t loosen her grip a whole lot on the gun. And when I say Susie’s pretty strong, I’m not joking.
Droplets of coffee flew everywhere as we struggled, a push and pull that left me sweating and breathing heavy, each of us clinging to the gun, moving closer and closer to the edge of the room.
“Susie!” I screamed. “Stop! Give me the gun! Let’s work this out!”
She yanked even harder and shook her head, spraying me with more coffee, her hair plastered to her head. “No! Mitzy deserved to die! It was meant to be. I’m not going to jail because of her—she will not win!”
I didn’t know our location in the room, but suddenly we were falling over a glass table, the sound of it crashing as we fell on top of it, shards of it flying up and hitting me in the face with sharp pings.
I hit the ground on my back with a shout of pain. We rolled over the floor, our grunts primal and harsh. I finally managed to get on top of Susie and straddle her hips, but she was strong. So strong, she flipped me and almost got the gun.
But moments before she managed to buck me off her, I saw her face. A mask of fear covered in sticky coffee, her eyes wild—and it was terrifying.
Yet, I had no time to ponder my terror. Now she straddled me, our arms high in the air, both pairs of hands still around the gun. I was panicked she might get her fingers on the trigger, and that spurred what I did next.
Lifting up high on my heels, I bucked her off with a fierce howl that came from deep within me, catching her off guard and finally wresting the gun from her.
I scrambled to a standing position, gun in hand, but Susie was lost in her rage as she charged at me, her face one I almost didn’t recognize.
“Susie! Stop!” I bellowed as she barreled toward me like some mad bull.
Somehow, as clunky and tired as I was from the fight, I lurched out of the way—
And watched in slow-motion horror as Susie headed straight for the bank of windows.
She flew right into them with an ear-splitting crash of glass.
And then she flew out of sight.
My heart in my throat, I tucked the gun in my back pocket and ran to the
