Mario hummed. I wished I could see his face, even though the very thought made the bile burn at my throat. “It’s sad, really. He started stealing from me. From the other young men I was trying to help. I couldn’t allow it to go on.”
I slapped a hand over my mouth, shoulders trembling in fury. I’d never stolen a damned thing, but Mario was an expert at this. When people came with questions, he had answers.
“Really?” Eddie didn’t look at him, so I couldn’t see his expression, but the anger in his tone was sharp and dangerous. “He doesn’t seem like the type.”
Despite being in this horrible house with disturbing memories, my heart bloomed. He trusted me. He knew me. He saw me.
There was a sound of shuffling, and I turned my head too late. Mario was walking behind Eddie, a kitchen knife clutched in his hand and held above his shoulder. I went to scream, to warn Eddie, but everything happened in slow motion.
Eddie knocked a coaster off the table with his elbow and leaned down to grab it. Mario stepped on the coaster at the same time and slipped backward, stumbling with the knife still clutched in his hand. He twisted, trying to get his balance, and slammed face first against the wall, rattling a heavy antique glass clock. With a shriek, he spun.
Horror slapped me as I spotted the knife.
The blade had gone into his upper thigh at an odd angle that made me think it was stuck deep into his groin, too. Blood poured out of him. I didn’t know anatomy that well, but there were a few spurts here and there. Had he nicked an artery? He toppled to the floor on his uninjured side, gasping and trembling as he stared at the knife.
Eddie shot around to gape at Mario on the floor, right as the heavy glass clock wobbled on the wall. Mario glanced up as the clock slipped from the nail holding it in place.
“Oh shit,” Mario uttered right as the clock shattered across his head, glass flying everywhere, along with blood from his cracked skull.
He slumped and time resumed at regular pace.
All I could do was blink. Then, blink again.
Eddie’s gaze darted to me and his eyes widened. “I didn’t do it.”
I stared at him, shock twisting into morbid amusement. Laughter spilled from my lips and I bent, hands on my knees as my entire body shook.
He shot to his feet. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry it was an accident. I should’ve killed him for you. I didn’t—the others. I didn’t kill them, either. I wanted to. I mean, I thought about it. But Mike was going to shoot me and his gun fell. Aaron Newland drove in front of the train. I mean, I was following him, but that was kind of an accident, too. Andrews I punched, but I wasn’t trying to kill him. You told me about those damned stars, and you wereright. I’m sorry I didn’t murder anyone for you.” A tear trickled down his cheek, and he looked so fucking ashamed as he slapped a hand over his mouth.
“Oh my God. It was an accident. Oh fuck.” I couldn’t stop now that I’d started, laughter falling from me until my chest and stomach hurt. I wiped tears from my eyes and held out my hand to him. “Come on. Help me wipe down anything you touched. Was anyone else here?”
“No, I didn’t see anyone.” His lips trembled. He was careful as he walked toward me, not stepping on any of the glass. I grabbed a dish towel off the oven handle, and we wiped down the table and chair. I tucked the cloth into my inner coat pocket as I led him out of the house, leaving behind the part of me I was happy to forget.
But I couldn’t stop chuckling.
18
EDDIE
“Are you okay? Where are we going?”
Guilt swamped me at the note of apprehension in Tyler’s tone. He’d been amused as we’d left the house of horrors, but he hadn’t said anything about my impromptu word vomit. Did he hate me? Was he secretly planning to pack his things and leave? I wasn’t the man he thought I was and I shouldn’t have let this drag out.
Fuck.
I did my best to gather my thoughts while I drove on the icy road with the headlights catching snowflakes, so it took me a few minutes longer than usual. The car’s right tire hit a pothole that must’ve been a gateway to the center of the earth, and my teeth rattled as I waited to see if that was going to be the end of a tire, but nothing happened, so I let out a sigh of relief.
“We’re almost there. I just need to think for a minute.”
“Okay.” He laid a comforting hand on my forearm as I turned into the old decision-making spot I used to come to when I was younger. The lookout was a parking lot behind a defunct glass plant, but it had a dazzling view of the lake. Ice had formedcraggy peaks and valleys as pieces had broken and refrozen near the shore, and about one hundred feet out the gray water churned, glittering dark diamonds. The clouds overhead hung low, reflecting the city lights. Everything was brighter than usual with the snow glow as big flakes drifted down.
“Wow.” Tyler shifted forward in his seat, then glanced with a huff at the boarded-up glass factory. “What a weird place for such a good view.”
“Yeah. Life is that way sometimes.” I parked the car at the edge of the lot. For some reason, even though the plant was no longer in use, someone was still clearing the snow. I turned and tapped the underside of his chin with my pointer finger, getting his attention. “Sometimes you find the most beautiful things in unexpected places.”
He rolled his eyes but gave me a shy smile. The heat from the vents warmed our faces, and Tyler let out a happy sigh as I cranked it up another notch.
“What’s going on in your head?” Tyler held out his hand, and I gratefully took it, using him as an anchor in the fucked-up storm this evening had become.
