This one is small, built for a woman’s grip. Talia can’t stop running her hands over the cool, shiny surface. It makes her feel powerful, in control. Two things she rarely feels in life. And she needs the protection now more than ever.
Talia takes a breath, attempting to steady herself.Inhale for a count of four, hold for a count of seven, exhale for a count of eight.It’s no use. The betrayal she’s felt since yesterday in the police station—reignited now that Meera stands before her—threatens to tear her in two.
“It’s been her this whole time,” her friend is saying. “She’s been pretending to be her own stalker.”
“No,” Townsend says. “That’s impossible.” Even in her anger, Talia feels a twinge of pride at his loyalty. He knows her too well to believe Meera’s lies. He loves her too much to let Meera stand in the way of their future.
Below, sirens wail. It’s time to do what she needs to do.
Talia takes another deep breath—inhale for four, hold for seven, exhale for eight—and pulls the trigger.
The blood comes first. Blackish-red liquid pools and soaks into Townsend’s eggshell-colored rug like a scene from a slasher flick. Exceptthat the growing puddle isn’t made from corn syrup and red food coloring—it’s blood, gushing from her leg.
Finally, the pain hits. Talia drops to the floor.
“Jesus Christ,” she hears Meera say.
“Talia.” Townsend’s footsteps approach. “Talia, what did you just do?”
“Stay where you are,” she tells him. Darkness starts to cloud her vision. “Stay right there. I need to do this. For us.”
With her last bit of strength, she aims and pulls the trigger again. She hears a scream. A thud. A parade of heavy boots stampeding into Townsend’s condo.
Then voices. “Police. Police. Put your hands where we can see them.”
The last thing Talia sees is Townsend’s face, blurred and swimming in the distance.
Just before he slips out of sight, she tells him again: “I did this for us.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Kaitlyn
First thing Saturday morning, Kaitlyn drives straight to Amanda’s apartment building. There she finds Roger the landlord in the lobby, staring dead-eyed at his phone screen. When he looks up at her, his brows raise, and she wonders if that’s because she looks as crazy as she feels.
Because right now, she feels mad enough to snap.
She barely slept the night before, if she even slept at all; she was too occupied with thoughts of her almost-certainly-dead sister, and her sister’s potential murderer, and her pistol, suddenly and inexplicably missing from the trunk of her car. If Kaitlyn ever wants to sleep again, she’s going to need some answers. Figuring out who’s been paying Amanda’s rent feels like a good place to start.
“I need to see the security tape,” she says without preamble, and then just as quickly adds, “please.”
“Right.” Roger pockets his phone and waves her back into his office. She doesn’t need to tell him there’s urgency to this situation; he obviously feels it.
It takes the landlord an agonizingly long time to find the right moment, but eventually, he does. In silence, they watch the grainy footage of a dark-haired woman entering the lobby, exchanging a few words with Roger, and handing him an envelope.
“I can’t see her face,” Kaitlyn says, her heart sinking. Maybe she’s not going to get the answers she’s looking for after all.
Roger shushes her, even though the video has no sound. “Wait for it.”
Finally, the woman turns. Roger pauses the video, catching her face in profile.
“Know her?”
Kaitlyn squints at the screen, expecting to see the Indian woman with the nose ring she was shown yesterday at the police station. Instead, she sees another familiar face: that of the sharp, accomplished woman she’s been watching for months. “I do know her,” she admits, because on that screen—handing over money to her sister’s landlord—is Townsend’s girlfriend, Talia Danvers. “Well, I don’t, but I do.”
Like a pile of bricks, the realization lands on her with a shattering blow. For so long, Kaitlyn assumed Talia was a victim, someone who’d attached herself to a rancorous (and possibly murderous) asshole without knowing any better. But it’s clear now Kaitlyn was wrong. So wrong. Because Talia can only have one reason for paying Amanda’s rent: She’s the one who killed her.
“Okay,” Roger says, as though her response makes any sense. He gestures to the screen. “So what do you want me to do with this?”
