Her eyes glittered. “Why shouldn’t I have killed her? She deserved to die. All of you—throwing that tacky, obscene party—celebrating while my Colin—my Colin—” Finley’s lips trembled. “Dying peacefully on a cloud of morphine was too good for the whore who spat you out. Justice demanded she suffer, so I put it right.”
I was shaking. My whole body rattled so hard my teeth chattered. “And Mrs. Prado?”
Mrs. Finley frowned. “What?”
“Why Mrs. Prado?” I demanded. “Why did you kill her?”
“Why— Why not?” She shrugged, lips twisting. “It was her own fault—that Prado woman. She shouldn’t have gotten in my way.”
I nodded slow. “How did you get into my home and upstairs unseen?”
“What the fuck does that matter?” she barked, eyes flashing. “I did it. Who cares how?”
“Okay, fine.” My voice was nothing but a thin croak. “If I could ask just one more question then—why now? It sounds like you’ve hated my mother for ten years. Why kill her now?”
Mrs. Finley laughed. It was a terrible sound. “Why wait until she was a broken, wasted, shell of herself? Why wait until she was a leech and burden, relying on others to eat, wash, and shit? Why wait until she was scared and hopeless with nothing to look forward to?
“Why wait until I could stand over her, look her in the eyes, and see the moment she realizes I have all the power, and there’s not a damn thing she could do about it?” She laughed that horrid laugh again. “I see why only your sister got into Titan Prep. You’re definitely the stupid one.”
I was quiet for a long time. So long, my bag started buzzing. It was likely Alex calling to check up on me and see what was taking so long.
I reached into my bag, pushed aside Sue’s buzzing phone, and closed on mine. I turned the recorder off.
“You’ve been very honest with me, Mrs. Finley, and although you might not think this is sincere, I truly appreciate that.”
Her eyes narrowed to slits. No, she did not think I was sincere.
“Honesty is everything,” I heard myself say. “We all deserve it—you more than anyone.”
“What the hell are you blathering about?”
“That’s why I’ve come here,” I went on like she hadn’t spoken. “To do something I should’ve done a long time ago—tell you the truth. And it starts with this: Sarah never touched the trapdoor—”
“You—!”
“Sue did it,” I sliced in, halting her mid-shout. “Sue snuck into the school, replaced the screws with cheap plastic destined to give way, and then she snuck away and let gravity and security cameras do the rest.Shedid this,” I stressed, “and I know this because I’m not Soo Min. I’m Sarang. I’m Sarah.”
Mrs. Finley didn’t move. She didn’t shout. She didn’t blink. She didn’t even look at me. Her eyes glazed out of focus like she couldn’t see me anymore.
Starting from the beginning, I told heralmosteverything. How Sue and I started to hate each other by eight years old, and it only got worse from there. I shared the lies, the gaslighting, the sabotage, and her endless campaign to make my life hell. I told her about Sue’s seething jealousy when I got into Titan Prep and then into Yale. Then I told her how it all culminated into Sue framing me for pranking Colin, which resulted in my mother throwing me out.
Towards the end is where I fudged it a bit.
“Sue ran off and abandoned her child and husbands, so I stepped up,” I said. “I came back to be there for them and to be there... for my mother. I want to put right what went wrong.” I climbed down off the stool, hitching my bag up my shoulder. “It’s too late for you now. You’re going to prison for what you did to Mrs. Prado and my mother, but I want you to know, Colin will be taken care of.
“Every cent my mother and sister should’ve given to him will go to him now. No matter how long it takes me, or what it costs—his care will be paid in full for the rest of his life.” Gaze drifting, I fixed on the picture of thesweet, smiling little boy holding up his first-place ribbon for the science fair. “I’m sorry it took so long, Mrs. Finley. Sorry for you, for Colin, for me, for Mrs. Prado, and for my mother. The act of one jealous, mean girl shattered so many lives that day and for that... I’m just sorry.”
Turning my back, I walked away.
“Sorry?” came a trembling voice. “You’re... sorry?”
I didn’t slow or turn back. There was nothing else to say and no more time to waste. I needed to get this recording to Officer Cop-A-Feel and get my best friend out of prison.
“You’re SORRY!?”
Crash!
A mug hit the wall to the right of me, exploding in a shower of razor-tipped ceramic shards.
