There’s another thud. This one is much heavier.
“I have a feeling...” Ivy’s gaze is also glued to the ceiling. It follows the sound of giggling as something heavy is dragged across the floor over our heads. “Yes.”
Everything is silent for a long minute before Dizzy reappears in the doorway at the top of the stairs.
“That was fun.” Her face splits into the brightest grin. “He’s all tied up and ready for you.”
This is it then? I force Kurt to implicate himself and the others by getting him to confess what really happened. No one will be able to look the other way then. They’ll know the truth. Then Kurt and Duke and the others will all get what they deserve.
I march past Dizzy and step into the apartment above the garage. It’s small and dated, with wood panelling and brown-on-brown carpet. There are cigarette burns in the cheap synthetic pile and oil stains on the furniture.
Car manuals and coffee mugs cover every surface. I gag on the smell from a pile of pizza boxes on the coffee table. A couple of flies do an aerial display that comprises of dive bombing the boxes in tandem.
An unconscious Kurt lies on his stomach in front of two sagging recliners with his hands and feet trussed together behind his back.
I planned to tie him up. That’s why I brought the baling string and cable ties, but this is... I turn to Dizzy. “You hog tied him?”
“I added this for you.” She grabs the twine that runs the length of his torso, and tugs. His head rises a couple inches, and he makes a choking sound. “That should help you get a confession out of him when he comes to.”
Ivy hugs herself as she studies her sister’s handiwork. Unlike Dizzy, she’s somber. She chews the inside of her cheek as she turns her focus to the other woman.
I take my phone out, open the voice recorder, then prod Kurt with my foot. “Kurt?”
His response is unintelligible, but his eyes open. Remembering he was mid fight when he went down, he tries to get up, but the ropes hold. “What the fuck?”
“Feeling vulnerable, Kurt?” I kneel in front of him. It’s weird to see him weak and incapacitated. For so long he seemed much bigger and scarier than me. Little by little, I’ve grown strong. I’ve learned how to live and that I’m capable of protecting myself.
That girl they hurt is a fierce woman now, and she’s come to set things right.
I’m almost sad Dizzy took him down on her own. I didn’t get the chance. But I’m the one who will get him to confess.
“Jesus. Fuck. Summer?” His gaze clears. His lip curls up in an ugly way. “You bitch. What do you want?”
“I want you to confess.” I hit the record button. “I want you to admit what happened in that bathroom the night you assholes attacked me.”
“You know what happened. You started it, slut.”
“Hey, we’re about to have company,” Kelsey calls up from the garage.
Kurt grins. “I was worried someone was trying to break in, so I called the cops. You remember Kyle, don’t you?”
“Tell me what you did.” I yank on the rope like Dizzy showed me, and his head lifts from the carpet. His eyes bulge, and he makes that garbled sound again. Spit descends in one long string to the carpet.
“Ease up,” Dizzy says.
“Not until he admits what they did.”
He slaps the ground, tapping out.
I drop the rope.
“Fine. I... I spiked your drink. I put the drugs in your punch when you got to the dance. You were already pretty tipsy. Duke wanted to send you over the edge. I had some pills the doc gave me to help with the pain when I broke my arm in that game against Flowerdale. They made me drowsy. I figured they’d do the trick.”
They definitely did the trick. I suppress a shudder. “And then?”
“I helped you to the bathroom. Helped you take your panties off.” His body is wracked by a cough. “I didn’t do nothing else. It was all Duke and Kyle. Kyle was the one who bashed your head into the toilet.”
Nausea coils in my belly, all cold and bitter. He’s filling in details I wasn’t sure about.
