“Shut up!” Zach snarled, keeping her locked tight on the ground. “This is unforgivable. What is wrong with you?”
“He’s the unforgivable one,” Torie screamed. “We have to finish this. We have to die together.”
“No one else is dying,” Zach said.
Boots pounded up the steps. Paramedics and deputies rushed onto the patio, weapons drawn until they were sure the scene was contained. Ciscel came in last, not running, thumb pressed to his shoulder mic like he’d been listening the whole time. His gaze swept the blood, the knife, Torie pinned to the concrete, lingering a second too long on Harmony before he turned away.
Harmony spoke first, her voice shaking slightly. “Torie said she knows who the killer is. She said she wanted the women gone, that they had to die, implying she did it. Then she stabbedTosh. She tried finishing him off, but Zach tackled her and has been holding her down since.” Her voice was resigned.
Sergeant Durante’s gaze swept the scene, then landed on Harmony. “Does anyone else have another version?”
Cass shook her head, looking sick. Zach’s face was carved from stone. Torie glared at all of them, breathing hard.
“That’s what happened,” Zach said, looking defeated as if his world had been flipped upside down and there was no way of righting it.
Deputy Duong nodded, taking notes, as if Harmony’s version was fact. Beside him, Ciscel didn’t write a thing. Duong’s eyes flicked to Torie’s hand, then to the shattered glass, cataloging. Ciscel’s gaze stayed on Harmony’s mouth, like he was memorizing her words more than the scene.
Torie was hauled to her feet, handcuffed, and led away. She looked back over her shoulder one last time. A strange smile curved her lips, and a glint lit her eyes.
She looked relieved. As if the fight was finally over.
Tosh rode out in the ambulance. The hospital patched him fast, the way islands learn to. The blade had missed anything vital by luck and angle. By the time the shock caught up to them, he was back in his own living room, pale and furious with pain.
“What does this all mean?” Cass finally asked.
“What about Mary?” Zach asked.
“Did they work together?” Tosh asked.
They all looked at Harmony as if she held the answers.
She lifted a shoulder. “I don’t know why Mary’s hiding if she had nothing to do with it.”
“Maybe she’s scared,” Zach said.
“I don’t know,” Tosh said. “I never would’ve thought Torie was capable of anything like this.”
“We’re all capable of terrible things,” Harmony said softly. “Most of us just never act on it.”
“I’m so sad,” Cass whispered. “I hate that our beautiful group has been torn apart so brutally.”
“It just goes to show that none of us ever truly know each other,” Zach said. “We might know what’s on the surface, but none of us sees the deep, dark, and ugly parts.”
“I hope I never see that side of any of the rest of you,” Tosh muttered with a wince.
Harmony stepped out on the balcony. She leaned against the railing and looked down at the ocean. The town felt subdued beneath the blinking stars. She brushed her hand along the rail and shook her head.
Inside, she could hear Tosh, Zach, and Cass speaking in low voices. Tosh sounded broken. He might not come fully back from all of this. Zach sounded resigned. Cass sounded relieved it was over.
Harmony closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. There were no more answers in the air tonight.
When she turned, her gaze fell on her notebook that was lying open on the patio table, a fresh page fluttering in the breeze. She walked down the steps from the balcony and picked up her pen, pressing its tip against the paper.
Her hand moved before she decided to move it.
A single line appeared—slow, deliberate.
Some stories write themselves. Others need a little help.
