I reached for his throat and squeezed.
“I should stab you.” I continued squeezing his throat until his face turned red and then I dropped him.He crumpled to the ground and began to cough frantically.
“It wouldn’t do any good.”
“No.” I eyed the table on which I’d been working last night. All of my materials were still there with some new items added and shifted around. “But it’d make me feel better.”I retrieved my knife and twirled it in my fingers before thrusting it into the wooden table. “Why are you here?”
“Where else am I supposed to go? You won’t leave her fucking house.”
“For good reason, apparently. I’m in jail for a few days and you sneak into her bed.” I slammed my hands on the table and began examining all the items we’d gathered for the ritual.
He laughed and leaned against the wall, massaging his throat.
“We didn’t fuck in her bed. We fucked in the greenhouse. Why do you think we had to burn it down? They caught us on camera.”
“You can’t be fucking serious.”
“I took care of it.”
“By killing her best friend?”
“By getting rid of several problems at once.” He pushed his glasses up his nose and twisted his septum piercing. “Now, are we doing this or what?” He nodded to the table.
“Yeah.” I took a deep breath and reached for my backpack. “It’s going to be stronger since we’re here. Give me the details.”
Kansas dipped into his jacket and pulled out a small wire notebook and tugged off a sheet. I scanned the list and looked at him.
“You found it. Great.”
“This is all correct?”
“Every last name.”
Foxworth
Du Pont
Palmer
Walton
Harris
Hajime
“I’ve met Mr. Hajime,” Kansas said as I began writing their names down on individual papers. “He was Emi’s dad.”
“Yeah? He made sure that the police never investigated the Family while we were all down here struggling not to die,” I snarled.
I wrote his name, along with the rest of his family,tore it out of my notebook, and folded it three times before tossing it in a cup.Then, I did the same for the others.
“Which one was which again?” Kansas leaned over me and asked.
“Du Pont made sure my dad had new kids whenever he wanted.” I tore his name off the sheet. “That’s Rem’s dad.”
“And Foxworth paid for us to stay locked in here, along with the cameras and shit.”
“The Waltons, Soleil’s parents, were up there with the Foxworths. Big donors. Whenever someone wanted to rally against my dad, they slid a check over to them.”
