“And that theory makes more sense. If they’d been hers, why didn’t she have them on her that night? Why give them to Bryce before she died? She knew that one day I’d have to take down this fucking town.”
Evie grew quiet, and her eyes glazed over. Bryce knowing what we were doing, and being willing to help, had been a lot for her. After dinner that night, I’d taken her home and left her to think. I was surprised when she asked me to hang out after work the following Friday. She’d been hanging out with Skye most of the week.
“Who’s next?” I asked.
“Frederick Castle,” she said without looking up from her weapons.
“I see...” I scrunched up my nose and quickly looked away. I’d been really dreading this one.
“When I first made the decision to come back, I did some research. I contacted a few true crime channels. You know, those amateur sleuth ones? They found so much information on my mom’s case that I didn’t know existed. I made the list in order from easiest to hardest. I think, anyway.”
“Right. That’s the list you showed me before.”
She nodded. “Frederick Castle is an entertainment lawyer. He hangs out in his office most of the time, and it’s a nice one with lots of security. I can’t even get a meeting with him.”
“I know Fred. That sounds right.” I rolled my eyes. Fred Castle was a royal dick.
“So, should we give it a bit of time? Dourif has barely been dead two weeks. And now that they’ve found Glenn...”
“Maybe. Are you thinking of using those going forward?” I pointed to the knives in her lap. Her brown eyes lit up, and her lips turned upward.
“Yes! The note that came with them? She wanted me to do this. Avenge her death.”
Lita Reyes was a confusing creature. She had a lot of secrets but was always two steps ahead of everyone, until that night. The more I thought about it, Evie’s theory was probably correct. Lita had given the engraved knives to Bryce in the event something happened to her and her daughter needed to fight back.
But why even go to dinner in the first place?
“You need to learn how to use them, then.”
Evie pushed the dogs off her lap and leaped up. Handling the knives, handles between her fingers, she hunched down, taking a fighting stance, and then punched the air. I raised an eyebrow, and when she saw the skepticism on my face, she stood straight.
“What? I’ve got this. I took a class.” She swung again, haphazardly. Her arm was not steady, and the landing was weak. There was no way she’d be able to take on someone alone.
“Your instructor was shit, then.” I snickered and stood.
Once she stopped swinging, I faced her front and reached up, snagged her wrist, and yanked her arm down. I grabbed the other and forced them to her sides, squeezing until she whimpered.
“Drop them,” I demanded.
Her eyes watered as she tried to fight against me. She pressed her lips together, and I squeezed harder. That seemed to trigger something in her. Her brow furrowed, her eyes darkened, and she sneered at me.
“Fuck you,” she spat. Her eyes glazed over—I had a feeling she wasn’t speaking to me, but one of the men on her list.
I squeezed harder, hating myself for it but needing to prove my point.
“You think they’ll hesitate to snap your bones in half?” I asked, finally letting her go.
She stumbled back, dropping the daggers to the floor so she could rub her wrists.
I bent down to retrieve her weapons. “I’m sorry, Final Girl. These men will fight for their lives. You’ve gotta be prepared for that.”
“Maybe I can’t do this.” She dropped her body onto the floor in defeat. “Sometimes dead is better,” she huffed the line fromPet Sematary, expressing her frustration.
“Not in my movie.” Replying with the quote fromScream. I crouched down and lifted her chin to meet my gaze. “You can do this. And you will. We’ve already killed two out of six, remember? You got Dourif no problem. But we know they aren’t all going to be that easy, so we have to prepare. I actually bought you something to help with this.”
Her eyes, having gone shiny with tears, now showed...hope. She sat up straight, putting her hands on the floor to steady herself.
“You did?”
