My body was giving up on me, and I couldn’t get to Evelyn.
Charles moved on to showering Sheriff Strauss with the accelerant, but not before saying, “Thank you, Dad.”
My mind struggled to process this new information. It had me thinking of my father and wondering what part he played in all of this again. Did he really just want a background check on Evelyn, or was there more to it? Strauss had been appointed as the sheriff several months ago. The town knew him and may have even loved him. All this time, he was Charles’ father—the father of a killer.
The sound of my phone ringing returned Charles’ attention to me.
“Ah, what do we have here?” he mused as he squatted down to fish my phone out of my pocket.
My breaths were becoming shallow, I wanted to lash out at him, but I barely had the strength to keep pressure on the wound.
He rotated my phone toward my face and unlocked it with ease.
“Danny boy says he’s on his way. Tsk tsk.”
Standing, he dropped my phone to the ground and crushed it beneath his foot.
“I guess we’ll have to speed things along. Let’s liven things up a bit. I’m sure that will wake sweet Evvie right up.”
He broke away from my line of vision again, only gone for a moment.
Charles came back with a crowbar swinging in his right hand, whistling as he crossed the barn to me.
He stopped in front of Evelyn first, though. “Have you ever seen a fibula?” he asks, receiving no response again.
Once he stood in front of me, he took one last look at her before he brought the crowbar down on my leg. “Yeah, me neither. But we’re about to.”
I screamed in agony as he brought the crowbar down on my leg twice and then a third time.
Sweat coated my skin as the pain from the blows and the gunshot wound left me breathless. I can’t help but call out to her, “Evelyn.”
Before the pain takes me under, I see her eyes snap to mine.
I thought this was goodbye. My heart shattered along with my bones. I thought I had more time.
I love you.
Chapter 41
Evelyn
The sound of metal clattering against the hardwood floor beside me forces me out of my daze.
When my eyes focused, I saw Parker was on the floor, blood still leaking from his stomach, and one of his legs looked broken.
Charles was whistling a tune that sounded familiar. I must be delirious because it sounded likePaparazziby Lady Gaga. He stood over his father and stared as the flames rose.
I tried to breathe through my nose, and pain radiated through me. Panic began to rise again, and I tried to tamper it down.
Parker wasn’t moving.He isn’t moving.
I took a deep breath and fought through the pain. My arms had gone numb behind my back.
Everything hurts, including my heart, seeing Parker lie motionless on the ground made me wish I were stronger. He found me, and now I wasn’t sure either of us was going to make it out of here.
The smell of smoke filled my senses.
Charles clapped with delight as the flames jumped from the his father’s body to the hay lining the barn walls.
