Zeke came forward, leading with the knife.
Ivy screamed and closed her eyes. When she didn’t feel the cold metal slip into her chest or stomach, she slowly opened them again.
Zeke seemed confused, as if he wasn’t sure how he’d gotten here. The man was staring at the knife. Turning it over in his hand. Eyes locked on the blood; it had a jelly-like consistency as it clotted on the metal.
“My dad... you don’t understand...”
Ivy wasn’t sure what to do, what to say.
“Why didn’t you just let it go?” Zeke sobbed now. “Why couldn’t you just let it thefuckgo?”
“I will.” Speaking made Ivy’s throat hurt. Nodding made her head throb even more. “I’ll forget all about the cheating, and I’ll even tell Rebecca—”
“It’s all your fault! All yourfuckingfault! My dad is going to kill me!” Zeke roared.
He lunged again with his knife, but this time, Ivy didn’t close her eyes or scream.
Wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of enjoying her fear.
Zeke stopped himself. Pulled the knife back a second time.
“I didn’t... oh, God... I didn’t mean to hurt anyone... I just... I wanted to talk...”
Ivy coughed again. Spat something thick on the floor beside her.
“Who? Zeke, who did you hurt?”
“Hurt?” His eyes watered. “I... I killed... oh,fuck...” Zeke brought the blade to within inches of her face. Tears wet his cheeks as he bared his teeth. “You made me do this, Ivy.Youmade me do this.”?
?Chapter 51
“You wanna addEugene Reeves to the murder board now, Vaughn?”
Vaughn did not and said as much.
“You can’t think this is all a coincidence. The fact that he—”
“Look, I agreed to go speak to him. Let’s start with that.”
“You heard Detective Howe. He thinks that Dr.Reeves is faking his injuries.”
That wasn’t even close to what the retired detective had actually said, but Vaughn let it lie.
They parked in the assisted living facility lot. It looked much different up close during the day; less ominous.
Vaughn made his way to the front desk, which was unoccupied. There was one of those old-fashioned bells sitting atop it and he reached out to make it chime.
Before he did, however, a woman turned the corner.
It was the same woman that had been in the field with Ivy last night. She was wearing a similar smock, but it was white with small pink flowers instead of blue.
Her head was down.
“Sarah, right?”
She stopped and Vaughn tried to smile. Wasn’t sure he succeeded.
“Ms. Kachinski,” she corrected. It was clear that in the intervening hours since their last meeting, she’d gone over things in her head.
