Why does she sound angry? “But you’ve been with us on several of our tour dates, so you’re not exactly alone.” That’s when I spot it.
Time feels like it freezes and expands at the same time as I stare at it.
Susan has my journal in her bag.
Thoughts in my mind rush together like a domino run, each one connecting with the next.
She’s carting around craft supplies.
She’s obsessed with serial killers.
And she has my fucking journal.
I think back to that time in Daytona when my journal was in the wrong pocket. Had she snuck into my things then?
Susan has been with us several times when we received packages from the Cherry Smasher. Was she working with Edmond? If she was, it wouldn’t have been difficult to send us creepy gifts when she wasn’t there.
Scooting back, I try to get up, but my knees give out, and I end up in a crouched position. That’s the only reason I notice the footlocker in the closet.
Glancing behind her, she sighs. “I guess my secret is out.”
My stomach tightens and the hair on the back of my neck stands on end.
Where’s my mace? In my purse on the entryway table. Damn it.
As she continues picking up her belongings, I spot my phone next to my knee, and I push it to the side of the couch so she can’t see it. Then I slide my finger across the screen to the camera app and hit record.
Maybe I can get her to confess what she’s doing. Because there’s a possibility I won’t be here to explain this to Jace.
“Wh-what are you planning to do with that footlocker, Susan? Carry me out on a luggage cart?” I use the bed to stand and step away from my phone and farther from Layla.Please stay asleep, ladybug.
Susan’s wide grin is so malicious, I can barely breathe. “You’re pretty good at this, Rory. Why, yes. That’s exactly what I’m going to do. You were supposed to drink the water that’s spiked with Visine, which would either give you a seizure or put you in a coma. Either way, you’d be rendered incapacitated, and I’d shove you in that trunk and dump you in a nearby lake.”
Jesus Christ. What’s wrong with this woman? I feel like I’m staring at a stranger. “I thought we were friends.”
She chuckles. “Don’t look like I just kicked you. This is a means to an end. It’s not personal.”
She’s planning to toss me in a lake but doesn’t want me to take my own murder personally? “What were you going to tell Jace?”
“I wasn’t going to tell him anything. That’s what’s so brilliant about my plan. You were going to do all the talking.”
“I don’t understand.”
She sighs like I’m dumb. “I was going to show him your journal where you talk about your new job. Where you yammer on and on about how nothing would ever work out with him. Because you’re too different or want different things. Blah blah blah.” She grabs my journal and flips through it. “Right here, you note that you’re giving him two weeks’ notice and then you’re gone. I’m thinking you had a change of heart and decided to gosooner. He’ll be on the road, so it’s not like he’s going to have time to hunt down his stupid nanny.”
How did I miss so much evil lurking in this woman? “I’d never leave without talking to him first.”
She snaps my journal shut. “Did you know that head injuries can make you act erratic? Maybe you woke up this morning and had a change of heart about him and decided you’d had enough.”
“Jace won’t believe you.”
“We’ll see about that, won’t we?”
After last night when Jace found me in a torrential rainstorm, I know I’m right. He and I might have our issues, but if I went missing, he’d tear apart the state to find me. “Why did Edmond help you? Because he did, right? To deliver your creepy gifts?”
“Why does anyone do anything? He did it because I paid him. It was quite simple, really.”
“But why? What did I ever do to you?” As I talk, I scan the room with my peripheral vision to see if there’s anything I could use to defend myself.
