Page 22 of Little Twisted Things

“Oh look. They’re saying something else.”

“While the investigators have not released the possible cause of death, they have declined to comment on evidence recovered at the scene.”

I knew the reason the police were keeping this murder on the down low. They knew if they announced Key West had a serial killer, fear would settle amongst the community. Not that it already hadn’t.

“Do you think they’ll catch whoever’s doing this?” Tess asked.

“I hope so,” I sighed.

“I used to tell people that Key West was the safest place I’d ever lived.” She stared out the window at the people walking by. “Now, every time a young woman walks into this gallery alone, I’ll wonder if she’ll make it home.”

During my lunch break, I stepped outside and sat on a bench in front of the gallery. Pulling out my phone, I sent a text message to Alex.

“Have you seen the news?”

“I did, and it ruined my day. What is going on here?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, I know enough to make me worry about you. I don’t want you going out by yourself until this maniac is caught.”

He was worried. How cute. However, I wasn’t the type of person to take orders from anyone. But I’d play along to ease his mind.

“I plan on it. Will I see you tonight?”

“I have my literature group. But definitely, tomorrow.”

“Okay. Try to have a good day.”

“You too, Dahlia. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Once my shift ended, I stopped, picked up some Thai food, and headed home. After pouring a glass of wine, I took it to the table with my plate and turned on the news.

“Our sources tell us that this was the work of The Last Chapter Killer. The young woman’s body was discovered at sunrise, carefully posed in the sand with her hands folded across her chest, and the words carved into her, ‘This is her last chapter.’”

11

My father stood near the fireplace. A whiskey glass held in his hand. My mother stood several feet away, her face unrecognizable. I looked to the corner of the China cabinet and saw Katherine with her knees pulled tightly against her chest, and her hands clamped over her ears as the shouting continued. My mother went into the kitchen, picked up the biggest chef’s knife we had, and hid it behind her back.

“I loved you,” she told my father.

“You need help. None of this would have happened if you’d just gotten the help you needed.

“Twenty-two months. You’ve been seeing that whore for twenty-two months behind my back,” she spat. “But you’ll never leave me.” A sinister smile crossed her lips.

Suddenly, my mother flew like a madwoman to where my father stood and plunged the knife into his chest. The whiskey glass dropped and shattered as my father fell to the ground. My mother straddled him, piercing him twenty-one more times.

Katherine rocked back and forth as she tried to tear her eyes away from what Mother was doing. Katherine was trying to disappear. She looked at me.

“Make it stop,” she whispered. “Help me.”

She was begging me for help, and I knew what I needed to do. I took over and shielded her from the madness of our mother. When the world became too frightening, she handed it over to me. I was born in this house. Not from violence, but from necessity. I sent her to a happy place. The place she would go to when the world became too much. Mother looked at me as she pierced my father’s chest one last time.

“Cheating men need to pay for their sins.”

I stared directly at her until my eyes diverted to the painting that hung on the wall behind her—Eyes Without a Face.