Page 86 of Miserable Marionette

I’m so lost to my own terror, blinding and bitter, I jump when he speaks again. “Everything okay?”

“Yes,” I offer, maybe a hair too quickly.

I need Gideon.

I need him to come here.

I need to call him.

To let him know.

Why are you talking to me?

I haven’t said anything. I’d never—

“Do you remember much about Mrs. Bell?”

My rambling thoughts stop short. “What?”

“Gideon’s mom. I’ve had a lot of spare time, going through old case files, and I’d seen the name pop out. I’d never known his mom had taken her life, a horrible thing for a young man to see.”

I nod numbly, my heart pounding so hard it makes my chest throb.

She died because of me. My eyes seem to be screaming. Gideon killed her.

“You were with him that night, the night she took her life.”

I nod again, scrambling to remember why I’d said that. I wasn’t. I was out in our grove, waiting while he—

My stomach swirls; absently, I place my hands there, feeling sick.

“Where were you two that night?” he asks, but my skin feels clammy.

Can he see I’m shaking?

“Um, his house. Er, no, mine. Sorry, it’s been years and I’m not feeling great today.”

He stares at me, his dark green eyes peeling apart my insides. “Hmm,” is all he offers as he pulls the binder he’s had tucked under his arm free. “Do you recognize any of these women?”

I blanch as he flips it open to one of the girls. Each flick through another smiling face makes hot, wet, disgusting saliva fill my mouth. “No,” I choke out.

He smiles at me, but it doesn’t reach his eyes.

He knows.

He knows, he fucking knows.

He pivots hard, and I’m not ready. “They kind of look like you, don’t you think?”

I can’t help it, god, I can’t help it. I fucking gag.

He lurches back at that. “Miss Fisher, are you alright?”

“No,” I answer honestly. “That was a horrible thing to say. I need to get back to work.”

“Of course,” he offers simply. “My apologies. I hadn’t meant to upset you.”

But I’m already around the building, back inside, smiling, and forcing a laugh at something someone says before I make it to the bathroom to vomit.