Page 150 of Ash and Poison

“Don’t worry. She’ll take our secrets to the grave.”

The van door opened. One of the catering trucks.

My eyes went dark, and before I fell, I was pushed into the van.

“In you go.”

I woke to the cold bite of metal chains around my legs. Darkness pressed in from all sides, thick, suffocating, and unwelcoming.

I tugged at the chains, wincing as the sharp jangle echoed through the small space.

Was I in the hunting cabin?

It was too dark to tell.

“Holland? Ellis?” I called out, my voice brittle in the silence.

Something moved.

“You’re awake,” Holland said, his face hidden behind a mask with twisting horns. He looked exactly like he did in Millie’s sketches—a monster stripped of anything remotely human.

“Why the mask? I already know it’s you.”

“Yeah. I already broke too many rules anyway.” He pulled off the mask and placed it on the single chair against the cement wall. “Well… This looks like it’s going to be fun. I’ve never had a doctor before. Mostly insane bitches,” he said, undoing his tie. He pulled off the jacket and threw it down. His lips curled upward, but the smile was too slow, too precise. Like he had learned to smile by watching others.

“You... you made it look like Jonah did it. You planted a false trail—little pieces of evidence here and there, just in case anyone ever figured out what you’re doing.” I shuddered.

“Jonah’s a freak. And now he has gone and kidnapped Millie. Everyone will certainly think it’s him.”

“No, he’s not a freak, you are. He ran with Millie because he figured out you killed Jimmy, didn’t he?”

Holland smirked.

“He had this little crush on Millie back in the day,” Holland said with a laugh. “Now he’s trying to play the hero, that useless bastard.” He snorted. “How did you know it was me though? You doubted Jonah. That’s why you came to my party. You perfectly followed the trail we left.”

“Riley and Millie.”

He shook his head. “No fucking way. A dead girl who has never seen my face and a crazy bitch?”

“Millie draws, and Riley, before she died, wrote a bunch of letters.”

“So, it was Asher who killed Doctor T and Hannigan. I was right.” He crouched next to me, pulling my hair out of the braid.

I didn’t move. I just watched. He got off from fear and pain, but he didn’t know I was just as good at this game as he was.

That was my advantage.

“You think you’ll get out of this unscathed, Mayor Bricks?” I asked, slowly pulling myself up from the floor.

“No one will find you here, Diya.”

“Are you sure?”

His eyes narrowed for a second before he gave me a grin.

My finger curled around the knife in my coat pocket. Did they not check my coat? That was a mistake on their part and it was going to come and bite them in their asses.

I closed my eyes, biding my time.