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“You’re sick,” I told him.
“Perhaps. But I’m the one with the power.”
Chalene shrank into my side. I wanted to wrap my arm around her, but I needed it to use the crutch. Instead, I whispered into her ear, “Don’t listen to him. He’s lying. He’s only doing this because he knows he’s not as powerful as he claims.”
“It’s a shame, really,” he said, fingers hitting a few piano keys as he walked by. The sound lifted the hairs on my arms. “That you were so nosy and had to come snooping. You really are quite gifted at piano. It’s why I wanted her to continue her lessons. I was hoping your talent would rub off on her.”
Hearing the words rub off come out of this man’s mouth made vomit fling itself up the back of my throat.
“Unfortunately, you saw, and you didn’t die like you were supposed to. Poor, talented scholarship student with no family to question the fact she took a tumble down the stairs and died.”
I sucked in a breath.
“I didn’t realize you had so many friends. A fiancé,” he said, eyes glinting as he stared at me with malice. “They made it impossible to get to you in the hospital. How convenient it would have been to just slip something into the IV. And then they just had to show up at the laundry room.” He shook his head. “I suppose it all worked out in the end, though, hm? I knew this one wouldn’t be strong enough to keep her mouth shut.” He gestured to Chalene. “And now you’re both here. Two birds. One stone.”
“There’s just one problem with your logic,” I said, matching his conversational tone.
“And what is that?” he asked, almost amused.
“You’re outnumbered,” I declared and lunged forward, swinging the crutch like a bat.
It cracked against his body so hard the vibration shot pain into my hands. He pitched sideways, and I let go, the crutch falling onto the ground between us.
“Go!” I told Chalene. “Go next door and get help. Tell them to call the police!”
She hesitated, bouncing from foot to foot. Director Fields groaned and rolled.
“Go!” I told her.
She took off, but the old man was faster, lurching up off the ground as if he had springs for knees. He caught her leg and yanked, making her do a belly flop right into the floor.
He leaped on her as she struggled, and he wrapped his hands around her throat from behind.
“If you think I’ll let you two little girls take away my entire life and reputation, you have no idea who you are deal—”
Crack!
This time when I hit him, it was in the side of the head. The sound of the wood smacking into his skull was unpleasant, and his skin split, blood spurting even as he dropped like dead weight off to the side.
“Go!” I told Chalene, hobbling forward to yank her to her feet and push her toward the door. “Go!”
She took off, her wheezing breaths and ragged cough echoing behind her. The bells on the door rattled loudly as she shoved out into the dark night, screaming for help the second she was there.
The crutch bumped and rattled over the floor as I limped to where Director Fields lay sprawled. His head was gashed open and bleeding, the crimson a stark contrast to his pale skin. Standing over him, I shuddered and panted, anger and fear keeping me on my feet. He groaned piteously, and I raised the crutch, ready to hit him again.
I glanced at the door, hoping Chalene would hurry. Hoping that the shop across the parking lot already dialed the police. I glanced across the store to the counter where my phone lay and thought first of Ben.
I wanted to call him. To hear his voice.
I could. But after.
I’d call the cops too. I’d tell dispatch everything so it was documented more than once.
I’d never let this asshole get away with what he’d done. Never.
I glanced back down at his unconscious form. “You even breathe too heavy and I’ll split your skull and look at your brain,” I told him.
Graphic? What did you expect? I watch horror movies.
