“Caught?By the police?”A pause.“By the Feds?Because I’m sure we’ll be seeing them soon.”
He stared at her.He really liked the gold in her eyes.
“Or by you?”she whispered.
He let his smile stretch.Shehadbeen doing her homework.Someone deserved a gold star.“You’ll stay with me,” he repeated.“Until he’s caught…or until I put him in the ground.”
ChapterFour
Julia Tutwiler PrisonFor Women
Wetumpka, Alabama
Six months ago…
“Why, Lily?”Magnolia’s voice was annoyed.Disgruntled.“Why on earth do you want to talk to them?They aren’t going to be like you.You aren’t going to have some magical connection.It’s not going to be all—snap.” She snapped her fingers.Polish gleamed on her painted nails.A soft peach.A woman on death row with perfectly manicured hands.“You have a soulmate.Someone who understands your poor, traumatic past.”A huff.“Everyone is a victim these days.Have you noticed?It’s so tiresome.”
Lily kept her spine perfectly straight.“My mother is a serial killer.She’s on death row.Sorry to point this out, but that pretty much does qualify as me having a traumatic past.”
“Oh, pooh.”
Pooh.Because her mother didn’t curse.After all, she was a lady.A murdering lady, but a lady, nonetheless.Lily almost rolled her eyes.She would have, if she hadn’t known such a gesture would completely set off Magnolia.Lots of things set off Magnolia in this world.
“You have aninterestingpast,” Magnolia corrected her.“You have a mother who is world-famous.A woman who has gotten movies and books written about her.I am a celebrity.”A pleased grin.“Because of me, you are, too.You are famous because ofme.Never forget that.”
“I never wanted to be famous.”In fact, she’d spent most of her life trying to hide in the shadows.She liked the shadows.The sun was far too bright.If you weren’t careful, it would burn you.
“Well,Inever wanted to be locked away in prison, but here I am…because of you.”A despondent sigh.“The things we do for our children.”
Lily maintained her expression.“Do you regret that?Being locked up, because of me?”It wasn’t my fault.Blame me all you want, but no one else made you kill.You chose everything you did.
“I have no regrets in this life.There is no point in regret.I’ve told you this before.Regret does nothing but waste energy and give you a headache.I hate headaches.”
Yes.Her mother did hate regrets.And bad language.And boring parties.And men who lied to her.Men who used her.She hated them most of all.“I’m not looking for a soulmate.”There would never be a soulmate for her in this world.
“Of course, you are.”Magnolia rolledhereyes.“You don’t want to be alone.Humans are not solitary creatures.We crave companionship.Not like we want to walk through the giant void of life all alone.”
“That should be on a greeting card.”
Magnolia snapped to attention.“Lily Oleander Gallo.Did you just make a joke?Is the sky falling?The world ending?”
“Thank you, Mother.Always nice to be appreciated.”
“I do appreciate you.”Softer.“You are the one thing in my life I appreciate above all else.You are my forever companion.The reason I will never walk through the void alone.Even at my worst, at my most damaged, you never turned on me.You never will.”
Lily’s chest ached.
“I appreciate you, my beautiful daughter, but you are far too serious.When you were younger, I used to worry that you didn’t even know how to smile.”Magnolia leaned forward.“You want to find the others out there because you want to think that you don’t all have to turn out like your parents.Fair enough.Done.I’ll go ahead and make a prediction right here and now.They won’tallbe wretchedly evil.I’mnot wretchedly evil.I was simply getting rid of the disappointments in my life.”
“No, you were murdering men, Mother.”
“Disappointments.”
They stared at each other.
“They lie to you, Lily.”Her mother wet her lips.“They use you.They twist up your goodness.Then they try to cast you aside when they are done.”
Lily leaned forward, her pose matching her mother’s.No, mirroring hers.“Got to say, walking through the void all alone sounds way better than leaving a pile of bodies in my wake.”
