I cut the lights back on and check my messages. Nothing seems amiss, but I bang out a quick text to Kat, knowing I won’t feel any relief until I have her in my arms again.
Did you do what I told you? I’m on my way.
Trudgingback to Eddie’s house through the sand, I curse myself for walking, which seemed like the most discreet plan at the time. But my shoulder and back scream from having carried Eddie so far, and my pulse thrums unreasonably fast, worrying about whether Kat ran into any problems with her assignments.I was dumb to leave her alone but taking her on a dumping job didn’t seem prudent.
The lights are on in Eddie’s beachfront mansion, looking warm and inviting like a beacon from these dark beaches. Wainscot Hollow is as dark as a haunted house, with Henry likely passed out in a pool of his own vomit. Henry’s next, but I like to do a neat job and take one thing at a time. A hit cannot be namby-pamby, no matter how short you are on time.
I veer left and stride down the path back to the Lind residence, where I hope to be greeted by the love of my life.
I find the back door open, and music blares from inside the house.
“Kat!” I holler as I enter the open-plan living area surrounded by windows. There’s no way to move discreetly in this house when the lights are on.
“Kat!” I scream again and am answered by only some loud jazz. I search for the source so I can cut it off. “Kat, where the fuck are you?” I bellow as I tear through every single room. The bedroom is stripped and empty. Only a couple of curtain panels dance in the wind from the open windows. Spotting a smart remote, I push power and stop the maddening music.
“Fuck me, Katelyn Shaw,” I say to myself. “Now I’m gonna have to kill a hell of a lot more people.”
I check my phone again to see if anyone’s tried to contact me. If she chickened out and ditched me, I’ll have to end her. There’s no questioning the matter. Or lock her up in Wainscott Hollow forever, never letting her see the light of day.
On my phone, there’s an incoming message.
It’s Kat.
No words but a blurry picture that looks like it was snapped in haste.
Part boardwalk. Part black pavement. A sinister-looking clown and a red arrow nearly erased by years of foot traffic.
Luna Park this way!
Coney Island?
Only two peoplein this world are stupid enough to hurt Kat Shaw. One’s dead already, and the other one’s about to be.
Our darling and deranged brother, Henry Shaw.
A man who is about to meet his maker after he dies a slow death in the most painful way possible.
CHAPTER 20
Katelyn
A rumbling gently shakesmy limbs, and I open my eyes to orange plastic seats and a puddle of iced coffee running over the tiles toward my feet. I blink, and register the pain in my neck, my chest, my arms, and my legs. I keep blinking to free my mind of the web it’s trapped in. Every part of me aches like I’ve got the flu.
I sit up slowly, and the world swims a little as my vision goes blurry. I look down and see my brother's hand on my arm. Instead of reassurance, it makes my very blood run cold.
“Henry?” I say groggily.
I remember him surprising me in my kitchen, holding the biggest knife we have to my throat and forcing me to drink a cloudy glass of water. My brother drugged and kidnapped me.
His hand tightens around my wrist, already covered in angry red marks.
“Henry?” I try to lift my head all the way up, and he smashes it back down so my cheekbone meets his shoulder with a force that will surely leave a bruise. “Are we on the subway?”
“I had to get you out of there now he’s back. He’ll try to take you from me like he did before, and I had to stop him before he separated us forever.”
“Who? Heath? Or are you talking about Eddie?”
“Heath. Eddie’s dead,” Henry slurs like he’s drunk.
