For once, Connor seems intrigued by his sister’s latest obsession. “Whoa,” he says, reaching for the remote control. He clicks mute and the sportscasters’ voices instantly disappear.
Jasmine sets her laptop on the coffee table. “All right, shut up. Let’s listen.”
She presses play, and a staticky female voice crackles out of the computer speaker.
“Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?”asks the dispatcher.
A second later, a male voice comes on.
My father.
My memory of that night is foggy, but I was always under the impression that Mom called the police. But I suppose…that doesn’t make sense. Would she call them andthenstart packing? Ifeel like she would’ve gotten us out of the house first, gone somewhere safe, and then made the call.
“Hello. Hi. I’m sorry, I don’t know how to begin this call. I, ah…”My father trails off.
It’s hard to keep my jaw from dropping.Hello? Hi?What the fuck, Dad?
“Sir, what is your emergency?”
“I just shot my wife.”
Bile rises in my throat. Bursts of memory hit me like splashes of cold water. Mom’s scream when Dad tried to grab the gun from her. The deafening explosion. Gunshots are louder than you think, especially in an enclosed space.
“I beg your pardon, sir? You’re sayin’ you shot your wife?”
“That is correct. You can send an ambulance, but I don’t believe she’s breathing.”Finally, Dad’s matter-of-fact tone betrays a sliver of emotion.“Sh-she’s gone.”
“Sir. What is your name, sir?”
“Thorn. Gabriel Thorn. We’re at twelve forty-nine Rockridge Way.”
The dispatcher sounds harried as she attempts to get more details out of my father, but he dismisses the queries, interrupting her mid-sentence.
“It was an accident,”he says. I hear footsteps now. Muffled. He’s walking.
Is this when he walked back into the bedroom? Where I was hiding, urine staining my pajamas, because I was terrified Daddy was coming to finish me off.
“I swear to God, it was an accident. She found out about them. She didn’t understand. I was only trying to get the gun away from her, and it went off. It went off. But the others—”
“Your wife was holding the gun? Why was she holding a gun on you, Gabriel?”
“That’s not important. For God’s sake. You’re not listening. The others, I meant to free them. I did it for them.”
He sounds so calm, I want to throw up. But it’s exactly how he behaved that night. Calm. Self-assured. When he found me under the bed, he seemed resigned. But not defeated.
“What others, Gabriel? What do you mean, free them?”
“You’ll have their names in your missing persons reports.”His footsteps speed up.“And while I understand the media enjoys coming up with sensational nicknames, I don’t enjoy being referred to as the Starling Slayer. But I suppose that’s who I am. I killed those women. But I didn’t ‘slay’ them.”
The dispatcher is stunned.“Sir, are you sayin’ you’re the—”
Click.
He ends the call.
Silence crashes over the living room. Jasmine’s eyes are as wide as saucers. Connor’s mouth is parted in astonishment.
“Oh my God,” Jasmine breathes. “How…” Her shock turns to disgust. “How are we related to that guy!”
