Chris stood there helplessly as the woman he loved had to live through that trauma.
“I’ve been doing this a long time, Christopher. It’sVERYdifficult for a killer to get something past me. I’ve seen it all, and when those bones showed up there, I knew what he wanted me to feel.”
His heart hurt for her. He couldn’t imagine the gut punch it would be to come face-to-face with his deceased father’s bones, and he didn’t even ever remember meeting him.
Elizabeth loved Charlie as much as a person could, and she idolized him. To have someone pull him from the ground and defile him…
God.
He was so afraid that she might not survive this.
Turning her head, she stared at him.
“That’s why I wanted to return the favor. I loved my mother, but I was so young. The attachment to her was never the same as it was to Charlie and Sam. He believes that digging them up will kill a piece of me, but that piece died a long time ago,Christopher. I said my goodbyes, and over the last sixteen years, I’ve had time to mourn losing Charlie.”
Chris let her talk as she stood and moved toward the tray on the desk.
When she pulled off the cloth covering his skull, she picked it up with her hands and held it reverently in her palms.
In that moment, he saw exactly how strong she was.
She stared into the two open cavities that had once held his eyes.
The eyes that matched her own.
“That’s why he picked two hookers with icy blue eyes. He told me when he put them in the skulls who they were. He wanted to break me, but also test me to see if I was smart enough to adjust mid-shock.”
Chris knew she was.
No one pivoted as quickly as she did.
No.
One.
Elizabeth kissed the skull on the forehead, and in that moment, she knew she had him. She had Devon dead to rights because he wasn’t smarter than her.
He only had a head start.
Where she’d doubted if she could pull this off, she knew she absolutely could stay in step with the most twisted, sick, and perverse the world had to offer.
“He miscalculated twice. First, I don’t feel the same about seeing my parents’ bones that he will. That wound is fresh for him, but it’s healed for me. While doing his research on me and my daddy, he misjudged my reaction. He believed it would make me crumble, but Charlie…he’s not this,” she said, holding his head. “He’s the memories or the little girl that carries his name. Charlie is alive in me, and in my children. I see him eachday when one of them does something so ridiculous it makes me laugh.”
Chris listened.
He was watching Elizabeth readjust to get her feet back underneath her. His attempt to destroy her only gave her more strength back.
He’d made a huge mistake.
By allowing her to see that she could still anticipate and win had made her indestructible. While she might be tired, she wasn’t off her game.
The game she written the rules to.
“Catherine isn’t that skull either. I have faith, Christopher. My parents are in a better place. Now, had he dug up Sam, and blamed me for his death…that would have hurt. I have regrets with how I was so angry at him after we broke up, and how I didn’t talk to him for the longest time, even when I was living inSalema mile from him. That would have done some damage.”
Chris leaned on the side of the desk.
He knew what she was saying.
