Page 70 of They Say a Girl Died Here

The basement.

Anna could have laughed, albeit bitterly, if she didn’t know the price Grandma had paid to try to save her. Maybe it was never possible to escape your fate. Maybe she was always supposed to end this way, whatever path it took to get here.

“There was only the clown before,” Grandma muttered, confused, and for once Anna understood.

I was always going to do it. That’s what Melissa had said. I was planning to do it on my own tonight.

Melissa alone had killed all the Annas who went before. Anna couldn’t have figured it all out before. Hadn’t known so much that the doc and the sheriff needed to get rid of her. Maybe she’d gotten stuck on Pastor Keene. The other times, it had been Melissa on her own and Anna still hadn’t gotten away. What chance did she have now?

“Why are you here, Johnny?” Grandma looked at him, confused. Lost.

“Just came for some lemonade, Evelyn, that’s all.” That soft tone that they’d gotten used to. Even Anna had started to feel—if not safe, then familiar—around him. The sheriff lowered Caroline into a dusty armchair that was never leaving this basement again any more than Anna was, then took a hip flask from his pocket and drank. Liquid courage.

“You don’t have to do this.” Anna looked from the doc to the sheriff, ignoring Melissa. “You really want another murder on your hands? And you think the state police won’t take a closer look this time? You think my mom isn’t going to insist on the feds? Three dead girls all killed the same way?”

“That’s where my dad comes in.” Melissa tapped the softball bat against her palm. “He’s close to breaking. He can’t handle this. He’ll know I had something to do with your death and he’ll call the state police soon enough to get it off his chest. So, better that he takes the blame for all of it. Everyone in town knows he’s a weirdo drunk. Bonnie’s body was on our farm. Lila’s scarf on our scarecrow like some kind of keepsake of his first kill. The feds’ll lap it up.”

“But he’ll deny it. He’ll tell them everything.”

“Not if he’s dead. Shot during his arrest, having held his poor daughter hostage.”

“You’re going to murder your own father?” Anna stared. “You’re really that person?”

“He’s destroying the farm,” she snapped, and Anna wondered at her expression behind the horrible mask. Was Melissa wearing it to distance herself from her own actions? Is that why she’d worn it with Jamie too? Easier to be a monster if you look like one, religious beliefs or not. “He doesn’t care about the land.”

“Okay, stop already.” The sheriff raised a hand. “So how’s this going to work?”

“If you think I’m going to sit still while you bash my brains out, then I’m going to disappoint you.” Anna backed away, looking around at the boxes for anything she could use as a weapon, anything that her good hand could reach. There was nothing.

“We’ve got your grandmother and your sister.” The sheriff held his gun up.

“That’s your gun. Would be a bit of a giveaway.”

“No.” He shook his head. “I took this from Brett Laverne’s place a while back. Thought he might harm himself. He doesn’t know I have it.”

In the chair, Caroline stirred and murmured, mumbling something, not quite in a dream, not quite awake. Her eyes opened, glazed. “Anna?” she slurred.

“Go back to sleep, Callie, go back to sleep.” Anna’s heart raced, terrified. Don’t wake up. Not yet. Not yet. She felt sick as the doc looked at her little sister, panicked.

“Did she see us?”

“She didn’t see anything.” This time the worry was clear in Anna’s voice. “Honestly. She’s stoned on whatever you gave her. And she’s your alibi, Doc. You had her at your house?”

“She just got her period.” Melissa pulled the mask off and went over to Callie, crouching by her chair as if she was only just seeing her, a thought dawning. “Like, she is freshly fertile. If she went on the land, well, maybe we’d never get a drought again. Maybe the Lord would bless Harper’s Creek forever.” Her voice dropped to a reverential hush. “It would be like Abraham and Isaac. The sacrifice of a child.”

“For god’s sake, Melissa. She’s a kid.” The doc had paled.

“A kid who you’ve drugged and who just woke up.” Melissa turned to them. “What if she remembers you giving her that shot? Huh? Think. We can play it that Anna took Caroline from the party, not you. Brought her back here. My dad came and murdered them both. Killed Anna, who was defending her sister, and then sacrificed Caroline to the land.”

“She’s only twelve.” Anna’s throat constricted, her legs like jelly. Not Caroline. How can Grandma have saved Anna over and over for it to lead to this? She should have let Anna die the first time. Any of the other times. Not Callie! It would break Mom. Both of her children dead would destroy her. “Please. Just put her back in the tent. Whatever. But please, she hasn’t done anything wrong. She’s innocent.”

“And that’s why she’s perfect.” Melissa stroked Caroline’s hair. “She’s innocent. She’s what a sacrifice demands.”

“I don’t buy into this land-sacrifice bullshit, Melissa,” the sheriff said, his face curled in distaste. “And I don’t have the stomach for killing a child.”

“I can’t see God wanting this,” the doc said. “And she was in my care. I’ll do what we have to, but nothing more. She’s not a danger.”

Caroline stirred again, her eyes opening as she tried to turn over in the armchair, her limbs disobeying her, the drugs in her blood strong. “Why is the sheriff in our basement, Anna?” she muttered. “Why are we all in the basement?” She frowned momentarily, looking at them one by one. “I’m so tired. What’s wrong with me?” And then her eyes closed again, sleep taking her.