Page 116 of To All the Men I’ve Killed Before

‘Then what was he doing here?’ I say, confused. Nothing makes sense at all.

‘I don’t have any answers,’ she says. ‘Now seriously, how are we going to get out of here? Do you know anything about slipping out of cable ties, by any chance?’

I shake my head.

There must be something we can do.

I look around the room, trying to see if there’s anything useful here but there isn’t. Just some tins of food that have probably been here for years. Maybe even decades.

Then I remember.

The knife.

The little paring knife I grabbed from the kitchen when I was going to kill Aidan. The one I couldn’t find.

It’s in the back pocket of my cut-offs.

That’s where I put it.

I’d been wondering what was digging into my bum in the car.

‘I’ve got a knife!’ I say to my sister. Her eyes light up.

‘Of course you do! You’re Kitty Collins. I knew you’d come through for me. Where is it?’

‘In the back pocket of my shorts,’ I say and I try to reach it. But I can’t. The angle at which my hands are tied is too awkward for me to be able to. It’s a futile mission. ‘I can’t reach it! You’re going to have to get it out.’

Antoinette nods and bum-hops closer to me. Her hands are behind her back too so she’s going to have to feel around for the knife. She moves herself into a back-to-back position with me.

‘So this is awkward,’ she says as she tries to pretzel herself into a position that allows her access to my back pocket. I can feel her twisting and turning behind me but her hands are nowhere near my pockets.

‘Lower,’ I say. ‘You’re not even in the right zip code.’

‘Well, it doesn’t help that you’re literally sitting on your butt, you know, the place where the pockets are situated. You need to move too.’

‘I can’t stand up,’ I say. ‘In case you hadn’t noticed my feet are tied too.’

Antoinette clicks her tongue. ‘You’re going to have to roll over onto your side,’ she instructs me.

‘What? I thought you were like the queen of sleight of hand or something?’

‘Just do it. Roll over. Hurry up.’

I grumble as I slide down onto my back and roll over onto my side. The floor is made of stone and it’s cold and hard. ‘This is the least fun I’ve had since losing my bag at the airport,’ I say. I’m sure I hear Antoinette stifle a giggle. I’m not certain that she’s taking our kidnapping as seriously as she should be. ‘Are you laughing?’

‘No. Okay, a little. But you’ve got to admit this is kind of funny. I’ve got it!’

‘Great,’ I say. ‘Now cut through the cable tie on my wrists.’

Again this is not as easy as it sounds. And having Antoinette poking around near my skin with a blade while she can’t see what she’s doing isn’t exactly ideal.

‘This knife is useless,’ she hisses as she attempts to saw through the plastic tie. ‘Could you not have sharpened it?’

‘I’m sorry,’ I say. ‘Next time I find a knife I’ve stashed in my shorts and forgotten about, I’ll make sure I sharpen it first.’

‘There’s no need to get snippy. It hurts my feelings,’ Antoinette says.

As if she has any feelings.