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Prologue
I don’t knowif it’s the ringing of my cell phone that wakes me, or the fact that I wasn’t sleeping very soundly anyway. But when my eyes pop open and begin to adjust to the darkness of my room, I can already feel something is wrong.
Something has happened. Something bad.
I reach over and pluck the phone from my bedside table, scraping my thumb across the screen as I press it to my ear.
“Hello?”
“Joey, it’s me.” My sister’s voice is frantic, breathless, like she’s been running hard, for hours, and is about to collapse from the exhaustion. I sit up in bed, pushing the phone even closer to my ear.
“What’s wrong, Jules?” I ask. “What is it?”
“Something has happened,” she sobs. “And I need your help. Can you please come over?”
“Julie, it’s four-thirty in the morning.”
“I know, but I need you.”
“Okay.” I close my eyes and frown, hoping the impending migraine will stop before it really starts. “Give me twenty minutes, okay?”
“Hurry.”
It takes me less time than usual to get to my sister’s house, despite the grogginess in my brain and the numbness in my limbs from the cold. I feel like I’m still half asleep by the time I reach Julie’s, but the bright lights of my sister’s house are glaring in the pitch black of the night. Sweat forms on the palms of my hands as I pull my car up to the curb of the house and shut off the engine, eyes landing at once on my sister, who is sitting on the front porch step of her home, arms wrapped around her knees, squeezing them to her like they might be the last thing she has to hold onto.
“Julie?” I step out of my car and start up the lawn to comfort my sister, glancing around warily. Her car is idling in the driveway, headlights on, driver’s side door wide opening. It’s beeping, that horrible, incessant noise that nobody can stand. But my sister doesn’t seem to notice. For a split second, I consider that my twin has been in a car accident and is too injured to drive herself to the ER, but there’s no real damage to the car.
That is, until I notice it.
“Jules?” I say quietly, reaching one hand for my sister as my eyes land directly on the bloodied bumper of her Dodge Neon. Against the pearly white of the paint, a crimson red stains the flawless finish. My heart skips a beat, and the sweat that has been pooling on my hands makes my skin tingle. “What happened?” I breathe, but I’m afraid to hear the answer. Julie sniffs, loudly, wiping one hand across her tear-stained face. Then, avoiding my gaze, she lifts one arm up and points, points into the darkness of the night.
It’s a human being, a still figure lying on the lawn. Dead. Unconscious. I can’t tell.
It’s my brother-in-law. Julie’s husband, Ray.
“Holy fuck.” The words slip from between my lips before I can stop them, and my ears begin to ring. Julie says something, but I can’t fathom her words. She’s still trying to hold my hand as I pull away from her, taking delicate steps in the direction of the unconscious man on the ground. I think he’s still breathing, but it’s hard to tell.
“He attacked me,” Julie whimpers from the porch. “And he told me I couldn’t leave, that he’d kill me if I did.”
“So you …” the words falter. I can’t even say it aloud.
“I hit him,” she moans. “I hit him with the car.”
“Jesus.”
Somewhere down the road, a siren calls. Then another one. I whirl around to look at my sister, who is sobbing into her hands.
“What if I killed him, Joey? What if I killed my husband?”
I look back over at Ray, then drop to my knees, feeling for a pulse. It’s there, but it’s weak. He’s not dead.
Yet.
I jump to my feet, abandoning Ray to rush back to my sister’s side. I take her hands, examining them for blood. There’s not a trace. Good.
“Here’s the deal,” I whisper, pulling her into me. “You and Ray had a fight, so you called me for help. When I arrived, I saw Ray grabbing you, threatening to kill you if you tried to leave him.” The wail of the sirens grows, and a shiver of fear shimmies down my spine. “You and I managed to get into your car, but when Ray came after us again, I hit him. I hit him to protect you.”
“What?” Julie wipes the tears from her face, eyes bloodshot, snot running from her nostrils. “You’d cover for me?”
