Page 41 of A Sublime Casualt
A strangled silence takes over, and I run over to the window on the side of the cabin and there’s not a sign of life in there.
“There’s not another exit, is there?” I pant, running the edges of the porch as far it will take me. “I can’t see anyone inside.” I head back to the front, and Theo kicks the shit out of the door. The wood cracks and warps, and in a fit of frustration, he shoots at the lock, point-blank. Just like that, it gives and Theo kicks it open before setting foot inside. It’s well-lit, fireplace slowly dwindling, but it’s warm inside. The sink has a smattering of dishes around it, the couch disheveled, the coffee table upturned as if someone left in a hurry.
“Ashley?” Theo belts it out loud and curt. “Lizzy?” His voice breaks with that one.
The sound of a door clicking comes from the back, and Theo heads down the hall first, gun drawn. The door opens ever so slowly as pale fingers emerge from the darkness. Out comes Ashley, hands up, stone-faced, and afraid. Behind her comes the figure of a woman, slowly, emerging into the light—wild dark hair, same starlit eyes as Theo’s, and he loses it. Theo collapses his arms around his sister and howls as he holds her like that.
It’s over. Lizzy is back.
And it feels as if there are more questions than we started with.
Theo
It’s difficult to believe the heart beating heavy against my chest is the little sister that deep down I had written off as dead. My fingers press into her flesh, my face buried in her hair, that familiar warmth exuding from her as if she never left. I pull back and force myself to memorize her face. For so long she was fading from my mind’s eye. I stared at her picture each and every night, begging myself not to forget her.
“Theo.” She slaps her hands over my cheeks and kisses me over the lips. “I love you.” Her eyes are bloodshot, her face blotchy from tears as she shakes her head. “How will you ever forgive me?”
My body kick-starts to life once again. Something about those cryptic words makes the reality of what’s happened feel like a fresh sting. I turn to find Ashley holding herself against the wall, her body quivering, most likely out of fear.
“Both of you, in the living room.” I wrap an arm around my sister and motion for Ashley to head out first. “Phoebe, I want you to shout for Jackson and see if he needs any help.”
Ashley makes a run for the door, and Phoebe body checks her like a pro before she can get a foot out. Phoebe twists Ashley’s wrists behind her back and knocks her head into the wall with a bionic thump for good measure.
Phoebe cries out for Jackson, and I hear him murmuring in the background.
“He’s fine,” she says, heading over. It’s only then I see the bloodstains over her arms.
“You’re hurt. Shit. We need to get you to the hospital.” I pull Ashley from her, pushing her toward my sister before waving my gun at them in the event they feel this party isn’t exciting enough.
“No way. I’m fine.” Phoebe staggers up next to me. “Believe me, we’re not going anywhere until the two of you spill everything. All the details. No-holds-barred. I worked too damn hard to get here to leave without an explanation.”
I glance to Ashley, then my sister—my sister, who looks whole and for the most part healthy, not at all the disfigured corpse I was anticipating to find. She’s thinner, pale, but my God, what they hell was she doing here?
They exchange a sullen glance. Ashley groans like she might be sick. “This is your show, Lizzy. It always has been. They want the truth. Let them have it.”
Lizzy glares over at Phoebe. “Who the hell are you, and why do I owe you an answer?”
“I’m your brother’s girlfriend.” She takes a moment to pump a dry smile to Ashley.
Lizzy perks up. “The library rat.” She tilts toward Ashley. “My, my, it’s not a wonder you lost to the competition.” She gives a little wink.
“Enough,” I bark it out a little louder than needed. “Tell me right now what the fuck is going on. I’ve got a five-minute window before I haul the two of you out of here and get her to the ER.Speak.”
Lizzy flinches. “I thought it would be fun.” She shrugs. “You know, disappear for a while—make everyone look for me. Get lost. Make them appreciate the hell out of me when I got back.” Her eyes gloss over, tears bulge but refuse to fall.
“What in the hell,” I mutter. “The night you disappeared there was footage of you running around the St. Regency in Dunbar. You looked lost, disheveled. You took the service elevator and then vanished. Start there.”
She takes a ragged breath. Her clavicles bulge, skeletal and prominent. It’s only then I can see how undernourished she really is.
“I was meeting with someone.” Her voice falls lower than a whisper. “It’s nothing you want to know about.”
“Try me.” My voice comes out tight as a wire, and both Ashley and Lizzy cower in fear.
Ashley shakes her head. “She met with some asshole off a website. He was into things she wasn’t. She left the room to get away from him.” She nods to the door. “Neil picked her up.”
Lizzy’s chest heaves. “I called Miles and asked him to drive out to meet me. He said he wasn’t able. Neil came, and we had a fight.” Her lips invert, nostrils flare. “Things got heated, out of control. He decided that was the night my plan would kick into action. I told him I changed my mind, that I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do it.” She looks mournfully to Ashley. “We had come up with an idea. One that would have me missing for two weeks. Neil said I could use his cabin, and that’s where he took me.”
“Two weeks slid by a year ago,” I grunt. “Finish.”