Page 107 of Five Survive

His voice echoed around the silence of the RV, real silence, nowthat the static was dead, buried somewhere in the undone puzzle of the broken walkie-talkie at her feet. Her throat was tightening, an invisible hand around it, pressing in from all sides.

Red checked Oliver’s eyes, and the danger that lurked there beneath the black, teeth bared and waiting. He didn’t have the knife in his hands now, at least. And Maddy, Red looked to her, pale and quivering, biting down on her shaking lip, eyes focusing and unfocusing as she stared back. This couldn’t hurt any more than that gaping hole in her leg, could it? Blood everywhere, marking them all.

“Red?” Arthur shouted, voice clawing and desperate.

Red took a breath.

“It’s Catherine Lavoy.”

Oliver blinked at her, twin looks of shock in his and Maddy’s eyes.

“What?” he barked, stepping toward Red. “What did you say?”

“It was your mom,” Red said, looking straight at Oliver. “She’s the one who asked me to do it, who set everything up.”

Oliver straightened, and Red waited for the explosion, for the landmine to trip in his eyes, taking them all with him. She didn’t expect what actually happened next. Oliver snorted, his face creasing as that wicked smile stretched through his skin, curling down at the edges. He laughed, the sound eerie and wrong in the too-quietRV.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” he said, slapping himself on the chest. “Our mom is not a criminal.”

But she was, if he put it like that, and so was Red. Weren’t they all, in some way? Had Oliver forgotten that they all knew his secret now? That he’d killed someone four months ago. How could what she and Catherine did be worse than that?

“She came to me last August, the day after Joseph Mannino was killed, and she asked me to say I’d been there, that I saw Frank Gotti leaving the scene.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Oliver laughed again, swinging his head. But Red wasn’t smiling. And then came the switch, tripping in hiseyes. “Stop fucking lying, Red!” He pointed his finger through her chest, leaving a crater behind. “Stop lying. She wouldn’t do that!”

“It’s the truth,” Red said, picking her eyes up off the floor. “It’s the truth, Maddy.”

Maddy didn’t say anything, wincing as Reyna shifted, the towel growing bloody beneath her fingers.

“Shut up, Red!”

“Let her talk!” Arthur shouted back, rolling his shoulders as he stared Oliver down. “Catherine Lavoy,” he said, turning to Red. “And she works in the DA’s office? She’s the one leading the prosecution against my dad?” His eyes narrowed in confusion.

“Yes,” Red said.

“No,” Oliver argued over her. “Don’t listen to her. She’s a liar. I think by now we all know you’re a fucking liar!”

“Keep going, Red,” Arthur prompted.

“No, you shut up!” Oliver charged forward, pushing Red back against the kitchen counter, the tips of his fingers digging into her arms.

“Oliver, stop!” Maddy screamed, the sound frailer than before. “Let her speak. Please.”

Oliver thought about it for a moment, searching Red’s eyes, nails digging in deeper, then he let her go, drew back.

Red ran her hands down her arms, placing her fingers in the indentations left by Oliver, too big for her.

“You okay?” Arthur asked her.

“You don’t care,” she replied.

He looked hurt by that, a flicker by his mouth.

“Go on, then,” Oliver said, head hanging off his neck. “Let’s hear the rest of your bullshit story, then.”

Red coughed, and she didn’t know where to look. Reyna wassafe. Simon was safe. “Catherine told me that Frank Gotti was a terrible man. That he killed or ordered the killings of a lot of people. She said she was sure he did shoot Joseph Mannino, but they didn’t have enough evidence to prove it in a court of law. That’s why they needed an eyewitness.”

“And what was in it for you?” Simon asked. He looked drained, wrung out, but there wasn’t a war zone in his eyes like everyone else’s, so Red focused on him.