Page 40 of Pieces of Her (Andrea Oliver 1)

“Andrea,” Laura said. “He has my gun in the waist of his jeans. Give it to me. Before he wakes up.”

What?

“Andrea, snap out of it.” Laura slid off the couch onto the floor. Her leg was bleeding again. She used her good arm to edge across the carpet. “We need to get the gun. Before he comes round.”

Hoodie’s hands moved.

“Mom!” Andy fell back against the wall. “Mom!”

Laura said, “It’s okay, he’s—”

Hoodie gave a sudden, violent jerk that knocked over the leather chair. His hands started moving in circles, then the circles turned into tremors that quaked into his shoulders, then head. His torso. His legs. Within seconds, his entire body convulsed into a full-blown seizure.

Andy heard a wail come out of her mouth. He was dying. He was going to die.

“Andrea,” Laura said, calm, controlled. “Go into the kitchen.”

“Mom!” Andy cried. The man’s back arched into a half-circle. His feet kicked into the air. What had she done? What had she done?

“Andrea,” Laura repeated. “Go into the kitchen.”

He started to make a grunting noise. Andy covered her ears, but nothing could block the sound. She watched in horror as his fingers curved away from his hands. His mouth foamed. His eyes rolled wildly.

“Go into the—”

“He’s dying!” Andy wailed.

The grunting intensified. His eyes had rolled up so far in his head that it looked like cotton had been stuffed into the sockets. Urine spread out from the crotch of his jeans. His shoe flew off. His hands scratched at the air.

“Do something!” Andy screamed. “Mom!”

Laura grabbed the frying pan. She lifted it over her head.

“No!” Andy leapt across the room. She wrenched the frying pan away from her mother. Laura’s arm snaked around her waist before Andy could get away. She pulled her close, pressed her mouth to Andy’s head. “Don’t look, baby. Don’t look.”

“What did I do?” Andy keened. “What did I do?”

“You saved me,” Laura said. “You saved me.”

“I d-d-d...” Andy couldn’t get out the words. “Mom... he’s... I c-can’t...”

“Don’t look.” Laura tried to cover Andy’s eyes, but she pushed her mother’s hand away.

There was total silence.

Even the rain had stopped tapping against the window.

Hoodie had gone still. The muscles in his face were relaxed. One eye stared up at the ceiling. The other looked toward the window. His pupils were solid black dimes.

Andy felt her heart tumble back down her throat.

The waist of the man’s hoodie had slipped up. Above the white waistband of his underwear, Andy could see a tattoo of a smiling dolphin. It was cresting out of the water. The word Maria was written in an ornate script underneath.

“Is he—” Andy couldn’t say the words. “Mom, is he—”

Laura did not equivocate. “He’s dead.”

“I k-k-k...” Andy couldn’t get the word out. “K-kill... k-kill—”