Page 104 of The Fragile Ones

She stopped and looked up as the rain halted. She wouldn’t play Ty’s games.

“Move!” yelled Ty. “I finally found a perfect way to get rid of bodies where no one would ever think of looking.” He smiled and stood up straight, as if it was something to be proud of.

“I’m not moving,” she said.

Ty shoved her hard.

“How could you kill your own daughters?” she said.

“You have all the answers. Why do you think?”

“Because you’re a coward and a freak, who nobody could love.”

He laughed. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. But that’s okay. I was brutalized over and over again—but my beautiful fair-haired sister was treated like a princess.”

Katie closed her eyes. There was so much violence and hate in the world. But she wasn’t going to have pity for a monster that murdered his children.

“You wouldn’t understand,” he said.

“But why kill your innocent children?”

“No one is innocent.”

“You even marked them. They had to be special to you in some way,” she said, trying to bide some time.

“Don’t waste your time trying to profile me, Detective. You don’t know me. And you never will. I’m not like you…”

“The chief loved you.”

Ty made a noise with his lips that indicated he didn’t care.

“He adopted you.”

“Oh yes, Richard and Rachel Osborne, what wonderful people. They gave me everything a kid could ask for. No boy could ask for anything more. Then Rachel had to go and die of cancer. Isn’t that just great…”

Katie sensed sorrow in his sarcasm.

“Who did Tessa belong to? Did you kidnap her too?”

“I saw this woman one day, who I suppose was the mother of the most beautiful blonde little girl—she looked so much like my sister. I took her. Robin didn’t ask questions—she never would, she kept her mouth shut—until she couldn’t take it anymore. We already had Megan, but Robin wanted two children. So I solved that problem.”

“Why not just have another baby?”

“Robin couldn’t. At least she was good for something though. She took care of the girls.”

“Why the branding?” she said, but things were becoming clearer the more she heard Ty talk about his life, childhood, and all the wrongs that he’d taken care of.

“Three seven two was three hundred seventy-two days that I thought about killing my little sister, and it was exactly three hundred seventy-two days later that I carried out my plan. Every three hundred seventy-two days I would find another girl. Now MOVE!”

Katie refused to move forward. Ty leaned close and pushed the gun against her head, but she didn’t respond. It made him angry.

“You’re not following the plan,” he said, frustrated.

What Katie wanted to do was push Ty off balance so he would make a mistake. Give most people, especially killers, enough time and they would make a mistake.

He put his gun away, something dropping from his pocket as he did so, then he grabbed Katie by the neck, almost lifting her off her feet. Then, slamming her down in the mud, he let the water rush over her face and held her down as it continued to rise. Katie closed her eyes as the heavy wind blew fiercely and the rain continued to pour.

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