Page 114 of Trapper Road

A loud crack shatters the air. It’s so deafening and overwhelming that it causes both of us to freeze. For a moment after, we both stand stunned, ears ringing.

“Both of you. Stop it!”

I turn to find Vee with a gun in her hands. I don’t understand where it came from, but that hardly matters. She stands with her feet wide, weight slightly forward, both hands gripped around the hilt. Her index finger rests along the barrel, not yet dropped to wrap around the trigger.

Irrationally I have a moment of thinking that Mom would be proud of Vee’s trigger discipline. She trained her well.

A puff of plaster dust drifts over Vee’s left shoulder from the hole in the ceiling where she just shot. “Neither of you move,” she warns us.

“Shoot him,” Mandy urges. She’s pressed against the wall, slowly edging away from me. “You have to stop him. You were there when Willa called. You know he’s behind this. He would have killed her if we hadn’t gotten here in time.”

Her words make absolutely no sense. “What the fuck are you talking about? Willa called me! She was running from you!”

Mandy clutches at her chest. “You’re delusional,” she hisses. She turns toward Vee. “He’s lying. You were with me all afternoon. You know I had nothing to do with this.”

I can’t believe what she’s saying. “I didn’t do this,” I shout. “You did this!”

Mandy points a trembling finger at me. “You’re the one holding the fucking knife!”

“I found it on the floor! I was trying to cut her free!”

Mandy turns toward Vee, pleading now. “He’s a monster. You know he is. His father tortured and killed young girls. He’s just like him. You know it’s true. You have to stop him.”

For a moment it actually seems like Vee might be listening to her. Might even believe her.

My heart beats wildly. Panic floods my veins. “Vee—”

“You saw the articles about the school shooting,” Mandy says, cutting me off. “His closest friend says he was the one behind it.”

“Vee—” I say again, trying to get her to look at me. Needing her to listen to me.

But Mandy keeps talking, and Vee keeps listening. “You have to shoot him, Vee. It’s the only way to save yourself. To save all of us.”

“Both of you, shut up!” Vee finally says. She looks to Willa. “What happened? Who did this to you?”

Willa’s face is pale, the splattering of her freckles looking like specks of blood. Her breathing is shallow, rapid, her expression a mask of pain. Her lips are dry, and she wets them before saying, “It was all Connor.”

38

GWEN

My heart ricochets in my chest as I continue reading Juliette and Beau’s texts.

Beau: I doubt you’ve done anything that horrible.

Juliette: I have.

Beau: Like what?

Juliette: I can’t tell you.

Beau: You still don’t trust me? :(

Juliette: It’s not that, they’d kill me if they found out. I’m not kidding.

Beau: It can’t be that bad.

Juliette: It is. If you knew the truth, you’d hate me.