The Room in the Attic

PART V

Betrayal. It’s a sharp-edged word. An ugly word. And so you find a way to guard against it. A guarantee of mutual loyalty so you both keep the secret, or you both go down together. A blood pact, written in the blood of others. And it meant those hidden souvenirs served a double purpose.

Not just to remember each victim, but an insurance policy too.

It was foolproof, a tried-and-tested system of mutually assured destruction. There was just one flaw, one tiny problem that never occurred to me back then, when I decided he had to die.

I had no idea how well hidden his little insurance policy would turn out to be.