Chapter 35 #2
“She wanted that reunion. Wanted to bring everyone together. I was never part of that group, Tyler. They tortured me. Made my life miserable. So I took care of her. For you. For us.”
Another glass broke.
“And Monique,” Edi said. “During the interview, when Adam and I questioned her about Sheila’s death, she made a joke. About how fat I was in high school. How I should thank her and Sheila for motivating me to lose weight. She laughed. Just like Sheila used to laugh. Just like they all laughed.”
“Ma’am? Ma’am, are you still there?” the operator asked.
Brooke knew she couldn’t answer. Edi thought she’d made it out the back door. If Edi found her, she’d be as good as dead. They all would be.
“You know what, Tyler?” Edi’s voice drifted up the stairs. “I don’t believe you. She wouldn’t leave you. Not her precious Tyler. She’s still here somewhere.”
“She’s gone,” Tyler said, but there was strain in his voice now. Fear.
“Then you won’t mind if I check.”
Footsteps. Edi was moving toward the stairs.
“Edi, don’t— ”
The gunshot cracked through the house like thunder.
Tyler’s cry of pain followed immediately after.
Brooke scanned the hallway for something to use as a weapon. Her eyes landed on the heavy ceramic lamp. She set her phone down and yanked the lamp free, the cord tearing from the wall socket.
She moved to the top of the stairs. Through the spindles, she could see Tyler on the floor near the couch, clutching his calf. Blood seeped between his fingers.
Edi stood over him, gun still raised. “Where is she, Tyler?”
Brooke couldn’t let Edi shoot him again. Couldn’t hide while Tyler bled out on her living room floor.
She started down the stairs, the lamp clenched in both hands like a club. Edi heard her and turned. Their eyes locked.
“There you are,” Edi said, swinging the gun toward Brooke, smiling. A wide smile that was the creepiest thing Brooke had ever seen. Edi leveled the pistol, taking a bead on her.
Tyler lunged and hit Edi in the thigh as she pulled the trigger. The wall behind Brooke exploded in a spray of drywall.
Her ears rang, but Brooke kept moving, sprinting down the stairs. Tyler and Edi struggled. Edi screamed obscenities while Tyler grunted with effort.
And worst of all, Edi still had the gun.
With a fierce swing, Brooke brought the lamp down. It connected with Edi’s shoulder with a crack.
Edi stumbled sideways. The gun fell from her hand and skittered across the floor toward the kitchen. But before Brooke could process that small victory, Edi recovered and charged.
The impact knocked the air from Brooke’s lungs. They crashed into the bookshelf together. Books rained down around them. Then Edi’s hands were around her throat, squeezing.
Brooke clawed at Edi’s wrists, trying to pry her fingers loose. But Edi was the stronger of the two, and the pressure kept building. Brooke’s vision started to go dark around the edges. Her lungs screamed for air.
Then the pressure lifted, and Brooke took in a ragged, desperate breath. Tyler yanked Edi backward. She hit the coffee table, and the whole thing collapsed under her with a crash.
Brooke doubled over, gasping. Each breath hurt like swallowing broken glass, but she’d never been so grateful for air. When she looked up, Tyler stood between her and Edi. His sweats were dark with blood around his calf, but he kept his weight balanced, ready.
Edi scrambled to her feet. Blood streamed from her nose. “If I can’t have you, no one can. We’ll all be together. All of us. Forever.”
She dove for the gun.
Tyler shoved her as Edi’s fingers closed on it. Edi grabbed his leg—the wounded one—and Tyler’s face went white as he went down hard. Then they were rolling across the floor, a tangle of limbs and violence.
Brooke’s hands were shaking, but she forced herself to move. The lamp had shattered when she’d hit Edi with it. She looked around wildly and spotted the heavy brass candleholder on the mantel.
Brooke brought the candleholder down as hard as she could on Edi’s back.
Edi screamed, and Brooke hit her again, this time across the arm with a resounding crack.
“You broke my arm, you— ”
Brooke swung the candleholder, catching Edi in the stomach. She made an oomph sound.
As Brooke drew back, ready to strike again, Tyler said, “Don’t move, Edi. Brooke, take a step back, honey. I’ve got the gun.”
Sirens wailed outside, growing louder and closer as Brooke took several steps back, away from the injured woman.
Edi whimpered, and the sobs followed. “Just shoot me,” she whispered through her tears. “Shoot me and get it over with.”
“Not happening, Edi,” Tyler said. “You’re going to get the help you need.”
“Help?” She shook her head. “I don’t need help. I need you, Tyler. You’ve always been the one. We can still be together.”
“Police!” The call came from the front door.
“We’re here!” Brooke called.
Adam stepped in first, gun trained ahead, the others fanning out behind him.
“This is the sheriff’s department and Irma Police! Nobody move!”
“It’s over,” Tyler said as the gun clattered to the floor. His hands shot up.
Brooke dropped the candlestick and mirrored him.
Adam spoke into the radio on his collar. “Scene secure. Send two buses.”
“Let’s get you to the couch,” Adam said to Tyler. “She shot you?”
“Yeah.” Tyler nodded. “Not bad, I don’t think.”
Tyler sank onto the couch as the deputies checked Edi for injuries. One of them confirmed her arm was broken, so they didn’t cuff her, but they still helped her to her feet. “We’ll take her outside,” the city officer said.
The wail of approaching sirens made it clear that at least one ambulance was on its way.
“I’m sorry,” Adam said to Tyler. “I was so sure it was you. So certain. I missed everything.”
Tyler nodded and looked like he was going to say something, but the EMTs came into the house, and everything became a new kind of chaos.
One of them led Brooke to a chair and started questioning her about her injuries. “I’m not hurt,” she insisted. Her voice was odd. Shaky. Her hands were shaking too.
Within a few minutes, they had Tyler on the gurney, and the EMT was walking alongside Brooke as they all headed toward the ambulance.
“It’s best to get you checked out,” the EMT said. “We’ll make sure you don’t go into shock.”
Inside the back of the ambulance, Brooke sat on the bench with a blanket pulled tight around her. One of the EMTs was taking care of Tyler while he lay on the gurney.
She leaned forward and kissed his cheek. “It’s really over,” she whispered.
He reached for her hand. “Yeah. It’s really over.”
She threaded her fingers through his and held on.