Page 121 of The House Beyond the Dunes

“He won’t have any proof that I did anything wrong. And I know how to make him happy and forget. He’s not Kyle, but he’ll do.”

I’m struggling to keep my brain working. Lack of sleep and raw nerves are tangling around Devon’s words now, but I won’t let them pull me off track. “I went back to the woodland house and took pictures. I texted them to Detective Becker.”

As the weight of what I’ve done settles, anger smears Devon’s face. Her thoughts must be racing now. “Won’t matter once you drown. I’ll clean up the woodland house and this one. I’ll make it right, like I do everything else.”

As long as I’m talking, I’m awake and have a chance. “Are Stevie and Nikki alive?”

She ignores the question. “Get in the hot tub.”

“What happened to them?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It does to me.” I fist my fingers. “You’ll have to shoot me where I stand.” I sway as my hip burns. “I’m not helping you.”

She points the gun at my legs. “I won’t kill you right away. I’ll take out your knees, and as you’re howling in pain, I’ll drag you to the woods and bury you alive.”

I lean toward her, resisting the urge to lunge. I need to hear her entire confession. “Did you bury Nikki and Stevie up here somewhere?”

“You don’t get all your questions answered. That’s not how this works. It’ll give me satisfaction knowing you go to your grave with questions buried in you.” She fires the gun into the floor, inches from my bare feet.

I stagger, then move toward the screened porch and push open the door. Cold air races into the house, and my wet hair and bare feet drink up the ice.

Devon digs pills from her pocket. “Recognize these?”

“My pills?”

“Exactly. I ground up a few and put them in your favorite hazelnut creamer.”

The hot tub is bubbling, and steam rises into the cold air. The story she’ll tell about me will be very simple:Lane was anxious, and the remaining pieces of her broken heart shattered. She wasn’t thinking about killing herself when she climbed into the hot tub. But she slipped under the water.

“The medical examiner will do a tox screen,” I say.

She shakes the bottle, rattling the pills. “And they’ll find traces of the medicine you take every night.”

“No.”

This is bullshit.

The gruff words echo in my head.

Devon shoves me toward the hot tub, and it’s enough to throw my weakened hip off balance. I stagger against the side of the hot tub, and the hard surface catches my knee.

This is bullshit! Do not let this happen!

Fury bubbles up again, and rage roils inside me. My fingers curl into fists. Stevie and Nikki deserve justice. And I’m the last person left to give it to them.

I size up Devon. She’s tall. But I’m desperate. Desperate for ... revenge.

“Take your T-shirt off,” she orders.

As I stare at her, I pull off my T-shirt and fist it in my hand. I don’t feel humbled or vulnerable as I stand here naked. Fury fuels me. And the cold air offers a welcome jolt.

Approaching the hot tub, I drop my T-shirt into the water and swirl the fabric in the warm water. The fabric grows heavy.

I raise my leg as if I’m going to climb inside. In the corner of my eye, I see Devon’s smile reappear. She believes she has won. She believes I have given up. But I’ve never wanted to harm anyone as much as Iwant to hurt her now. She’s carried Kyle’s sins all these years, and she can now pay for them all.

My shoulders slump, but instead of climbing in, I grip the edge of the waterlogged fabric in my fist. Using my body weight, I snap it as if it’s a whip.

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