Page 84 of I Know She Was There

“Don’t tempt me, Caroline. I got rid of the evidence once. I can do it again.”

“Oh yeah, right.” I rolled my eyes. “AfterImurdered a complete stranger in cold blood. Nice try, liar.”

“She didn’t seem a stranger to you. You called her Melanie,” he said in a low, measured voice. “Asked her how she could cheat on Matt?”

My blood froze in my veins. How could he know that? I’d never mentioned Matt and Melanie to anyone, had I? It had to be a trick. Tim was sneakier than anyone I’d ever met. Hadn’t he managed to take my family money right from under my nose? “You’re doing it again—making things up to get me committed. Figuring out how to make your theft legal. It’s been your goal for years.”

“Longer than you know.”

“What does that mean?”

“When your mother struck her bargain, I figured I got a pretty good deal. You didn’t look half bad in those days, and your snarky attitude was kind of appealing.”

My heart stilled.

“What bargain?”

“She told me where I could find you. Said if I convinced you to accept me, she’d leave us both a substantial sum of money in her will.”

“She didwhat?” My body began to tremble. “No, that’s not true. Nothing you say is true.”

“Nothingshesaid was true, that’s for sure,” he yelled. “She promised to leave her estate to both of us, but when Annie read me the will, you were the sole beneficiary of... of everything!” His face turned crimson.

“But that would mean... we didn’t meet by chance?” I pictured Tim standing by my cart in the supermarket—sent there by my mother? He’d never loved me? That wasn’t true; it was a story he’d made up to hurt me because he wasn’t getting what he wanted.

What he wanted.

He wanted the money. That was all he’d ever wanted. The money. Not me. A sob escaped from my throat. My vision blurred as I studied the concrete floor in front of me. I couldn’t understand, couldn’t breathe. Nothing between Tim and me had been real?

“Don’t listen to him, dolly.” Mary’s voice floated through the dusty air as if on the wings of a specter. Why was she so far away?

“Stop right there, Caroline,” warned Tim. “I don’t want to kill you, but I will if I have to.”

“Kill me!” I challenged. “You want to be rid of me, just kill me!” I dropped to the floor as if fainting in grief, but I’d spied the corkscrew mere inches away. I made sure I fell on top of it.

“I wouldn’t do that, I’m not like that?—”

“You’re such a liar!” I struggled back to my feet, the implement once more secreted in my hand. “Because of you, Emmy is dead. You lie about everything, everything!”

“No, Caroline, no,” yelled Mary, but I had no time to look for her in the suddenly dark basement. Clouds must have been obscuring the dawn. I reached out with the corkscrew, my only intent to hurt Tim. I could hurt him as badly as he hurt me. An explosion rocked my body, sending flashes of bright light in a halo around me.

And then I was running, chasing nothing more than a shadow. Down the hall and into the kitchen. Following closely, almost reaching my target. Spotting the blender on the empty counter, reaching out, clasping the lid wildly and flinging it. Shoving my hand inside it and clutching the blade. The sting of it slicing my fingers, infuriating me, pushing me faster. Running, chasing the shadow up the stairs and through the hallway until there was no place left for either of us to go.

I pushed myself forward, feeling the resistance of him. Another deafening noise split the air around us as I thrust the object at him, slashing left and right, feeling a splatter of something warm and sticky coat my arm. He made an odd noise, like air whooshing from a bellows. I squinted through the dark, trying to see his face, and I could, I could! A cheekbone, and dark hair, a set of lips, and deep brown eyes. Eyes that apologized and pleaded with me to stop.

Her eyes, terrified, as I plunged the weapon into her again.

“I’m sorry,” she pleaded, her blood spurting into my eyes, blurring everything. “So sorry.”

CHAPTER43

MONDAY, EARLY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 25

The familiar swoosh of the back slider gave way to the shuffling steps that radiated through the floorboards above us. Someone had arrived. Was it the police? Had Jane finally alerted them? They’d come for a kidnapper, but what they’d get was a killer. The realization sent blood surging through me. I couldn’t stop shaking.

“Down here,” Mary yelled, her voice surprisingly strong for a woman in her eighties who’d been through everything she had in the past few hours.

Something about the ragged pounding of feet on the staircase made me doubt the presence of police officers. When the hazy early-morning light revealed the fit outline and sandy blond hair of the man I’d thought of as Matt, my eyes widened, and my jaw dropped.

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