Page 55 of Only Forever

Shelby rolled her eyes. “You’re a quick one,” she said sarcastically.

I swallowed, afraid to ask the next question, but needing to hear the answer. “How do you know about what happened?”

Shelby’s harsh laugh made me flinch. “You mean you killing Keith? I saw it happen. I watched you stab him. And then I heard you lie about it.” Shelby’s face contorted into a grotesque mask of rage. “You played the innocent victim when you’re a killer. You make me sick.”

I shook my head slowly, horrified by her words. “What do you mean, you saw it happen? That’s impossible.”

Shelby smirked. “You have no idea how often I was in this house. Keith gave me a key, and I came and went as I pleased.”

I couldn’t be any more confused by Shelby’s words. My voice was shrill from bewilderment and mounting panic. Nothing was making sense. “Why would Keith give you a key? How did you know him?”

“How did I know him?” Shelby spat out, her expression turning bitter. “He was my brother. You killed my only living family, and you have the gall to sit here and ask how the hell I knew him when you were the one who killed him.”

I was too stunned to say anything. My brain couldn’t process the words Shelby had just spoken. I knew Keith had a sister, but he had said they were estranged and hadn’t spoken for almosta decade. He had no one on his side of the family attend their wedding. Suddenly Shelby, who I had known since high school, was Keith’s sister?

Jason had been silent this entire time, letting me lead the conversation, but he spoke up when I was silenced by shock. “How are you his sister? You’ve been over at this house plenty of times in the past, and neither you nor Keith said anything to indicate you two were related.”

Shelby rolled her eyes. “No kidding, Einstein. That was on purpose. We didn’t want anyone to know we were siblings.” Her eyes became unfocused, as if she was looking into the past. “Keith was more like a parent than my brother with the age gap. He’s the one that raised me and made sure I had clothes on my back and food on the table, while our druggie mom was only concerned where her next hit was coming from. My dad…who knows about my dad. I never met the bastard. He was just one of the many slimebags my mom fucked for drug money.”

Shelby’s eyes came into focus again, this time training them on me. “He wanted to give me a normal life, but it was hard. He never got to finish high school, and there’s not much job opportunities for a dropout than can support a family of two. He met an older woman, and she promised to take me in and take care of me if they got married. So he agreed.” Shelby’s mouth twisted. “Except her version of taking care of me was beating me up whenever Keith wasn’t around. He found out about it, and gave her a taste of her own medicine. Except he got a little carried away and she ended up dying. He dumped the body and got rid of the evidence, and it became a missing persons case that never got solved.”

Shelby shrugged her shoulders as if she were telling us something innocuous and commonplace. She remained nonchalant as she continued. “Keith didn’t get much money from her after her death, since they were married for such ashort time and she never changed her will, but it gave him an idea of how to get us out of poverty. He got married again, this time to this idiot who fell in love with him. He was able to manipulate her, and get her to sign everything over to him. They were married for a while, but then she started getting demanding. Keith controlled all the finances, and she started getting suspicious about how much money they had and how much Keith was bringing in from his job.”

Shelby laughed, shaking her head. “She was so stupid. She didn’t realize for the longest time that Keith was only pretending to have a job. She was the only one bringing in an income, and Keith was controlling it. When she found out, Keith had to kill her. He made it look like an accident and it worked.”

Horror filled me. I wanted to throw up at the ghastly things Shelby was blithely recounting as if she was telling us what she had for dinner.

“Is that why he married my mom?” I asked, anguished at the thought. “But she wasn’t rich. We were comfortable, but we didn’t have a lot of money.”

“Keith said it was better to target people who weren’t rich,” Shelby explained, as if she were speaking to a toddler. “It was too suspicious if a rich wife died, and the husband was still alive. People immediately would think he killed her for the money. It’s easier to cover up the deaths of middle class people.”

I felt sick to my stomach. This couldn’t be real. This had to be a nightmare. And I desperately wanted to wake up.

“How did you drug us?” Jason asked. He shifted closer to me, his leg pushing into mine, as if he was trying to comfort me.

“You guys really make everything so easy.” Shelby said condescendingly. “You guys order from that damn Thai place all the time. The owner’s son actually went to high school with us, and I got a part time job there. After that, it was easy to see when you guys ordered for delivery and to tamper with your food.” Sheshook her head, looking amused. “You guys are really so easy to fool. Like when I convinced Daphne that you cheated on her with me. I knew when you left to go get food because I was in the house with you, and I heard you tell her you were leaving your phone. From there, I just simply left the house too and then called Daphne and told her all that crap about us. And she fell for it, hook, line and sinker.” Shelby gave him a disgusted look. “I was tired of you always hanging around. You always had to be with her. At least when Chloe was in Florida, I didn’t have to deal with her, but you were always fucking around.”

I didn’t know how much more information I could take about Shelby’s treacherous ways without falling apart. Jason’s eyes narrowed at her explanation.

“You’re sick,” he said with revulsion. “You have to be mentally ill. There’s no other way to explain your insanity.”

Shelby didn’t seem offended by Jason’s words. “Whatever makes you feel better. And you should really be more careful about who you hire. The moron that’s supposed to be watching the house right now fell asleep in his car hours ago and didn’t see me slip in through the backdoor.” Shelby turned to me, grinning. “I lied in my note. I never had to come in through a window. I just pretended by opening it and ripping the screen. You really should have changed your locks. Imagine how surprised I was when my key still worked.”

“So it was you that was in my house before,” I said, although I had already been sure of that from the start of Shelby’s appearance. “Have you been in my house any other time?”

Shelby smiled mischievously. “That’s only for me to know.”

I shuddered at the thought. To think that Shelby could have been in my house anytime without my knowledge shook me to my core. It made me realize that my house wasn’t the safe haven that I thought. I had been so scared of the outside world, but in reality the danger was inside.

“Why did you write Daphne those letters?” Jason asked. I could tell he was trying to control his anger and remain calm. “Was it just to scare her?’

“Scare her?” Shelby’s eyes glinted menacingly. “If I just wanted to scare her, I wouldn’t be here. I’m not playing some game.” Shelby turned to me, her expression almost maniacal as her eyes bored into me. “I was on the stairs. I watched you kill Keith. You took that knife and stabbed him like he was nothing. I should have killed you then and there. But I was scared. Without Keith, I had nothing. Iwasnothing. If I got in trouble, he wouldn’t be there to help me. So I just ran.” Shelby took a look shudderingly breath, closing her eyes momentarily.

“We could have been sisters,” she said accusingly, opening her eyes. “I was sick and tired of living in an apartment by myself. That’s why I would spend so much time in this house, hiding. When we became close in college, I thought maybe I could somehow move in here with you guys. That we could be a family together.” Her eyes narrowed. “But you and your mother ruined it,” Shelby sneered. “You guys ruined everything.”

Shelby suddenly moved, swiftly grabbing the lamp and slamming it against Jason’s head. It made a sickening crash against the side of his head, breaking into shards. I screamed as he slumped back onto the couch, unconscious. The light flickered a couple of times, and then went black, pitching the room into darkness again.

I could make out Jason’s still form next to me, and I pushed against him, desperately trying to rouse him awake. I heard Shelby moving in the darkness, and I could see the outline of her, her hands outstretched in front of her as she tried to feel her way around.

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