Page 78 of Our Lips Are Sealed
“Why didn’t you guys call us?” Evie asked. “Ben would have come to get you.”
“To be honest, CeCe and I had a pretty good life on the island. Charlie didn’t pay us any attention, and we ran wild. We had friends and enjoyed school,” he answered. “But yeah, when we were stuck with him on that sailboat, we tried to contact Ben. Charlie found out, and he nearly beat me to death. He still drank, but had stopped the drugs completely and regained his strength.”
The curve in the path lay ahead, and around its corner, the graveyard waited, along with the trail’s end. Evie slowed and then eventually stopped, unable to take another step. The heavy feeling at the start of the forest path usually passed by this section, but today it hung on, lingering heavily in the air.
“I’ve never felt so much pain,” Toby confessed, stopping with her. “And when I came to, I found CeCe in her bed, beaten and broken. She was just a little thing, small for her age, and the bastard had pummeled her like it was nothing.”
Thunder cracked, rattling the ground. A blast of wind accompanied it, kicking debris off the trail and into their faces. Evie tucked Annabeth’s head down to block the dirt and the icy air.
“I let her watch while I killed him,” Toby shouted over the gale like he couldn’t hold the truth in any longer. “I meant what I said. It’s important to look a person in the eye when they die, and she was the one who did it for Charlie.”
On the path, something crossed behind Toby, zigzagging through the trees. It was fast—too fast to be human—and nothing more than a blur of white.
“They always beg in the end, but he didn’t. Charlie hardly fought at all, and when it was over, we weighed him down and tossed him overboard. After that, the two of us lived our lives like normal, and no one was the wiser.”
Evie watched as the blur of white tucked itself behind a tree, vibrating in and out of focus while hovering a few feet away.
“CeCe never regretted doing it, even if she regretted the others.”
The thing shrunk at his words, and Evie blinked rapidly, willing the vision back into her imagination where it belonged. This was no time to see things that weren’t there.
“Others?”
Toby shrugged, unwilling to answer. He rubbed his cheek on the side of Jamison’s head. “It’s damn uncanny how much she looks like Laura Jean. I bet Ben can’t stand it. Probably drives him crazy.”
Jamison stomped on Toby’s foot, and as quick as the lighting slicing out on the bayou, he smacked the butt of the gun against her temple. The hit wasn’t hard enough to draw blood, but it left her stunned for a moment.
“But she sure as hell doesn’t act like her.”
“What others?” Evie repeated a little louder. They were deep in the forest now, and there was no need to continue whispering. Like Samuel had said, a person could scream their head off out here, and no one would hear. “Did she help you with the Missouri girls? The Miami ones?”
Jamison had gone partially lax from the blow to her head, and Toby dragged her with him. “As it turns out, Devon was wrong, and I wasn’t an idiot after all. All that academic measuring stuff he tried on me was a load of crap and kind of funny, if I’m honest. I would pretend not to understand so he would leave me the fuck alone, but then when I realized it helped me get out of trouble, and got me your attention, I kept it up.”
“They thought you really needed help.”
“Well, I didn’t,” he replied. “On the islands, they don’t put up with that kind of shit, so I had to switch things up, doing my schoolwork instead of ignoring it. It turns out I’m a genius, and with Charlie dead and an allowance opening up to me when I turned eighteen, I applied to medical school in Grenada. CeCe was old enough to handle herself and keep up with the charade of Charlie being alive until she finished high school. When it was her turn to leave, I had her go to college in Miami to become a nurse.”
He smiled, letting Jamison’s weighted form lean on him. “We were going to open a practice together. Somewhere around here. Me a doctor, and her a nurse. It would have been a homecoming dream come true.”
“But you started killing girls instead.”
“Yeah, something like that.” The monster in him returned, studying her with a tilt of his head. “On my first day at med school, I met a guy from Haiti who introduced me to some stuff others might consider taboo. I won’t go into details in front of you ladies, but I will say it was fun, and he taught me so much.”
Evie felt her grip on Annabeth slipping due to her lack of strength, and she pressed on, stumbling as she walked. The purple bugs were popping in and out, making her lightheaded.
“From there, I took what I learned to create my game,” Toby said, the excitement building in him. “I think you’ll appreciate the setup, the climax, and then the final winning move. The best part is, it’s all set to a script we’ll never forget.”
Hot, angry tears stung Evie’s eyes. “You’re sick.”
“That may be true, but you’ll play nonetheless.”
They made it around the corner, the black iron fencing of the graveyard coming into view. Evie braced herself, expecting CeCe to greet them.
“Where is CeCe?”
The sinister gleam in Toby’s eyes dimmed, replaced with remorse and a hint of pain. “I’m all alone these days,” he said. “You see, CeCe never played the game with me. Her role was to find the players. She would say she only did it to feed the thing inside me so I would feel better. It would work most of the time, and I could go long periods without playing.”
His mouth scrunched tight as if he were fighting his emotions. “But my need for the game always returned, and she would help me through it like a good sister.”
