Page 124 of My Turn

The back of my hand connected with his cheek hard enough for his head to whip to the side. “Girl with the gun. That’s a massive simplification. The gun wasn’t loaded. She would never hurt anybody. She was going to give me the fucking thing, but you shot her.”

“She moved too quickly,” he stammered. “It looked like she was going to aim it at us.”

“You’re a scared little bitch. Want to know where your true mistake lies? Your bullet hit me, but it killed her. Leaving me alive will cost you everything because I’m the one who’s dangerous, not her. I’m the fucking monster in this story.”

“Sir, I… Please.”

I flicked my wrist to open the knife at my side. His eyes landed on it briefly before he looked up at the ceiling. Maybe he was accepting his fate. Or he was praying. Acceptance and prayer wouldn’t help what he was going to experience.

Leaning my elbows on the bedrail, I trailed the tip of the blade up his naked chest. “My niece has been learning about composting. That’s a healthy hobby, right? Good for the planet, even. You’re going to help.”

“How?”

“Well, I took care of the other three officers who were here. Spaced them out by two years each so I wouldn’t get caught or draw suspicion. Were you aware they all died?’

He swallowed hard. “Just one of them. Officer Vanderbilt.”

“Yeah, he was the first. The other two worked for different departments when I got to them. Miami and Bakersville. It was a pain in the ass to get them. Lots of travel and whatnot. Six years, Burkley. Six fucking years I’ve been waiting to fuck you up for ripping my soul from me.”

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“And I appreciate that, of course. Doesn’t change anything, though.”

Footsteps on the stairs made me glance over my shoulder. His gaze followed mine, then he sat forward.

“Please. Help me. He’s gonna hurt me.”

A light laugh came from behind me. “How sad.”

“You… I don’t… Oh my god. You’re the kid.”

“Wasthe kid. I’m sixteen. Almost seventeen, thank you very much.”

“You’re both crazy. You’re sick.”

Alicia mocked him, then came up beside me. “That’s so cliché, dude. What, are we supposed to let you go because you think we have issues?” She looked at me and cocked her head. “Do we have issues?”

I shrugged. “Maybe. You have my genes, so I’d venture to say that’s the issue.”

“Ooh,” she said, drawing out the word. “Maybe it’s, like, one of those things where it was inside of me the whole time and all the shit I went through as a kid activated it or something.”

“Hm. You should go into psychology.”

“Maybe I will.”

“The girl who died,” Burkley blurted. His voice had reached a higher pitch with his growing desperation. “She wouldn’t want this, right? You said she wouldn’t hurt anybody. She’d hate to see you do this.”

I raised a brow. “That’s a stretch. Don’t act like you know her. You killed her, so in the end, it doesn’t really matter.”

Alicia tried to take the knife from me, but I pulled it back with a frown. “You know better.”

“Oh, come on.”

I pointed it at her. “Not until you’re an adult. I have to hold onto some boundaries, you know.”

When she pouted, I laughed and turned back to Burkley. “My niece had an idea and I think it’s the most ridiculous thing ever, but hey, who am I to tell her she can’t explore her creative side?”

Alicia held up a jar of peanut butter with a wicked glint in her eyes. Not for the first time, I questioned my decisions. Agreeing to teach her about composting was one thing. I waited until she was fifteen to let her do it on her own, after I killed the third officer. I should’ve taken into account that fucked up desires tended to grow and morph into worse things. She hadn’t taken a life, but she was very interested and continued to lean into the darkness. There was really no fixing that; I knew that firsthand. All I could do was make her wait and, hopefully, teach her how to avoid prison.

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