Page 77 of You Shouldn't Have Come Here

Joe took a step toward me. “Oh, there’s nothing to be scared of. I’m the only person that’s always been honest with you.”

I backed farther into the kitchen, inching my way to where the phone hung on the wall. “I think you should wait outside.”

“What are you doing, Grace?”

I didn’t answer.

His eyes darkened as he stumbled toward me. I grabbed the phone from the wall and pressed it against my ear. I could barely hear the dial tone.

“What are you doing, Grace?” he taunted.

I backed as far away from him as the cord would give. The coiled cord was already stretched out, and I wondered if this same situation had happened with someone else in this house.

“Nine one one, what’s your emergency,” a woman’s voice on the other end said.

“Please send an officer to the Wells’ ranch out on highway 26.”

“Calvin’s taken everything from me. I think it’s time I take something from him.” His lips curved into a sinister smile. He hurled the beer bottle. As it shattered against the wall behind me, Joe wrapped his hand around the telephone cord and yanked the phone. It fell to the floor with athud, breaking into several pieces.

“I never remembered driving the night Lisa died.” He gazed up at the ceiling like he was trying to conjure up a memory.

I furrowed my brow. “What are you saying?”

“I remember going out with Calvin and Lisa. I really didn’t want to because I’d workedtwenty-fourhours straight between the ranch and the auto shop. I just wanted to sleep, but it was his birthday. We took my truck to Pine Tavern. That’s the last thing I remember.”

“So, you must have fallen asleep on the drive home,” I said, inching away.

He stared into my eyes, moving his jaw side to side. My back pressed against the wall. It was as far away as I could get from him in the small kitchen. Charlotte’s words sprung to the front of my mind again.I hope Joe keeps you here permanently.

“Maybe. But Char told me something that makes me think otherwise. She said she saw us leave that night.” Joe coughed and blood trickled out of his mouth. He spit it onto the floor and wiped his lips with the back of his hand.

“What did she tell you?”

He took a couple of steps and stopped when he was just a foot from me. Joe leaned in and inhaled, sniffing my hair. I’m not sure how I smelled to him, but his scent was a combination of desperation and regret, like dark rum mixed with cigarette smoke and sweat. Pulling away, he smiled. His hand reached toward me, and I flinched (mistake), thinking he was going to put it on me. Instead, he ripped the phone base clean off the wall. It crashed to the floor. Sweat gathered at my hairline. My breath quickened, and my eyes bounced all over the kitchen in search of something to protect myself. The knife block on the counter... too far away. My eyes went back to his.

“Don’t matter. Doesn’t change anything.” He shook his head and backed away from me.

“This place should have burned down the first time.”

“Maybe it changes everything,” I said.

He eyed me cautiously, and I thought he was going to reveal what Charlotte had told him, but his face twisted up.

“You shouldn’t have come here, Grace.”

I swallowed hard.

From his back pocket, he pulled out a small plastic bottle. Joe stumbled into the living room and looked around for a moment—almost as if he were taking it all in, one last time. He staggered to the large bay window adorned with thick, floral drapes. His head lolled to one side and then the other before he started dousing the curtains with the bottle’scloudy-coloredliquid.

Turning back toward me, he chuckled. “This Airbnb is out of business.”

I pulled myself from the wall and took a couple of apprehensive steps toward Joe, trying to see what he was doing. He slid his hand into his pocket and faced the window again.Click. Click. Click.The drapes burst into flames. He clicked the lighter again and the other curtain caught on fire.

“What the hell are you doing?” I yelled.

Joe ignored my question and burst into a manic laugh. He tried to light the couch on fire, but it wouldn’t take.

I bolted to the kitchen, tearing through the cupboards in search of a fire extinguisher. When I couldn’t find one, I grabbed a bowl and filled it with water. Back in the living room, I felt arms wrap around me just as I was about to toss the water onto the burning curtains. The bowl slipped from my hands and fell to the floor, soaking my feet.

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