Page 139 of Insidious Heart

“So… so you’ve been killing them—”

“So we can finally be together! Jesus, Stevie, you’re smarter than this!” Linnie throws her hands up before lunging forward and crawling toward me. “Don’t you see? I did it all for you, girlie. Everything. I killed those women to get your attention, so you’d talk to me outside of work, so maybe you’d want to hang out and chat about the newest serial killer terrorizing Rolling Meadows. I was so fucking tired of hearing about The Harvester of Bones, tired of you shutting me down so you could go home and fantasize about him!”

She points the knife at Victor again and I scramble to get her attention back on me.Leave my ghost alone.“I wasn’t, Linnie. It wasn’t like that, I—”

“Bullshit!” she snaps, her blade now in my face. “I saw you, Stevie! I saw him talking to you at the nursing home, and saw the first night he climbed in your window! I fucking saw!”

“You’ve… you’ve been watching me?”

“For months! I have been watching you,tryingto get your attention, to show you how much I love you, and this is how you repaid me! I saw every time thevigilanteghostsnuck into your house and took what…” She shakes her head and whispers, “I can’t believe you let him touch you.”

“Linnie, I…” I don’t know what to say, I just know I have to keep her focused on me until I can figure out what to do.

“But that’s how I knew, how I figured out a way for us to finally be together.” She scoots around until she’s sitting cross-legged in front of me, smiling the way I’ve seen so many times without really knowing what it meant. “It was a loose plan at first, one that yourboyfriendfucked up by killing that fat slob before I could get the girl, but once I heard how excited you were about the murder, once I realized you were sleeping with a killer, I knew my plan would work.”

“So, you kept killing people to keep me interested?”

“Yes! And it worked!“

I nod quickly. “It did, it really did, Linnie. I talked about The Ripper,you, all the time. I read articles and watched the news.”

“I know, and we were talking more. It was working perfectly untilhe”—she motions to my ghost with the knife again—“started coming around all the time.”

My gaze moves to Victor, his breaths so shallow, his eyes fighting to stay open. He’s not going to last much longer but I don’t know what to do, not completely. I just know I need to get her to free my hands.

But as I keep staring at the man I love, the man I’m determined to spend my life with, an idea starts to form.

“He got in your way.” Another nod as I bring my eyes to hers. “He got in your way, so you started following him, too.”

Linnie sighs. “I had to. I needed to see what he did that was so much better than what I was doing.” Anger flashes in her eyes as she gets to her feet and spins on Victor. “I needed to know why he could touch you, why he could spend time with you, why you could love him and not me!”

Linnie lunges toward my ghost and I quickly blurt, “I do love you.”

She stops and turns, the knife inches from Victor’s chest. “What?”

I nod emphatically and scoot toward her. “I do. I love you, Linnie, I always have. I didn’t… I just didn’t think you felt the same.”Please let me be right about this.“I didn’t think you’d ever feel the same way about me, so I settled for second best.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Yes, Linnie, it’s true. You always cared for me, always tried to spend time with me. You were the first person outside of my house that I let see my scars. I’ve always loved you, I just didn’t think we could ever be together.”

Slowly, Linnie walks over, standing above me with a skeptical look as she tilts her head. “You’ve always loved me?”

“Always.” Tears sting at my nose and I can only hope Victor is too out of it to hear what I’m about to say, but I’m doing this for him. “I don’t… I don’t love him, Linnie, I love you.”

She drops to her knees in front of me again and smiles so brightly, for a second it’s hard to remember that this woman is the same bat shit crazy lady that hit me over the head with a vase when we walked into her apartment, tied me up then dumped me with the day-old corpse of our coworker.

But she is, and I need to get all of us out of here so we don’t end up like Chris.

“You-you love me?” Linnie’s entire body sags as she reaches out and pushes my matted hair from my eyes. “You mean it?”

“I do. I mean it. And I can see it all so clearly now. The murders, the way you left the bodies. You remembered all the times I talked about Jack the Ripper.”

She nods as she traces my lips with her finger tips. “I did. I even looked up Mary Kelly so I’d get it right.”

“You did, and it shows. It means so much to me, Linnie. You paid attention and I can see that now.” I swallow the bile creeping up my throat as I turn into her touch. “And you killed Sasha and Chris for me, too.”

“I did. They hurt you; they killed Margie and that hurt you, too. Everything I’ve done, I did it for you, Stevie.”

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