Page 126 of All the Missing Pieces

“Who. Are. You?” I croaked, the pain in my side intensifying as I struggled to catch my breath.

The man I knew as Sully made a tsking sound. “Come on now, Rids. You know me. But you should’ve been paying closer attention. Because you saw me before I ever started editing your goddamned show.”

I stiffened, the pain spreading out in waves. “When?”

That grin spread so wide his mouth twitched at the sides like it was hard for him to hold it. “You know, you’ve always had shit taste in men.”

My hands convulsed as I tried to pull at my bindings, as if somehow I could break them with the power of my fear.

“Jared was almost as shitty a tennis player as he was a boyfriend.”

I squinted at Sully, trying to place this younger version of him. “You weren’t on the tennis team with him.”

Sully scoffed. “Thank God, no. But I did try to teach that little shit a thing or two.”

A coach?I flipped through images of the coaching staff in my mind, but I couldn’t place him there either.

“I’m disappointed in you,” Sully singsonged as he leaned against the kitchen counter. “I taught a clinic to your boyfriend’s pathetic team. You and Avery came to watch at the end. Both so beautiful. But I knew right away thatshewas the special one. Shy. Reserved.Perfect.”

My body shook at the way he spoke about my sister. There was an intimacy there that turned my stomach. And it was a lie. “You didn’t know her,” I wheezed.

Sully’s spine snapped straight. “I knew her better than anyone. Followed her for weeks before I took her. Learned every last detail. And I’m the only one who knows what she sounds like when shereallyscreams.”

Bile surged up my throat. It was him. The man who’d stolen my sister from me.

“I let you in,” I croaked as tears pooled in my eyes. That made it all worse. I’d sent Christmas gifts and birthday cards to the man who’d ended Avery in the worst ways imaginable.

Sully tipped his head back and cackled like he’d heard the funniest joke of all time. “That’s the best part about it, Rids.You’re a living, breathing reminder of possibly my favorite kill. Hell, I know it is, and that’s thanks to you.”

I shuddered, pulling the rope tauter as I struggled to get free.

“It’s you reminding me of her that makes it the best one. I get to relive it all every time I hear your voice. It was worth those countless months of classes on audio editing. Worth playing the idiot fan of your show to get in on the ground floor. Because every time you speak, it’s like she’s still here. It’s really too bad I have to kill you and lose that. But maybe killing you is going to be the best of all. Because it’ll be like killing her all over again.”

Fear clogged my throat as the threat of more tears burned the backs of my eyes. “Don’t,” I whispered.

The grin was back. “Oh, Rids. I’m going to love hearing you beg. Feeling the slice of my knife through your throat when I finally end it all.”

My whole body shook. I couldn’t stop it. But I wouldn’t give him my begging or my pleas. I’d swallow them down and take whatever pain was to come. “How many?”

Sully’s head quirked to the side. “How many what?”

“How many people have you killed?” My voice sounded calmer than it had any right to, even as my body trembled.

He tapped his fingers against the countertop in a staccato rhythm. “Now you ask the right questions. This is good. It’ll prepare us.”

“Prepare us?” I croaked.

Sully inclined his head toward the desk where his computer sat, and that’s when I noticed the microphones off to the side. “We’re going to record the best podcast episode of your life. Pull all the pieces together right before I bury you in the woods and head for Mexico.”

My heart pounded against my ribs. Time. I had time. I’d draw out the episode for as long as I could and break free. “I need the backstory so I know what questions to ask.”

“Always impatient. I can’t spoil the show, but I’ll give you some clues. Thirty-four that you should’ve found. Thirty-four perfect specimens that will live forever in my memory.”

He rubbed his fingertips together as if sifting through memories. “Traveling the country for my tennis clinics really did give me the perfect cover. The perfect way to get on campuses and school grounds so I could find them.”

My stomach soured, bile churning as I struggled to keep whatever I’d last eaten down.

“I don’t really keep track of the others.” Sully spoke the words so casually, as if he were talking about pieces of trash rather than human beings.

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