Page 49 of Treasured By Them
“I didn’t, though?—”
She pulls the trigger and shoots. I yelp, too loud, but neither of them seems to hear me. I think the sound is lost in the echo of the gunshot.
Malcolm jerks to the side, but he seems unharmed. “Put the gun away, Zora, or someone’s going to get hurt.”
“No, you’re coming with me to the police station. You’re going to confess, and Britney will finally have justice.”
Yes. Please, yes. Put this man behind bars. I’ll testify—I was a witness. I’ll do whatever it takes.
My dad’s heart will break—Malcolm has been his best friend for years. But no way would my dad ever agree to letting him go free now. Not after what he did to Britney, not after what he tried to do to me.
A part of me feels like a fucking coward for shivering here in the water while Zora does all the hard work on the shore, but she has a gun. I don’t. Malcolm already proved he can overpower me once. My best bet is to sit tight.
Malcolm has other ideas, though. He lunges forward. He grabs the barrel of the gun.
Zora screams. The gun fires, but the shot goes off to the side, missing Malcolm and landing harmlessly in the mud.
Malcolm wrenches the gun from Zora’s grasp. He grabs her, wrapping his arm all the way around her throat and squeezing.
No—no, I can’t watch this again. I can’t watch him kill another woman right in front of me.
Malcolm whips his head back and forth, searching the near-darkness. The sun has fallen completely now, and there’s no way he can see me in my hiding spot.
“I know you’re out there, Danica. You always were good at that, sneaking around. But I heard you scream just now.” He tightens his arm around Zora’s neck.
Her eyes bulge and she scratches at his skin, but he doesn’t seem to register the pain.
“Come out now, or watch her die. Your choice.”
Fuck. Fuck. How did it turn out this way? Edmund and Troy could be here any second, but if that second isn’t right the hell now, they’re too late.
Malcolm lifts the gun and holds it to Zora’s temple.
She was only trying to figure out who killed her cousin, her best friend. Britney, whose body was left in the mud for years while everyone else forgot.
While I forgot.
My throat is closing with panic, but I know this is the right thing to do.
I swim around the blackberry vines and toward the shore.
“Here! I’m fucking here, okay, you psychopath?” I step out of the water and face Malcolm.
18
Edmund
Troy parks about an eighth of a mile from Danica’s cabin. I send him a questioning look.
“She sent us a message in code.” He kills the lights and opens his door. “Whatever’s going on, whoever’s with her, she doesn’t want them to know she sent a clue. Best to go in with the element of surprise, yeah?”
It makes perfect sense. “Remind me to tell my grandfather to give you a raise.”
He gives me the ghost of a smile. “Let’s save Dani, first.”
We climb out, carefully ease the truck doors shut, and hurry to the cabin. We can see it from the end of the driveway. The lights on the lower floor are lit, but there’s no movement inside.
A woman screams. Then a shot rings out, echoing in the otherwise quiet night.
