Page 29 of The Midnight Knock
“Prove to us who killed our cousin,” Thomas said. “By midnight, tonight.”
Tabitha said, “We will then take the innocent to safety.”
“And leave the guilty to die,” Thomas said.
The twins spoke so simply, it took Ethan a moment to realize what they were saying. “You want us to solve a murder?”
“Yes, Mister Cross,” Thomas said. “That is exactly what we want.”
Ethan hesitated. Had Thomas ever heard his last name?
Kyla said, “You’re idiots. We’re not cops. We don’t have, like, forensics and shit. Just call the police in the morning. It’s not like any of us can go anywhere.”
Tabitha said, “At the rate you’re going, Miss Hewitt, there won’t be a morning for you.”
Kyla went very still.
“But she is right. This is absurd. Like something from a cheap novel,” Fernanda said. “We are not detectives. Crimes are not so easily solved.”
Hunter nodded. “And how do we know this safe room of y’all’s even exists in the first place?”
“You can believe us or not,” Thomas said.
“We will be safe,” Tabitha said.
“If you wish to join us, bring us proof of who killed our cousin.”
Tabitha said, “Strong, incontrovertible proof.”
“But how the fuck are we supposed todothat?” Kyla said.
“We don’t care,” Thomas said.
“You have until midnight,” Tabitha said.
“That’s our offer.”
“There’s no negotiating.”
“Learn who killed our cousin and live,” Thomas said.
“Or die screaming in the cold,” Tabitha said.
Stanley was up on his feet, spitting and furious. “You people are insane, aren’t you? This is some kind of game for you. How do we know it wasn’t y’all who killed her in the first place?”
“It is absurd,” Fernanda said again. “All of it, absurd.”
Stanley’s hand rested on his Desert Eagle. He said to the twins, “You crazy fucks know we’re armed, don’t you? If we wanted to, we could get you to open this safe room of yours. It wouldn’t be too difficult.”
The twins didn’t blink. Thomas said, “You wouldn’t be the first to try.”
Tabitha said, “Or the first to fail.”
Ethan leaned back a little at that.
Kyla was clearly done with this. She turned on her heel, grabbed Fernanda by the arm, said, “We’re going to our room. Now.”
But as she started for the office’s front door, someone opened it from the outside. Someone new. A man stepped in, a man with a face Ethan had seen for just a moment, watching him from the back door of Sarah Powers’s room. The man was in his forties, Asian, with dark hair, a broken nose, a bright sneer. He wore black leatherboots and a motorcycle jacket. A tattoo of a dragon crawled up his neck and peeked up from his collar. He smelled of menthol cigarettes.
