Like a Sister(99)

“Get. In. The. Car.”

He used his body to push me across my driveway and to the waiting front passenger door. I slammed against it, then tried to go as slack as an obstinate toddler. I hadn’t ever heard a gun cock before, but I still recognized the sound. “I will kill you like I killed your sister,” he said.

I had finally gotten my confession.

And that was it. I went from pause to fast-forward, desperate to make it to the end of the story. I butted my head back, hoping to take him by surprise. It didn’t work. I felt a searing pain on the right side of my head. Everything went black.

*



I woke up in the front passenger seat, hands bound together with jump rope and head throbbing where he’d hit me with his gun. The car was so quiet I could hear his breathing. Labored. Steady. Determined.

“You’re awake,” he said.

I glanced over. He hadn’t bothered to put his seat belt on. Just mine. Another way to keep me restrained. I couldn’t see the gun but knew it was there somewhere.

He had killed Desiree.

I forced myself not to think about it, not when I needed to stay alive myself.

“I really did like you,” he said.

I ignored that, no desire to have some heart-to-heart. Instead, I looked out the window, tried to figure out where we were. Judging from the water, we’d just crossed the bridge into Manhattan. We were moving at a steady clip, but we’d have to slow down eventually, stop at some red light. If I could open the door, I could roll out. Get away.

“She didn’t know, you know.” And that’s what got my attention. I finally turned as he kept going. “She thought I was going to help her get justice, as she called it. She’d agreed to give me the video so I’d write about what Naut did to that guy.”

Kevin House. He had a daughter.

“Help his family get closure, she said. We agreed to meet up here, but then I realized she didn’t give a shit that Naut’s life would be ruined—my life would be ruined—if that video got out.”

“Why?” I said, to keep him talking and because I needed to know. “Why help Naut cover up what happened to begin with? Especially after you found out he’d killed someone.”

“At the time, Naut was nobody. She was Desiree Pierce. Front-page news. And now? Now it’ll all go into my book.”

And that was it. I hit him with both hands since I didn’t have much choice. The MINI Cooper lurched to the right. He righted it as I kept going. Once. Twice. I was going for a third when he lashed out with his right hand, nailed me right across the mouth. The force propelled me back, and the window cracked my head in the same spot his gun had hit before.

“Look, we can do this—”

He didn’t finish his sentence. A car was on his tail, high beams on.

“New Yorkers are so damn impatient.”

He sped up. But the car sped up too. We were both speeding toward a yellow light ahead. I looked back, hoping it was a cop but knowing it was probably a cabbie. I could see only bright lights.

I faced forward just in time to see the signal turn from yellow to red. Stuart didn’t stop. Neither did the car behind us.

Stuart was going fast. Too fast for the city. He was so busy eyeing the high beams he didn’t notice a car double-parked up ahead.

“Watch out!” I said.

He looked forward just in time to swerve into the left lane. High Beams followed suit. Stuart abruptly swung wide to turn right onto the next side street, and the car did too, cutting off a green cab.

As we turned, I could just make out the car.

A Cadillac.

Erin.

There were cars ahead but none coming from the opposite direction. Stuart careened onto the opposite side of the road, the Cadillac close behind him. Now a car was coming toward us. He swerved back into the right lane just in time. I turned around to make sure Erin also made it back. She did. Barely.

Stuart didn’t slow down. That’s when the fear left my body, wafting up and away like campfire smoke. I was going to die. And if that meant I was going to see Gram, my mom, and my sister, I was going to tell them I went out with a fucking fight.

I hit him again. And again. This time not letting up. Stuart tried to fend me off with his right hand while trying to still steer with his left. He slammed me forward, and my head hit the glove compartment. But as he did it, he instinctively eased his foot off the gas.

Erin slammed into us from behind. I remember what happened next only in bits and pieces. The car spinning, round and round like some demented Tea Cup ride. Stuart being next to me and then being gone. My seat belt stopping me from joining him.

When we stopped turning, the car had done a 180, and it was deadly silent.

*



I opened my eyes, but it was too bright so I immediately closed them again. There was a voice. Male. Deep. Talking, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying. I felt a moment of fear, but it was quickly replaced with fight. I was going to fuck him up.

But when I opened my eyes again, I realized this wasn’t a car. And that wasn’t Stuart. Mel stood with his back to me, facing the light. It was as angelic as I’d ever seen him.

I had to be hallucinating.

“He’s the only reason I’m not suing your whole damn organization.”

Or maybe not. I closed my eyes again. I was in the hospital, which meant I’d survived. Even though my head felt like I was having the worst hangover of my life.