See? I’m not heartless.
I hide behind the door to the bedroom, as the sound of Maria’s footsteps on the stairs grow louder. And then a pause, when she gets to the top of the steps.
“Sean?” she calls again.
I don’t understand why she keeps asking for Sean. His car isn’t here. And she already texted me that she knows I’m in here. I grab the handle of the knife tighter in my right hand. My knuckles are white.
I wonder if she has a weapon. Not a gun—I heard Sean ranting about how dangerous it is to have a gun in the house—but she could’ve grabbed a knife from the kitchen. That said, she doesn’t know where I am. I have the element of surprise.
And I don’t think Maria Cooper has it in her to stab somebody. She’s all talk.
The footsteps start up again. She’s right outside the bedroom door. I hold my breath. “Sean?” she says one more time.
And then she comes into the bedroom. She doesn’t have a knife. She has no weapon at all.
I step out of the shadows, the knife raised in my hand. Maria sees me, and she takes a step back. I hear the sharp inhalation of air. “April?” she gasps.
Now that I see she has no weapon, I can take my time. Well, not a lot of time because I have no idea when Sean will be home, but I can get what I came here for. The timing could not have been better. “Give me the phone,” I say.
Maria blinks at me. “I… I don’t understand. What are you talking about?”
“I want the phone. Now.”
Her eyes dart around the room. “I… I left my phone downstairs. In my purse. Where I always keep it.”
“Quit playing dumb.” I take a step toward her, the knife still tightly gripped in my right hand. “You know what phone I’m talking about.”
Maria takes a step back. “I… I don’t know.”
“Bullshit,” I say through my teeth as I take another step forward. “We both know what you’ve been doing. I want that phone.”
Maria tries to take another step back, but she hits the wall. I see the fear in her eyes. That’s exactly how Courtney looked when I sliced through her hair.
“April,” she whispers. “Please don’t do this. Please, I—”
“Wait a minute,” I say. “Shut up for a minute.”
I heard something just now. It sounded like… steps on the creaky stairs. Is someone else in here? It couldn’t be Sean—his truck is so loud, I can hear it coming all the way down the block.
And then I hear my phone buzz inside my pocket.
I keep one eye on Maria as I reach into my pocket and pull out my phone. I drop my eyes and read the words on the screen:
I’m right behind you, April.
Oh God.
I look up at Maria. She’s just staring at me, with those wide, terrified eyes. I look down at the screen again. I’m right behind you, April. It wasn’t Maria. It couldn’t have been.
Slowly, I turn around.
Maria’s closet is behind me. I squint into the dark depths of the closet, my heart pounding. Is there somebody in there?
And then I feel something hit me from behind. A vase shattering against my scalp, and I collapse onto the ground, the knife falling from my grasp. I realize nobody was in the closet at all. I was tricked.
My head is spinning. I touch the back of my scalp and my fingers come away red. I roll over and look up, expecting to see Maria standing over me. But it’s not Maria. It’s Julie.
My best friend.
Chapter 55
JULIE
I look down at April lying on the floor, the broken pieces of the vase from my house splayed out around her head. She’s still moving, so I didn’t knock her out, but I knocked her down. I’ve never hit anyone that hard in my life. Zumba doesn’t quite prepare you for that.
“Julie!” Maria’s brown eyes are wide. “Oh, thank God!”
The knife April had been holding fell out of her hand when she collapsed. I see it on the ground, and before my brain can even react, my hand is reaching for it. I pick it up and grab it in my right hand.
April rolls over, clutching her head. There’s a drop of blood running down her temple. “Julie,” she murmurs. “What…？”
In the distance, I can hear sirens. It’s been about five minutes since I called Riley. He got someone here quickly. But it wouldn’t have been quick enough.
“Go downstairs,” I say to Maria. “Let the police in.”
“Are you sure you’ll be okay up here?” she asks.
I nod. “I’ll be fine.”
More than fine. I look over at my hand holding the knife. It’s steady as a rock.
April watches Maria leave the room as she clutches her head where I clocked her a good one. The second Maria is out of sight, her eyes lock with mine. “Thank God she’s gone, Julie. She’s crazy. You have to believe me.”
“Yeah, right.”
“Julie…” April tries to stand up, but I shake my head at her and point to the ground. “Julie, you’re my best friend. You have to believe me. She… she murdered Elliot’s secretary and she’s framing me for it.”
“No, she didn’t.”
“She did!” April’s eyes fill with very real-looking tears. “She’s out of her mind. She’s been… torturing me. She has it out for me!”
I almost feel sorry for her. Does she really think she’s going to convince me? “I saw what you were about to do to her.”
“I was just defending myself!” She swipes at her eyes. “Because I thought she was going to kill me!”
“I’m sure.”
We can hear the sound of the front door opening. April’s blue eyes widen with panic. “Julie, please. Look at what she sent me.”
She fishes around in her pocket and pulls out her cell phone. It still has the message I sent her on the screen:
I know you are inside the house, April.
“It’s all been sent from a burner phone I found in her purse,” April says hurriedly. “She’s out to get me. Don’t you believe me?”
“Maria didn’t send you that message,” I say quietly.
There are footsteps on the stairs. Men’s voices. The cops. “Yes, she did!” April cries.
“No, she didn’t,” I say. “I did.”
April’s mouth falls open just as the police burst into the room.
_____
It’s a good thing Riley is there to explain everything to the police who show up, because it doesn’t look great for me. I’m the one holding the knife. But between him and Maria, the truth quickly comes out. April broke into the house. She was threatening Maria. And I’m the hero.
“We have an eyewitness who can place April at the scene of the crime,” Riley explains to me after April is taken away in handcuffs. “They saw her white SUV following Brianna’s car, and they saw them both get out of the car. They didn’t see the attack itself, but considering she has a motive, no alibi, and there’s a witness who saw her there, we’ve certainly got enough to charge her.”
As I watch the police doing their job, all I can think about is how I wish I were the one trying this case. I can’t wait to get back in the courtroom. I’m itching for it.