Simon sprinted past her, back into the RV, tripping over her feet. โNo, no, no!โ Reyna was screaming.
โMove!โ Oliver spun around and hurtled up the steps, pushing Reyna in ahead of him. That unseen red dot chasing them inside.
The door to the RV slammed shut. Red didnโt see whoโd closed it, because she couldnโt move, but everything moved around her. Flashes and elbows and eyes.
โI have to help them!โ Reyna shouted, moving back to the door. โThey need medical attention.โ
โTheyโre dead, Reyna!โ Oliverโs voice. It seemed far away, even though he was right there. A ringing in Redโs ears, static in her hand. โHe shot them in the head!โ
Two shots in the back of the head.
Red could move now, unsticking her shoes from the ground, peeling herself away.
Maddy was on the ๏ฌoor, crying, head in her hands, hands pinned by her knees.
Knees. Was Don alive when he dropped to his knees, or already gone?
Red turned, the e๏ฌort of picking up her feet almost too much.
Arthurโs face was hidden as well, wrapped in his arms against the refrigerator door. His back shaking.
โExcuse me,โ Red whispered, her voice not her own. No one was listening. Reyna and Oliver were shouting behind her. Reyna hadnโt known about the note, neither had Simon, but they knew now, Oliver telling them in breathless snatches.
โYou should have told us ๏ฌrst,โ Reyna said. โWe should have all decided together whether or not to do that!โ
โOh, easy for you to say now, Reyna. I had to act quickly!โ
Red tuned out, their shouts becoming just noise that she left behind her. She walked, slowly, past Arthur and the kitchen, her heart too fast,
shedding a little more of her every time it beat. Red was surprised there was any left as she passed the bunks and through the open door into the back bedroom. Surely there was just a hole in her chest now, an empty echo against the cage of her ribs.
She placed the walkie-talkie on the bed, laying it down carefully like it could feel pain too. With her other hand, she grabbed a pillow from the top of the bed, digging her ๏ฌngers into it, the fabric pulling like spiderwebs around her ๏ฌst. She brought the pillow to her face, held it there with both hands.
Red screamed.
She screamed, the heat of the muted sound hitting her in the face, stinging her eyes. She screamed until it started to snag in her throat, and then she stopped. Put the pillow back in its place, ๏ฌu๏ฌed it up so it didnโt look disturbed. She picked up the walkie-talkie, checked it was okay, and then walked back to the others.
Oliver watched her as she returned.
โHow did you know?โ His voice was hoarse. โHow did you know he would do that?โ
Red didnโt know if she could talk, not until the words were there waiting, raw from the silent scream.
โBecause he said. He told us he would kill them and I believed him.โ
She didnโt need to say the rest, it was there, haunting the end of the sentence, ๏ฌnishing the thought.ย I believed him, but you didnโt.
โBut I donโt understand how heโโ
The static dropped out, cutting Oliver o๏ฌ.
โThat was your fault,โ the voice said, dark and deep, breaking up at the edges. โI told you to send them away.โ
Oliver was in front of Red before she realized, taking the walkie-talkie from her hands. Hey, that was hers. Her responsibility.
Oliver pushed down the button.
โYou didnโt need to kill them!โ he shouted, the white of his knuckles pushing through his skin like a prehistoric backbone. โWe didnโt tell them anything. You were watching, we didnโt tell them anything. They were leaving!โ
Static.
โYou passed them a note telling them to call the police,โ the voice answered, clipped and clear.
Oliverโs mouth fell open.
โDid you think I wouldnโt know?โ the voice continued. โThat was your fault, I didnโt want to do that. Theyโre dead because of you.โ
He paused. A ๏ฌzzing, metallic breath leaked out of the speakers before the static took over.
โIโm not the one who fucking shot them,โ Oliver said, voice breaking, but he hadnโt pushed the button, and Red couldnโt tell if heโd meant to or not.
โNow,โ the voice came back, โbefore anyone else has to die, listen to me. Stop trying to escape. You canโt. Everything has been planned for. Do what I asked you to.โ He breathed out, almost a sigh. โOne of you has a secret. Give it to me and Iโll let the others live. We have hours before daylight. Iโm not going anywhere until I get it, and neither are you.โ
Oliverโs brows lowered, a shadow over his eyes.
He raised the walkie-talkie, remembering to hold the button this time. โOne ofย usย has the secret?โ he asked, unsure, tripping over the words. โYouโre not holding us hostage to get information from someone else?โ
This was about him and Maddy, wasnโt it, to get that name from Catherine Lavoy? The Frank Gotti case that Red knew backward and forward. Oliver had been so sure before, and Red had followed him right there.
Static.
โThis is all about one of you, inside that RV. Give me what I want and your friends donโt have to die.โ
Oliver looked at Red. She tried to hide her realization from him, blink it away. Oliver had been wrong about why they were here. Wrong about the note too. Now two people were dead, right outside, and it was all their fault.
โItโs not about using you and Maddy to get to your mom,โ Reyna said, voice steadier now, speaking to the back of Oliverโs head. โSomeone here has a secret, knows what this is about. Thatโs what heโs saying. Oliver, it could be
โโ
Oliver cut her o๏ฌ, raising the walkie-talkie to his lips. โWho?โ he asked. โWhich one of us?โ
A crackle of static followed by a cackle of laughter.
โThatโs not how this works,โ the voice said. โYou know who you are. Iโll be waiting.โ
Static.
The walkie-talkie dropped to Oliverโs side, his eyes dropping with it. Red looked beyond him, at Reyna, then Maddy, Arthur over there and Simon at the back. This was about one of them, about something they knew.
Red coughed, looked away.ย You know who you are.ย She had a secret too, didnโt she? Bigger than most. But this wasnโt about her. It couldnโt be. No one knew, that was the whole point of it. No one could ever know, not even tonight. That was the plan. Red needed the plan and she wasnโt the only one. But she had her answer; it wasnโt about that, about her. And if they were talking secrets, Red wasnโt the only one hiding something. Clearly Reyna had a secret, something bad enough to think this night could be about that, something Oliver must know too and didnโt want out. Red had picked up on that. She hadย potential,ย see? And before, Maddy had denied having a secret just a little too hard and a little too fast, and Red knew her just a little too
well. Which meant there was something she didnโt know at all. She didnโt like that feeling.
Simon was the ๏ฌrst to speak, voice cutting over the static. โTheir truck is right there, like twenty feet from the door.โ He sni๏ฌed, turning to look out the windshield. He didnโt have a secret he was thinking about, then. Or he was just better at hiding it. โAll four tires, working engine, no holes in it. Yet. Doors still open. Ready. It will move. It can drive away.โ
โI donโt think weโd make it,โ Maddy replied. โAt least not all of us. He shot them both so fast.โ
Simon went on, like he hadnโt heard her. โThe old man had the keys in his hand, I saw beforeโฆI donโt know if Iโve ever seen blood like that before. Too much. I didnโt know, I didnโt think it would look like that.โ His hands were shaking, pressed against the glass. โIt doesnโt look real.โ
Was he in shock? Maybe Simon needed to go back there and scream into the same pillow, trap it in there with hers. Red walked around the others to the front of the RV, coming to stand beside Simon, her arm brushing against his.
He ๏ฌinched, and Red could now see why.
Out through the windshield, glowing in the white headlights, was Joyce. Right in front of the hood of the truck. Sheโd almost made it to the open passenger door. Almost. Simon was right, she didnโt look real, folded there like an un๏ฌnished mannequin, one hand open and reaching. Her head undone, leaking out and soaking into the road. It didnโt look red from here, the blood, it looked almost black.
That was what Mom must have looked like, right? Inside that wooden box draped in the Star-Spangled Banner. Had the bullets gone all the way through, like with Joyce? Was part of her face missing too?
The sound of static grew behind her as Oliver approached. He rested the walkie-talkie on Redโs shoulder, wordlessly passing it back to her. Hers, her responsibility, keeper of the voice. Her ๏ฌngers closed around it.
Oliver stared out the windshield too. โMaddyโs right,โ he said. โWe wouldnโt all make it. Heโd be able to take at least two or three of us out before we got the truck moving.โ
And there were three people Oliver cared about in this RV, so that was a risk too far.
โEspecially as the sniper somehow seems to know exactly what weโre doing every time,โ Oliver was still talking. โI canโt work out how he knew about the note. There was no way he could even see it, let alone see what was written on it. Heโฆโ
Oliverโs head whipped around, eyes overstretched, too much white showing above and below. He opened his mouth like he was going to say something, then stopped himself, gritting his teeth.
โWhat?โ Red asked him.
He shushed her, head pivoting on his wide shoulders as he looked around the RV.
He charged forward, toward the dining table, grabbing his phone from the surface. He unlocked it, tapped at the screen.
Red walked over, Simon on her heels.
โWhat are youโ?โ Reyna began, silenced by the deadly look in Oliverโs eyes.
They gathered around him, and Red leaned over to see what he was doing.
On the screen, on a fresh page in the Notes app, Oliver was typing.ย Thereโs only one way he could have known aboutโ
โFuck this,โ Oliver said, irritated, swiping out of Notes, the phoneโs fault
for taking too long, not his. Oliverโs eyes ๏ฌicked to the bottom of his screen, and his thumb followed, pressing onto the music app.
โOliver, what are you doing?โ Maddy asked.
โWait,โ he told her, scrolling through the screen, ๏ฌnger landing on a random playlist.ย Christmas Songs,ย it said. Oliver pressed play on the ๏ฌrst song and dragged the volume bar right to the top.
The song began, choral voices singingย ah,ย and a high-pitched strum on the guitar. โRockinโ Around the Christmas Tree.โ In April. Deafening as Oliver held the phone in the middle of the group, speaker facing up. He beckoned them all closer.
Red stepped in, shoulders pressing into Reyna and Simon. The drumbeat of the song ticking half as slow as her heart.
Oliver ๏ฌashed his eyes at them all.
He started to speak, not loudly, only just audible over the sound of the music. Red had to concentrate, but now she was thinking about the lyrics, and dancing around the tree with Mom before there were two holes in her head.
โThereโs only one way he could have known about the note,โ Oliver said, looking at each of them in turn. โThe window, yeah ๏ฌne, his guy on the other side could have seen us climbing out and told him about it. But not the note. Thereโs no way either of them could have seen. So, thereโs only one way he knew.โ He paused.
Everyone dancing merrily in the new old-fashioned way.ย The saxophone burst in, too loud, screaming in Redโs ears.
โHeย heardย us talking about it,โ Oliver said. โBecause the RV is bugged.โ
