Page 93 (1/1)

"Please tellout of prison anytime soon," he said

I knelt beside hie that he had no value No intrinsic worth

My torso felt too tight as I inched toward him "Can you tell me what happened, Marcus?"

"Why do you care what happened to her?" he asked "Nobody cared My hbor started asking questions She’d been gone ine that? Two fking weeks before she even considered calling the cops"

"Marcus," I said, putting a paling it until his knuckles turned white Dredging up theits toll on him He took the bottle off the sink and tilted it at hisit aside and covering his eyes with one hand "We’d been evicted and were living in my aunt’s house while she tried to sell it She uy from California and said we could stay there until it sold"

That explained why Miranda was in that part of the city The property around where she’d been found was upscale, and Mrs Nel wasn’t right," he continued His hand clenched around the towel "She was acting different She kept saying she wanted her sister’s house but couldn’t afford it--then thisMylife insurance on us" He lowered his hand to look at ht, and I could finally reen

"She was going to kill Miranda I knew it From then on, every time she looked at her, she had this smile" He wiped at his cheeks "No, this soing to do with the house She wanted a pool and a wet bar and a big TV She said if her sister could have nice things, so could she Then one night, she ca to the lake It was the ht in the aze slid pastto kill her"

I sat as still as I could and listened He needed to tell the story Miranda’s story

"But eren’t packing fast enough, and she hit Miranda Hard I just reet the lake, that she was going to take her to the hospital, but I knew that was a lie, too I took Miranda and snuck out the back door We were just going to hide until et help, but it was so cold We didn’t have our jackets And it was so dark We stuet hen it started to snow Miranda said she couldn’t go any farther, so we huddled next to a rock" Fresh tears pushed past his lashes and streamed over his sunken cheeks "She fell asleep in my arms and didn’t wake up" He covered his face and bit back the sobs fighting to get past his closed throat "I tried to carry her, but she was so heavy I just left her there Like she was nothing" A sob finally wrenched its way past his efforts, and he covered his face again

"No," I argued "Marcus, you were only nine" I sed past the lump in my throat and reached up to cradle the back of his head

"I finally found my way back to my aunt’s house the next day Molare "She didn’t even ask about Miranda Not once Days passed, and we just never talked about her"

I bitthe rest of the pills away froain, and I realized he had no intention of leaving that bathroohbor asked about Miranda?" I said, inching closer

"Yeah She figured she couldn’t hide her disappearanceThat’s when she told ht before and then was just gone the nextwith a monster He clearly feared for his own life But at the s were taking the desired effect He leaned his head back and let thee of the situation and reached for the bottle

"Please, don’t," he said He seemed tired Spent "You won’t succeed" A sadness settled over hiain "It’s okay No one will hter felt hopeless in the tiny room Humorless "Don’t worry This isn’t some pathetic attempt to pretend to try to coh to call an ambulance in the nick of time" He held up the bottle, shook it to prove to me there was still one left "This is my own version of Russian roulette"

"I don’t understand"

"In the center of one of these pills, and I have no idea which one, is a lethal dose of cyanide So I take one every so often"

I gasped and ripped the bottle out of his hand to check the label Oxycodone But I had no idea if that as really in there or not I looked back up, gaping He wasn’t lying

"The way I see it, if I’et the lethal one If not…" He shrugged and leaned his head back again