Without Mercy - Lisa Jackson [193]
But Shay didn’t bat an eye and Jules’s blood was pulsing through her body with the knowledge that there was an explanation. “You really are naive, aren’t you? God, Jules, I would hate to be you. Of course I didn’t kill Lauren! I think Spurrier or his band did. Maybe it was even an accident, but I knew it could work to my advantage and it did, didn’t it?”
Jules saw the hatred in her sister’s expression. “And Dad?”
“Rip? That perv? Are you kidding? Of course I killed him, because you couldn’t! You were so blind when it came to him! Do you know how he looked at me? At you?” she demanded, her lips curling in disgust. “I did us both a favor!”
“What? No—”
“So he didn’t touch me, big deal! It was only a matter of time. And he was half in love with you.”
“What?” Jules couldn’t believe her ears.
“Always hugging you, hanging on your every word, acting like you were so damned special.”
“He was my father.”
“Well, he wanted something more.” Shay’s face contorted in disdain, her psychosis visible in her features.
“You’re nuts,” Jules whispered. This was unbelievable! Yes, Shay and Rip hadn’t gotten along, yes, Shay had never understood a father’s devotion, but this sick delirium was so far gone…“So you killed him?” Jules whispered, horrified to the marrow of her bones. She couldn’t believe what was happening here.
“Oh, what did you think? That somebody broke in and stabbed him in the leg for what? His visa card?” She rolled her eyes.
“But why?”
“I told you, he freaked me out!”
What kind of monster was she?
“He was so shocked…and I guess I was, too. But I watched him bleed out and I felt this…this rush of power. It was funny really—” Shay said, her voice trailing off, as if she were lost in the memory.
“Funny? My father’s murder was ‘funny’?” Jules couldn’t believe she’d been duped for so many years, that the chameleon who was her sister had fooled her so completely.
“You know what I mean, I was kinda transfixed,” Shay said, “just watching the blood flow out of his body. There was so damned much of it. Everywhere…and I had to keep away from it, of course, so I did. I even pretended to dial nine-one-one as he lay there, trying to reach for the phone.”
“But there was an intruder…”
“Sure there was!” Shay was nearly laughing, enjoying the look of horror on Jules’s features. “He’d left his wallet on the table, so that part was easy. I just hid it from Edie and ditched it with a homeless guy on the street on my way to school the next day.”
“But there were footprints,” Jules argued, realizing the depths of her sister’s depravity, that she was enjoying the fact that she’d gotten one over on Jules, on Edie, on Rip, on the police.
“The same size as his own. Did the police even notice? Odd thing about that. Remember the good shoes that Edie had tucked away into some sacks for Goodwill?” She lifted her shoulders as if to say, “Easy.”
Jules felt sick inside, starting to believe the mind-numbing truth.
“And then you came in and I had to wipe up…with the towel, to make it look like I’d just found him, too. I had to start crying and screaming, but you didn’t even notice. One glance at him and you really freaked out, lost your damned mind.” Shay grinned. She was almost giddy! “Man, did I luck out!”
“But you were so young…oh, God, why did you do it?” Jules asked, trying like crazy to wrap her mind around the depths of her sister’s depravity.
“Duh! Can’t you figure anything out. I already told you I was saving us and I knew if he was gone, if Edie and I were left alone, you wouldn’t leave.” She was studying Jules carefully now, her bravado melting into suspicion. “You were going to. I knew it and you were the only one who really cared about me. At least that’s what I thought. But I was wrong. It all changed. You had plans to go away for college and you were hooked up with some boyfriend that I’d never met, the same son of a bitch who became my pod leader down here…how’s that for bad luck?”
Trent.