Never Forget

by Harper Shaw

  “You’d feel better if you said it.”

  “It’s not like you’re a priest or anything, Rebecca. Besides, everyone has to die for their sins—including me.” Jennifer sniffled one last time, and then her face began to sober up, her cheeks filling with stony resolve.

  “Has to die? We don’t have to die.”

  “Yes, we do, Rebecca. We have to die, and we have to pay for what we’ve done. All this damage was wrought. We don’t deserve to just go and live perfect little rich kid lives. We did something wrong, and we have to pay for it. We have to answer for our past. It’s been calling us since then. I was just the only one with enough guts to pick up the phone.”

  “You don’t know what you’re saying. You haven’t thought this through—”

  “I do know what I’m saying, and I’m the only one who thought this through. How else do you think I was able to manage to arrange all of this? To help us all atone? You haven’t thought anything through.” Jennifer stepped back over to Bruce and cupped one of his cheeks in her palm as she lowered herself onto the bed. “He always did what I said. Didn’t he?”

  “Bruce… he liked you, yes.” It wasn’t a good angle to attack Jennifer from, so Rebecca had to stay still. Maybe she would sit there long enough to give Rebecca time to think of something.

  “Oh, I know about those stupid little posters, Rebecca. Don’t be such a prude.” She grinned. “I sent him half of them. I like the idea of him looking at them whenever he’s lonely.” Brushing the bangs out of Bruce’s face, she stood. Then she pecked him on the forehead. “It’s time, Brucie.”

  “Time for what?”

  Jennifer pulled a gun from her pocket and aimed at Bruce’s forehead. She let the bullet loose before Rebecca could even move. Then she turned to Rebecca and took her spear gun, gripping it tighter.

  “Don’t make this hard,” Jennifer warned.

  Rebecca took off through the warehouse before Jennifer could get her, but she heard the steps coming behind. And with Jennifer being as in shape as she was, she didn’t doubt the volleyball star would be able to keep up with her, even with her police training.

  She weaved left and right, slipping through gaps between boxes and lurking behind crates. Eventually she got to a dead end. Not knowing where to go, she went behind the last crate and hid.

  “Rebecca, I told you we didn’t have to make this hard. Come pay.” Jennifer laughed. “It’s not as if I’m not going to find you. This place isn’t that big. It’s only a matter of time.” Jennifer’s footsteps echoed yards away from the crate Rebecca was hiding behind.

  Rebecca was afraid to make a sound, let alone breathe.

  Jennifer’s shadow came closer.

  Here we go.

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Rebecca sucked her breath in further and brought her stomach in with it. As Jennifer’s shadow came closer, Rebecca lifted herself up to her toes and sat in a crouch, ready to dodge in whichever direction she needed to avoid her not-so-dead friend—ex friend.

  Jennifer wrapped around the corner quietly, her eyes focusing but lips not smiling as she stood in front of Rebecca, a stark difference from barely a minute earlier. Jennifer raised the spear gun and pointed it in Rebecca’s direction silently.

  “We don’t have to do this, Jennifer,” Rebecca told her, raising her hands in the air. “I know you think we do, but we don’t have to.”

  “If you had just minded your own business, none of this would’ve happened. You could’ve died as clueless as the rest of them, Rebecca. I should’ve made sure the police locked you up for good. Clearly you didn’t learn your previous lessons.”

  “I couldn’t just let the killing go on,” Rebecca said, standing, “Listen, Jennifer, you’re sick. I know it may feel like you are thinking straight, but you’re not at all. The guilt from what happened to Monica all those years ago is terrible, but there isn’t anything we can do now to fix it, short of coming out and admitting we lied. If you want, you can go do that. I’ll even go with you, and then we can get you the help you need, but this can’t go on. I’m just not going to let it.”

  “You’re not going to let it?” Jennifer scoffed. “As if I need your permission. Get over yourself.” She cocked the spear gun straighter.

  “No.” Rebecca launched herself at Jennifer before she was able to pull the trigger and got her own grip around the gun. She could already feel the pressure in her chest rising as she struggled with Jennifer for the gun.

  Jennifer kicked Rebecca in the leg. Rebecca fell, but held onto the spear gun as she went down. She put her weight into it, pulling Jennifer down with her. They rolled across the floor, both grasping the gun. Neither won control more than a moment before the other came from behind and began to pull ahead.

  Jennifer slammed Rebecca’s head against the sharp corner of a crate. A piercing pain reverberated through the back of Rebecca’s head and shot all the way through her body. She let out a groan but kept her grip in spite of it. Instead, she used the pain to hold the spear gun tighter as she hopped to her feet.

  Dragging Jennifer through the warehouse, she made sure to swing the athlete into every splintered corner there was as she fought to take the spear gun back. After slamming Jennifer’s face into a final cutting corner, Rebecca pulled the spear gun fully to her chest and ran. She sprinted through the warehouse to dispose of the damned thing.

  When she saw she was far enough away from Jennifer, she stopped and threw the spear gun against the ground. Using her boots, she beat her foot into the gun until it was dented. She used her hands and toes to try to rip it apart. It didn’t work at first, so she then just lifted it and began slamming it into the hard ground. Rebecca didn’t stop until she rendered the gun useless.

  Right when she finished, she felt all her strength leave for her for a moment, and she leaned against the wall. Her vision swam and her head felt light. A vaguely painful pressure was building up in her chest, and she felt her forehead slick with blood. The tentative exploration of her fingers smeared the blood even further down the side of her head where it had already dripped. I must be a sight.

  As she rolled against the wall, she remembered she had her recorder in her pocket still. She wondered if her only hope for tonight was that it hadn’t broken. Pulling it out of her pocket for a moment, she saw it was unharmed and returned it. Would getting out of here be the best option? she wondered. Deciding she didn’t want to be forced to take harsh measures, Rebecca began trying to find her way out of the warehouse.

  She could go straight to Faruq with the information she had and clear everything up. Once she turned a corner, Rebecca watched all the lights on her side of the warehouse flicker before turning off altogether. She cursed, knowing this was Jennifer’s way of inviting her to stay and play.

  Having no interest in staying to take the bait, she continued through the space, using her hands to feel through it the best she could. Out of nowhere she tripped on something and heard a crash and rattle to the floor. Feeling in the darkness, she soon found her hands around a knife. Where did this even come from? No point in complaining about a little good fortune for once.

  “Bruce,” she whispered. Her eyes widened with the realization. Propping herself up, she realized this wasn’t going to end the way she wanted it to. No, Rebecca knew. She knew the only way anyone was getting out of this warehouse was with the other dead.

  Even if she did leave, Jennifer would follow her and finish what she started. The only way to end this was to end Jennifer. Yet no matter how much she hated the woman, Rebecca had been hoping it wouldn’t come to this.

  This entire time since she had returned to Hilton Head, she had been counting on the authorities to take care of things, for her name to clear itself. It was time for some agency, Rebecca supposed. Stopping Jennifer herself was the only way.

  She wrapped her fingers around the knife’s handle and swallowed all of the emotions roiling inside her down as she flipped the knife to point out in front of her. Jennifer had
hunted each of them down. It was time for Rebecca to hunt, too.

  Crouching low so she couldn’t be seen over the crates, she stalked through the warehouse, looking everywhere in search of Jennifer. She knew Jennifer was doing the same thing, but she wanted to be first. It would be harder to gain the advantage if Jennifer found her.

  Rebecca’s body felt in worse and worse condition as she went further and further. Her chest was burning, and she didn’t know if it was just fatigue from running or something else. She heard a snap. Rebecca swung around, searching for the source. As she spun, she didn’t see Jennifer or any obvious explanation for it. Rebecca was done looking. She’d make Jennifer come to her.

  “Come out and stop being a coward!” she yelled into the darkness, feeling the salty mix of sweat and blood dripping into her mouth and over her lips as she bared her teeth. “I thought you were going to help me answer for my sins, Jennifer! Come out and make me answer!” Her eyes darted rapidly from left to right. She didn’t know how long she had been turning when she finally saw Jennifer.

  She held a knife, too. Immediately she pounced onto Rebecca and pushed her down into the ground, holding the knife to her neck. Rebecca shoved her knife against Jennifer’s neck as well. They were still for a moment as Jennifer swallowed.

  “I had all these plans for us,” she said, her eyes wide and crazed. “I was going to right all of the wrongs we committed when we told those lies. All of your guilt would’ve been gone, Rebecca. It would have all just gone away if you’d let me do it. You’re being stupid, blind to reality. I could’ve made it all go away.” Jennifer paused. Then she bent down closer to Rebecca, pressed her own neck dangerously into the knife. “I still can. Just let me do it.” She adjusted her knife against Rebecca’s throat.

  “You know it’s not supposed to be this way, Jennifer. We don’t have to do this. Killing people doesn’t get rid of the guilt. If anything, you just made more of it with all the blood on your hands. You’re stained with it now. More than any of us ever were.”

  “Fine. I’ll do it for you.” Jennifer raised her hand to slit Rebecca’s throat. “Paid in full—”

  Before she was even able to finish, Rebecca sent a deep cut through Jennifer’s throat, a clean line where the skin unfolded. Jennifer’s blood fountained in bursts with the pumping of her rapidly slowing heart. Rebecca closed her eyes as all the blood drained from Jennifer’s neck and mouth in a gurgle, raining down on her, soaking her clothes. Then Jennifer’s body fell against her.

  Rebecca tried to lift it up, but she was empty at that point. She just lay there and kept her eyes closed a little longer, sobbing. She couldn’t make out the images on the backs of her lids. The word “over” was painted in blood on her lips.

  Chapter Fifty

  Rebecca didn’t know how much time had passed when she heard the doors of the warehouse slide open. As she cracked her eyes, she saw Faruq leading the charge over to where she was, his gun cocked. He lowered it as soon as he saw her.

  Putting his gun away, Faruq didn’t say anything as he flipped over Jennifer’s body and lifted it from Rebecca with a small grunt. He watched Rebecca scurry away and drag herself to the nearby wall, leaning against that instead.

  Then, before saying anything, Rebecca pulled her recorder from her pocket and held it out to Faruq. Her flat palm was bloody and scratched under the recorded confession, but the weight of it was lighter than a cloud in Rebecca’s mind.

  “What’s this?” he asked, taking a plastic zipper bag from someone to drop the recorder into. He’d log it as evidence later, she figured. “It’s bloody.”

  “It’s all the proof that I’m innocent, that Jennifer did all of this.” Rebecca let out a sigh and laid her head against the wall. “It’s confirmation.”

  “It’ll only confirm what I already know,” Faruq said to her. He didn’t smile, though she sort of wished he would. He stood up and settled his hands on his hips. “I knew you’d figure everything out eventually, especially after your visit.”

  “Oh, don’t tell me, you believed in me all along?”

  “No, but I did for the last bit.” Faruq let a grin show then. Rebecca respected his honesty. “Well, you’re effectively exonerated. I’ll worry about the paperwork later, but on my end, you’re free to leave town. Of course…” He trailed off, but Rebecca knew what he was thinking.

  “I still need to set things right with the Griswalds,” she said flatly. She finally felt ready to face them, though. There would be consequences, they may even continue to follow through with the lawsuit. But she felt she could handle whatever was coming, now. Perhaps they could even find closure together.

  Faruq scanned her with his eyes. “Also, there’s a paramedic outside you may want to visit. Need some help?”

  “If it’s not too much trouble.”

  Faruq bent down and offered her a hand.

  She took it, bloody and all, and hoisted herself up into the air. She felt lightheaded for the first few seconds, but it didn’t take long for her to find her footing. She felt sorer than anything, and she was pretty sure the pain she felt in the back of her skull was just a bump. Still, it never hurt to be too careful. Did it?

  As he escorted her to the ambulance, Faruq took in the details of the scene. People were all around collecting evidence and snapping pictures. She and Jennifer had definitely left a lot for them to unpack, though she hoped her recording would cover most, if not all, of it.

  “Quite the tussle,” she said to Faruq as he looked back at her.

  “Looks like it was a little more than quite the tussle. Of course, you were going against a murderer, so I won’t hold it against you. Where’d you get hit?”

  “She tried to bang my head up a little, but I don’t think it’s anything more than just a bump. Then there are the scratches and the blood, but most of the blood’s hers. At least I think most of it is hers.” They arrived at the ambulance. Rebecca hopped onto the back of the truck and allowed the paramedic to check her over.

  Staying close by, Faruq lingered, settling against the side of the truck.

  “What?” Rebecca asked, wondering why he wasn’t in the warehouse or somewhere else.

  “Was it really self-defense? I mean, I wouldn’t say anything if it wasn’t, but I’m curious.”

  “She was trying to kill me.”

  “And what did you do?”

  “I finished things.”

  “How vague,” he said. Faruq went quiet and looked out into some middle distance. Rebecca couldn’t guess what he was thinking.

  “You’re done here, but it wouldn’t hurt to get yourself checked out at a hospital,” the paramedic told Rebecca as she finished wrapping the cuts on Rebecca’s hands.

  “Nah, I think I’m good,” Rebecca answered. “I’m not going anywhere but my motel room now. Neither a jail cot nor a hospital bed will do it for me tonight.”

  “Okay… If you’re sure.” The paramedic turned to Faruq, who was still there. “In case you still had some business to take care of, she’s all ready for you, Chief Bradshaw.”

  Rebecca slid off the ambulance and began walking away from the warehouse toward the road. Faruq fell into step beside her. Neither of them was talking about it right now, but they still needed to take care of some business, some secrets she had spilled a little while ago that could threaten to haunt her later.

  That couldn’t be it, though, Rebecca figured. By Faruq’s expression, it seemed he had some questions of his own unrelated to Monica, which Rebecca would definitely be happier to answer.

  “Why’d she do it?” he asked. “I mean, I know she wanted to kill them, but did she say anything to you before she died about why?”

  “It’s about Monica and that night,” Rebecca said. “I wasn’t the only one who always felt guilty about it. Jennifer did, too. Her plan was to kill us all, even herself. She said we had to die to pay for our sins, to right the wrongs we committed by lying about what happened for so long.”

  “I’m sor
ry,” he said. Faruq stuffed his hands into his pockets as they walked now, his face sullen. “Shame things had to turn out like that, huh?”

  “Yeah, I guess.” Rebecca sighed. “The only thing I want to know is if I’ll get my Ruger back. I think you owe it to me. You know?” She smiled and tried not to make it a sad one.

  Faruq chuckled and shook his head.

  “What? I’m not getting it back?”

  “If you really want it, I’ll take care of it. We can mail it back to you in El Paso.”

  At that Rebecca stopped walking. El Paso. This whole time she had been trying to get back there and to her detective job, but the city only gave her a sick feeling in her stomach now. She felt Faruq’s hand on her shoulder.

  “You okay? Feeling lightheaded?”

  “No, it’s not that,” she said. “I’m just not so sure about El Paso. I’m not sure about my job there, at least.”

  “Rebecca, I think you’ve suffered enough at this point.” Faruq took his hand back and turned his gaze up to meet her for the first time since they started talking. “I’m not going to tell anyone what you said to me. Enough has happened, and I think you’ve answered more than enough for that past. So, don’t let me stop you. Go back and do what you do best.”

  “No, I can’t do that.”

  “Why?”

  “Because this all started because of a lie, Faruq. I can’t keep lying. I’m tired of it. I need to come clean to everyone. Even if it means I’ll lose my job—or end my career—I know it’s the right thing to do.”

  “This won’t fix anything legally, Rebecca.”

  “Not lawfully right. I mean right for me. The best decision I can make for myself and my life is to stop lying. It’s only made me miserable, and I’m never going to be able to move past things if I have this big secret held over my head, even if only two people know it now. I mean, you saw how it ate away at Jennifer and Chad. Booze is how I dealt with it. I’m not sure about the others, but I’m sure they had something, too. I don’t want to do that anymore.”