The Murder House Chapter 18

My blood turned to ice.

I slowly backed away from the door, axe trembling in my hands.

He knew I'd called the police.

He'd been listening to everything.

"Maya," the voice outside said calmly. "I know you're scared. But you don't need to be scared of me."

That voice. Now without the forced breathlessness, without the pretense.

I knew that voice.

"You're wondering how I knew about the scooter key on the shoe cabinet, aren't you?"

My mouth went dry.

"You're wondering how I opened the fingerprint lock across the hall, right?"

He laughed softly.

"Because I've been here before, Maya. Three years ago."

No.

No, no, no.

"I didn't just kill your sister. I knew her."

The words hit me like physical blows.

"We worked together. Same company. Emma Hayes—beautiful, kind, brilliant Emma. Everyone loved her."

I pressed my back against the wall, sliding down, phone clutched in my shaking hand.

"She never told you about David, did she? David Chen from accounting. We dated for six months."

David Chen.

Emma had mentioned a David once. Just once, in passing. Said it didn't work out.

"She broke up with me," the voice continued, conversational now, like we were old friends. "Said I was too controlling. Too jealous. Can you imagine? I gave her everything, and she threw it away."

I recorded. Hit record on my phone with fumbling fingers.

"But I forgave her, Maya. I was willing to forgive her. I just needed her to understand what she'd done wrong. I came here that night to talk. That's all. Just talk."

Thunder cracked overhead.

"But she wouldn't listen. She threatened to call the police. Said she'd get a restraining order. After everything I'd done for her!"

His voice rose, then dropped again.

"I didn't plan what happened. It just... happened. And afterward, standing there, I realized something beautiful. Something sacred. The ritual purified her. Made her perfect again. Mine forever."

I was going to be sick.

"The candles, the arrangement—I made her beautiful in death. Don't you see? I loved her that much."

"You're insane," I whispered.

"I heard that," he said. "These new apartments, the walls are thin. I heard you that night too, you know. Three years ago. On the phone with Emma, except she never answered because you were in lockup. I heard her phone ringing and ringing while I worked."

Tears streamed down my face.

"And now here you are, renting this place. Waiting for me. How could I resist? It's like fate, Maya. You and Emma—two halves of the same soul. I lost one, but now I can have the other."

"The woman and child across the hall?" My voice cracked.

"Sleeping peacefully. Drugged, not dead. I needed you to think I'd kill them. Needed you desperate enough to make mistakes."

He paused.

"The man who fell from the balcony? That was Marcus—the real Marcus from property management. I texted him to come check a gas leak. Wrong place, wrong time. He's probably dead now. That's on you, Maya."

The guilt crashed over me.

"But here's what's going to happen," David continued. "You're going to open this door. Because if you don't, I will go back across the hall and finish what I started with that little boy. I'll make it slow. And you'll hear every second of it."

"The police are coming," I said, voice stronger than I felt.

"In this flood? We have hours, Maya. Hours."