Beautiful Villain

“That’s so,” Marcy says. “Now, why don’t you have a seat?” She gestures toward the chair beside Neil, but I shake my head.

“No, thank you. I’m fine just where I am.”

“Sit down, bitch!” She shrieks, shaking the gun. This seems to surprise Ted, because he looks at her sharply.

“Marcy, you need to relax,” he says.

“Relax?” She laughs maniacally, and it’s so intense that I kind of wonder if her head is going to explode from the sound. Then she shakes her head. “I’m so far past the point of relaxing, Ted. You have no idea.”

“We just came over to talk to them,” he says in a calm voice.

“Then why did you bring a gun?” Neil asks carefully. “Surely we can discuss whatever is on your mind without resorting to violence.”

“What do you want to discuss?” I ask, piping up. Somehow, having Neil stay calm is helping me to chill out myself. Either we’re going to die or we aren’t. There’s no use being scared, right?

“I think you know exactly what we want to discuss,” Marcy says. “Neil. Out of this town. You ruined all of our lives once upon a time. You aren’t going to do it a second time.”

He raises an eyebrow. Ted is strangely silent, looking from Marcy to Neil and back again.

“Oh, Marcy,” he says. “Finley and I went to the old mill today. We learned a couple of things about you. I think we both know that the only person who ruined lives in this room was you.”

Marcy pales just a little, but she doesn’t lower the gun. She’s moving it between me and Neil, and the gesture is wobbly and shaky. She’s coming unhinged, and we don’t have a lot of time before she freaks out completely and makes a shitty choice that ends in people dying or being seriously injured.

“You shut your mouth, Neil,” she hisses out, but Ted looks confused.

“What is he talking about?”

“Nothing. He’s a psycho who killed your best friend,” she snaps.

Interesting.

So Ted doesn’t know.

After all of this time, he has no idea that his wife is the one who killed his best friend.

“You never told him?” I ask before I can stop myself. “You never told Ted the truth about the night Sammy died?”

“Shut your fucking mouth!”

“What the hell is she talking about?” Ted says. This time, his voice is harsher. “And put the fucking gun down.”

He reaches for it and manages to disarm Marcy. Then he holds the gun at his side.

“You said you wanted to bring the gun in case people freaked out. Well, Marcy, you’re the one freaking out. Now tell me what they’re talking about.”

Marcy has the sense to pale. Neither Neil nor I move at all. I probably should. I should run upstairs and get my phone and call 9-1-1 because right now, this night could go either way. I’ve never seen Ted look like this before, and I’ve never seen Marcy look so scared.

Shit.

So she actually did it.

If there was any doubt in my mind before, it’s gone now.

“Nothing. They’re crazy.”

“Marcy, you have to the count of three,” Ted says.

“We found an earring,” Neil speaks up. “At the old mine.”