the side of the breakfast bar and sliding to the floor. Multiple screams of pain rang out in the dimly lit living room.
It took a second for Jessie to realize that one of the voices was hers. Her left shoulder was throbbing in agony and she immediately knew that it was dislocated. She looked over to see that, though he was still standing, Kyle was doubled over, clutching his right clavicle with his left hand. A half cry, half moan was emanating from deep inside him.
Jessie shut out the pain and tried to scramble to her feet. But Kyle, glancing at her through watery eyes, saw what she was doing and kicked her down again. Her back slammed into the base of the breakfast bar. For a brief moment, the pain in her shoulder was masked by the stinging sensation in her back.
“That was a mistake,” Kyle grunted as he stood upright and turned back to the kitchen counter.
Though she couldn’t see it, she knew what he was doing. The sound of a blade being unsheathed echoed through the room. A second later, he bent down to show her the chef’s knife. She took no solace in the knowledge that it hadn’t been sharpened in years. It would still do whatever job he had in mind.
He stepped away from her in the direction of Ryan and Hannah, who was getting to her knees, sending a new round of plates shattering to the ground. As he moved away, Jessie kicked out her leg, tripping him.
He sprawled to the ground, landing hard. She heard him howl in pain a second time and realized that something was clearly wrong with his collarbone. In fact, as he got to his knees, he switched the knife from his right to his left hand.
In that moment Jessie flashed back to the morgue where the coroner had described the hematoma on the back Garland’s skull. Suddenly she knew exactly how he’d gotten it. When he threw himself back into his assailant, he hadn’t made contact with his face. But he had connected with the man’s collarbone. Apparently he’d done some serious damage. And more than that, he’d left one final clue as to the identity of his killer.
Despite his obvious physical distress, Kyle glanced back over his shoulder at her with a triumphant grimace on his face, and then turned back around. Without a word, he plunged the knife into Ryan’s chest.
Hannah screamed. Jessie was too stunned to make a sound. She could only stare at the man she loved, unmoving, likely shrieking in silent agony at the blade embedded in the right side of his torso. Something inside her cracked and numbness washed over her body.
Kyle slowly got to his feet, then pulled her gun out of his waistband. He took several deep breaths before turning to face Jessie. She waited for him to shoot her. She almost hoped he would. Then this nightmare would finally be over.
But not for Hannah.
Somewhere in her desensitized remains, something stirred. Her death would leave her sister alone to face whatever evil Kyle still intended to wreak. And knowing Kyle, that was a lot of evil.
“What were you saying about powerlessness?” he snarled at her. “Looks like you’re going to have to rethink that one, darling.”
He turned back around to look at Hannah, who was still on her knees, surrounded by a sea of splintered china. Jessie knew what he had in store for her and resolved that no matter how futile, she would try to stop him. She wriggled to an upright seated position and noticed something in between the spasms of anguish emanating from her shoulder.
Now that the shoulder was out of its socket she had a sickeningly wider range of motion. She thought that if she could extend her arm further down, she might be able to slide her butt through the hoop of her cuffed hands and then loop her arms over her feet, moving them to the front of her body.
She waited until Kyle fixed his gaze on Hannah and began talking to her directly, as she knew he would. Then she began the maneuver, biting her lip to keep from letting any cry of pain escape.
“Hannah,” Kyle said in a mournful tone, “I’m truly sorry that you got caught up in this. It’s not your fault that you’re related to that messed-up bitch.”
“I’m glad to be related to her,” Hannah spat back at him. “She’s my sister and I’m proud of her. You’re the