Chapter 143 – Things Fall Apart Part 2 – Silver Brooks

We pulled out of the driveway in a mad rush. I was thrown from one side of the backseat to the other in a massive whiplash. Then, as we pulled out onto the main road, she floored the gas pedal. It felt like I was being thrown against the backseat in a high-g maneuver. My stomach was churning like on a rollercoaster ride.

Everything was happening so quickly that I wasn’t even thinking about escaping. I was still wondering about what led her to me? Was it because of the letter? She knew I was passing messages between Cora and Ms. Sampson and rightfully assumed that I was involved with the Killing Cat.

I sat up straight in the backseat and tried to get my bearings. She was driving well over the speed limit. It was difficult to try adjusting my sitting orientation while moving like this. We were flying around corners at breakneck speeds! Officer Morelli had thrown safety out of the window!

What the hell was she planning? She must’ve known that my parents were going to call the police on her, right? This wasn’t a police vehicle. I noticed before being thrown in. I could hear bags being thrown around in the trunk at every sharp corner we turned.

Was she planning to interrogate me and then skip town? The realization made the gravity of the situation fall heavily on me. She was going to kill me, wasn’t she?! This was revenge in response to the Killing Cat’s revenge! She had no way to get to the Killing Cat directly and went after me. I was the easy, weak link.

I was nervous before, but now I was outright panicking. This was an even greater life-or-death situation than my confrontation with Leigha. She wasn’t talking or looking back at me during the drive. She was too focused on the road to pay much attention to me. Was there a chance that I could escape?

I looked out the window to see where we were going. We were deep on some forested road, far outside of town. It was difficult to say how long I had been in the car for, but it couldn’t have been that long. We only made it out of the city area so quickly because she was speeding at dangerous levels.

We pulled over at a seemingly random spot, but judging by Angelica’s behavior that probably wasn’t the case. She got out of the car and came to get me out of the back seat. I pulled away to the opposite side. Should I kick? Should I fight? What was the best course of action here? I couldn’t decide!

“If you don’t want to get hurt then you’ll come over here.” She said. “I just need you to answer some questions and then I’ll leave you out here for someone else to find you.”

I hesitated to move a single muscle. Obviously I wasn’t going to take that statement at face value, not after she hurt my dad. There was no way she’d just let me walk off after this. I knew too much.

“Or…” Angelica said and drew her gun from its holster, “Or you can be a pain in my ass and I can leave your body here on the side of the road. Your choice.”

Slowly, I inched closer to the door. Once I was close enough she grabbed me by my collar and yanked me out. She threw me into the nearby ditch and then came over to pull me back up.

“March,” She ordered, stabbing her pistol into my back. “You’d better walk like your life depends on it.”

“Where are you taking me?” I asked.

“Into the woods where we can speak privately… We won’t be alone for long. Something tells me that your friend is on her way. You’re going to help me out.”

What did that mean?

“Go faster!” She shouted, pushing me forward into the woods.

It was dark out and I could barely see at night this deep in the woods. There were no street lights on the road that we came from and the pale light of the moon could hardly be seen beneath the dense tree branches. I ended up stumbling and tripping often, only for Angelica to steer me back on path.

We were going somewhere specific, I realized. The way she was directing me from behind was too precise, too exact to be heading towards some random spot deep in the woods. There was a place she had in mind for me. The prospect made me nervously slow down. She hit me in the back with the butt of her pistol as punishment.

“I said move!” She shouted.

A million things were going through my mind as I wondered about what I should do. I was worried about my father. I was praying that the police would find us before she could seriously injure me. My body was freezing since I was out in the snow wearing only my pajamas. I was holding myself and shaking just a few minutes into our walk.

Soon we came to a break in the trees. There was a small lake this far into the woods. Across the lake from where we were standing there was a log cabin. Angelica brought me over to a little wooden row-boat, but quickly turned away from it when she realized it was frozen in place.

Instead, she pushed me onto the frozen lake. I almost fell face first but managed to catch myself by landing on my hands. The ice didn’t give weigh beneath my weight, but there was a creaking sound that didn’t fill me with confidence.

“Walk across,” She said.

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I sat up straight.

“Are you crazy? You forced me to walk in the snow without a jacket! My body is already at its limit! If I fall in the water…”

She kneeled down in front of me and waved her gun in front of my face.

“Freezing to death should be the least of your concerns. Now get up and walk!” She said.

She punctuated her statement with a kick to my backside. My pajamas did nothing to absorb her kick. Her light kick seriously hurt. I let out a sharp cry and fell forward. She forced me up by my hair and pushed me forward. I only barely managed to keep from slipping on the ice.

“Move!” She shouted impatiently.

I did as she ordered but I could only move so fast over ice. Luckily she seemed to be realizing that. She almost fell over herself while trying to keep up with me. I wondered… Could this be my best chance to escape? She’d have a hard time pursuing me over ice. The question in the air was about her gun. Would she shoot me if I made a run for it?

Or maybe I could distract her and go for her gun?

I turned to look back at her. She glared at me.

“Face forward.” She ordered me.

“I… I saw you…” I said in a shivering voice.

“You what…?”

“I saw you that night that you buried a woman behind that abandoned house.”

She stopped me by grabbing me tightly by the arm. The look she had on her face was one of absolute fury. She was emotionlessly dispassionate before, but now she was suddenly livid.

“How the hell do you know about that?” She asked. “How long have you been spying for the Killing Cat? You’d better tell me everything you know right this very moment!”

“I… I…”

“You…! You…!” She said angrily and waved her gun in front of my chest. “Spit it out!”

“I wasn’t working with the Killing Cat when I saw you that night!”

“No?” She asked sarcastically, “You just happened to wander by?”

“The woman that used the live there was a friend of mine! I knew her before changing schools!”

She studied me hard.

“I’m not lying!” I said. “My friends and I were coming back from a concert that night. I told them about the house so that we could stay there for the night. My friend Perri was able to pick the lock on…”

“The same lock picker that opened up the discipline hall, huh…? It seems like there are more loose ends than I suspected. Tell me, how did you see me burying someone? I looked around the house. No one was there.”

“We were there.” I said. “We were hiding in a closet inside the laundry room. You were right across from us when you pulled a shovel out of the tool closet.”

Her eyes widened in shock as she realized that I was telling the truth. She removed her hand from my arm only so that she could grab me by the collar of my shirt.

“How much do you know about me?” She asked. “Did you sell this information to the Killing Cat? How did she manage to rope you into this? If she’s proactively seeking out other people to help her, then…”

“I was the one who sought her out.” I said.

“What?”

“You see, I’m not the only one aware of what you and Ms. Sampson have been up to.” I said. “I know how you and your group of friends conspired to murder Malorie Noelle because she betrayed your group to a teacher. I know that you all took up positions of power to stifle investigation into the case!”

She threw me down to the ice with such force that it cracked upon my impact. It wasn’t enough to break the ice, but it made my already stimulated heart beat even faster.

“You’re lying.” She said decisively. “I should just shoot you here and…”

“If you do that…” I said as I sat up on the ice, “You’ll never learn the identity of everyone that knows about your attempts to cover up a double-murder.”

She stared at me in deep, considering thought. The truth was that although there were more people that knew her secrets, I wasn’t about to sell them out. It wasn’t like they were involved with the Killing Cat like I was. I just needed a reason to keep her from shooting me.

“Damn it, Jackie!” She hissed in a low voice. “This never ends!”

I started to back away from her now that she was lost in her own thoughts. She realized what I was doing and stepped forward.

“I’m not going to kill you.” She said. “But you’ll wish that you were dead. We’re going to go into that house over there and you’re going to sing like a bird, got it? If you don’t, I’ll make your life a living nightmare!”

She reached out to grab me, but slipped forward on the ice as I pulled out of her reach. It wasn’t enough for her to fall over, but it was enough for me to take initiative! I grabbed her by the same arm she reached for me with and pulled her back! She fell forward in a tumble, dropping the gun on the ice beside her as we both fell down.

“You little…!” She shouted.

She and I both went for the gun. She realized what I was aiming for and went for me instead. She grabbed me by the hair, but not before I could kick the gun far out of her reach. She pulled me closer to her and wrestled me down to the ground, pinning one arm behind my back.

“You’re going to regret that.” She said. “Did you really think you could overpower me? You’ve got no chance of escaping on your own.”

“Luckily I’m not alone.” I said, as I realized something.

I pointed my head in the direction that a dark figure was quickly approaching us. Officer Morelli turned just in time to see the boot flying towards her. She dodged, but was too slow to avoid being hit. She was kicked in the face hard enough to be pushed off of me, but she didn’t let go of her hold on me, even as the Killing Cat drew a knife from her belt.

The Killing Cat drove the dagger straight down at Officer Morelli’s neck. Officer Morelli deflected the blow just enough that the dagger landed against her bullet proof vest instead. The dagger wasn’t able to pierce through the vest itself. It only managed to tear up some of the protective fibers. Officer Morelli was forced to let go of me to defend from a follow up blow.

Officer Morelli was bigger than the Killing Cat, and not nearly as hopeless at fighting her as Leigha. The Killing Cat’s second attempt at stabbing her was even less effective than the first. Officer Morelli grabbed hold of the Killing Cat’s wrist mid-swing. She was visibly stronger than the Killing Cat and tried forcing the dagger out of her hand.

This gave me the chance to escape! I began crawling away from the two combatants to try sneaking out of Officer Morelli’s range. Unfortunately she saw what I was trying to do and pinned me down with her foot. However, the Killing Cat was able to take advantage of that by stabbing her dagger deep into Officer Morelli’s shoulder!

Officer Morelli screamed in pain, but didn’t break under the pressure. She grabbed hold of the dagger and, in a single motion, pulled it out of her shoulder to slice back at the Killing Cat’s face. Before the Killing Cat could recover, Officer Morelli kicked her away with all of her force.

The Killing Cat stumbled backwards over the ice before falling into a roll. Her mask went flying away from her as she fell. Officer Morelli didn’t pursue her, instead choosing to keep me pinned down. She pulled me by my hair to force me to my knees. She held the bloodied dagger to my throat, letting the cold metal rest against my skin.

“Identify yourself!” Officer Morelli shouted! “Who are you? Why are you hunting down my friends? Show me your face or I’ll slice your accomplice’s throat!”

The Killing Cat had a hand over her face and hesitated to turn her head towards us. She began to stand up.

“You want to see my face?” She asked with unconcealed amusement in her voice. “That’s fine. My face will be the last you ever see.”