The Inmate

by Freida McFadden

there’s something vaguely familiar about her, but I can’t put my finger on what it is.

But I can’t tell that to Dorothy. I can’t reveal to her that the man who was my very first boyfriend is an inmate at Raker Maximum Security Penitentiary, currently serving life without the possibility of parole.

And I’m the one who put him here.

The problem with your kid getting older is they know there are some things you can’t promise.

I close my eyes and I can still see his ruggedly handsome face. His eyes looking into mine. I love you, Brooke. That was what he said to me just a few hours before he tried to kill me.

“Yes, I’ll send her right over.”

I feel a little ridiculous introducing myself to the man I lost my virginity to, but here we are.

I hate even more how much he looks like my son.

never saw the face of the man who tried to kill me.

Because if it wasn’t him, I have made a terrible mistake.

Tim and I kissed once, but it was a long time ago. He was, in fact, my first kiss. But it wasn’t a real kiss.

He’d say things like, When we get married, we should get a big house with five bedrooms. Sometimes I got the feeling he never stopped thinking that way—he just stopped saying it out loud.

Sometimes people do exactly what you think they’re going to do, and they still manage to disappoint you.

“Some football players you might have known beat him up bad enough to put him in the hospital once.” And suddenly, it all makes sense. Why Hunt hates Shane so much. Why he’s made it his mission to torture him.

Chelsea had been searching the room for a weapon, but she didn’t need to search. She had a knife on her all along. The same knife she used to kill Brandon and Kayla. The same knife she’ll use to kill me.

Tim sent me down here to get wine. He wanted me to see that dead body wrapped in the tarp. And now he has trapped me down here.

After ten years, Josh is finally spending time with his father. I can’t wait to tell him the truth.

Except it wasn’t anyone. I knew who it was that night. And I know who it was now. It was Shane.

There was another killer in the house that night. Out of the three survivors, there was only one other person it could have been. Oh my God. Tim and Shane did it together.

When I do something bad, Mom always tells me to say I’m sorry. But I’m not sorry I hit Shane in the head with that icicle. I had to do it.