One Step Ahead, Audrey Walker [best book club books of all time TXT] 📗

blood lay behind her like a trail. There had been only one thought in her mind; to get back to Kyle; that he would save her. Robin didn’t know why she had thought of Kyle at that time. Maybe because he was one of her closest friends, and Robin knew that. She thought back to the fight they had recently, and the fact that Kyle didn’t believe her. He hadn’t believed her when she told him there was someone with her in the basement. And he hadn’t believed her when she said she had a clue. How could things have gotten so messed up?

Robin opened the front door and slowly crept inside. She didn’t know what she would find. The murderer didn’t stick to a time frame, so that he might have already killed her and left. Or, maybe he hasn’t struck yet. Maybe if she waited here, she could catch him. Whatever may happen, she knew that this was the final piece of the puzzle. Soon, she will know everything.

The house seemed untouched as if not even a ghost had roamed these floors in years. The only signs of anyone being there were when Kyle and Robin had recently investigated it. It had seemed undisturbed then, and it seemed the same now. She climbed down to the basement, using her flashlight to shine light at her surroundings. She didn’t know what she had been expecting, but it wasn’t this. The basement was as empty and lonely as she had left it.

Was she wrong? Had Kyle been right all along? Was she just seeing things, imagining monsters when there were none? Was he right about her memories too? Was her mind fabricating everything under stress? Had the Captain been right about Robin possibly cracking under pressure? She had repressed the trauma inflicted on her by the Butcher. Had it all resurfaced with so much force that it had messed up her sanity? Maybe she should do what they said. Perhaps she should let them solve it. They were all good detectives, after all.

She closed her eyes and thought about the dark corner under the stairs and the hand that extended from it. It couldn’t hurt to look, could it? She slowly turned around, her hand trembling and her body shaking. The darkness under the stairs had haunted her for so long that now she hesitated to look. Her imagination was going wild, but she knew that nothing was there. There couldn’t be.

And yet, she turned her flashlight toward the stairs. Robin shone the light in the dark corner, and a scream escaped from her lips. This basement was where the Butcher had tortured her for months to hear her scream. But Robin had refused to give him the pleasure. And now, the walls finally resonated with her screams. The first thing she saw was the eyes, black, empty, and vacant, staring up ahead of her. And then she saw the severed head that lay in front of her. And right ahead of her lay the body.

With trembling hands, Robin reached for her phone, dialing Kyle’s number. But before she could press call, the sounds of sirens echoed through the air. They were here! She didn’t know how they were here, but they were. She heard the door burst open and the thudding of the footsteps above her. Kyle! He had believed her after all! He must have gone to her apartment and seen all of the clues! He saved her! When she was going to see him, she was going to kiss and hug him and apologize. They were going to work together and solve this. They will catch the killer.

She turned around as the police surrounded her, and she said, “Oh God, I am so glad you guys are here. The Executioner has been active again. Call the forensics and –”

It wasn’t the guns pointed at her that stopped her. It was the look in Kyle’s eyes. Heartbroken, disappointed, and most of all, shattered.

“Robin Matthews,” she heard James saying. “You are under arrest for the murder of six women and possibly the Butcher. You have a right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided to you by the state. Do you understand the rights as I have read them to you?”

“I don’t get it,” Robin whispered. “What is going on? Kyle? Kyle, what is this? You can’t possibly think this is me, do you?”

“Just cooperate,” Kyle said. “Don’t fight, Robin. Just give in.”

He reached over and grabbed her wrists, handcuffs jiggling in his hands.

“No,” she gasped, pulling her hands out of his grasp. “Kyle, it wasn’t me. You know it wasn’t me. I would never do anything like this.”

“We caught you red-handed, Robin,” he said, his voice sorrowful.

“You know I would never do anything like this,” she said. “I am being framed. You know this. You know I wouldn’t kill all those women. Why would I? Why would I do that?”

“This was my fault,” Kyle said. “I should have gotten you into therapy. I should have forced you to go. I knew the Butcher messed you up, but I didn’t realize that it was this bad. All those notes about the darkness within you. You were writing those yourself. You were asking for help, and I didn’t even realize it. The monster was within you.”

Robin looked at him, shocked. She paled and tried to reply, but she didn’t know what to say.

“Kyle, I am not a monster. I didn’t do this,” Robin said, but he shook his head. “Just give me a chance to explain. The killer, he left clues –”

“You will have your chance,” he said, his voice hoarse with emotion. “In front of the detectives and then in front of a judge.”

“I don’t believe it,” she heard the Captain say. “You were one of my best officers, Robin. How