Page 107 of Want to Know a Secret?

I do feel sorry for Sean and Owen. This will be hard on them. Sean will probably be the one to find her. Lying in a pool of blood in the middle of their bedroom. I hope Owen will be spared that. Maybe I should pick him up from school today to make sure he isn’t around when the body is discovered.

See? I’m not heartless.

I hide behind the door to the bedroom, as the sound of Maria’s footsteps on the stairs grow louder. And then a pause, when she gets to the top of the steps.

“Sean?” she calls again.

I don’t understand why she keeps asking for Sean. His car isn’t here. And she already texted me that she knows I’m in here. I grab the handle of the knife tighter in my right hand. My knuckles are white.

I wonder if she has a weapon. Not a gun—I heard Sean ranting about how dangerous it is to have a gun in the house—but she could’ve grabbed a knife from the kitchen. That said, she doesn’t know where I am. I have the element of surprise.

And I don’t think Maria Cooper has it in her to stab somebody. She’s all talk.

The footsteps start up again. She’s right outside the bedroom door. I hold my breath. “Sean?” she says one more time.

And then she comes into the bedroom. She doesn’t have a knife. She has no weapon at all.

I step out of the shadows, the knife raised in my hand. Maria sees me, and she takes a step back. I hear the sharp inhalation of air. “April?” she gasps.

Now that I see she has no weapon, I can take my time. Well, not a lot of time because I have no idea when Sean will be home, but I can get what I came here for. The timing could not have been better. “Give me the phone,” I say.

Maria blinks at me. “I… I don’t understand. What are you talking about?”

“I want the phone. Now.”

Her eyes dart around the room. “I… I left my phone downstairs. In my purse. Where I always keep it.”

“Quit playing dumb.” I take a step toward her, the knife still tightly gripped in my right hand. “You know what phone I’m talking about.”

Maria takes a step back. “I… I don’t know.”

“Bullshit,” I say through my teeth as I take another step forward. “We both know what you’ve been doing. I want that phone.”

Maria tries to take another step back, but she hits the wall. I see the fear in her eyes. That’s exactly how Courtney looked when I sliced through her hair.

“April,” she whispers. “Please don’t do this. Please, I—”

“Wait a minute,” I say. “Shut up for a minute.”

I heard something just now. It sounded like… steps on the creaky stairs. Is someone else in here? It couldn’t be Sean—his truck is so loud, I can hear it coming all the way down the block.

And then I hear my phone buzz inside my pocket.

I keep one eye on Maria as I reach into my pocket and pull out my phone. I drop my eyes and read the words on the screen:

I’m right behind you, April.

Oh God.

I look up at Maria. She’s just staring at me, with those wide, terrified eyes. I look down at the screen again. I’m right behind you, April. It wasn’t Maria. It couldn’t have been.

Slowly, I turn around.

Maria’s closet is behind me. I squint into the dark depths of the closet, my heart pounding. Is there somebody in there?

And then I feel something hit me from behind. A vase shattering against my scalp, and I collapse onto the ground, the knife falling from my grasp. I realize nobody was in the closet at all. I was tricked.

My head is spinning. I touch the back of my scalp and my fingers come away red. I roll over and look up, expecting to see Maria standing over me. But it’s not Maria. It’s Julie.