I swallowed hard. Was that Noelle? Had they managed to take even her by surprise? There wasn’t enough left for me to tell for sure.
She wasn’t the only body the killers had battered beyond recognition—and I was sure now that it was killers, plural. I could identify at least two different types of shot wounds reflecting different sizes of bullets from different guns. It’d have been nearly impossible for one to take down so many in the same space quickly enough anyway, especially with a knife in the mix.
A grim weight was forming inside me, pressing down on my stomach. Whoever had carried out this massacre was both very good at what they did and had reveled in the savagery. I didn’t think I’d ever gone up against an opponent quite like that.
For all these years, the people of the household had looked after me and trained me so that I could hold the cruelty of this world at bay. But it hadn’t been enough to protect them in the end. I hadn’t even known this was happening.
I couldn’t save them now, but I could ensure their killers were properly repaid. One last mission to set one small thing amid the awfulness out there right. To create some kind of justice for Anna and Noelle and everyone else who’d provided for me.
And then…
When I tried to think about it, my mind stalled, so I just didn’t think that far.
The killers had left no trace of their identity that I could spot other than the unusual approach to their kills. Three more bodies lay in the space where I’d spotted the protruding feet, which was a music room with a sleek white piano and framed concert posters on the walls. Blood was splashed and smeared across all of it. Two of the bodies had been cut in an odd zigzag from their throat to the left side of their collarbone.
None of the bodies provided me with a gun or even so much as a pocket knife. Had the entire household really been unarmed, or had their killers removed their weapons afterward?
The latter seemed more likely. It was what I’d have done with a job anywhere near this big, to ensure anyone I hadn’t taken down yet couldn’t add to their options for striking back at me.
After making a circuit of the lower floor, I headed upstairs. The many bedrooms up there reminded me of the lavish penthouses where I’d carried out a few of my killings. There was one woman lying dead in her bed, her face smashed in with the impact of the bullets and the ivory duvet drenched red, but otherwise they were empty.
A quick search of the dressers and vanities turned up no weapons but a couple of wads of cash and several expensive-looking necklaces and bracelets, glittering with gold and gemstones. I stuffed what I could into the pockets of my track pants and dropped the rest into a tote bag I found hanging over the back of a chair. Missions took a lot of funding even when I knew who my target was. I wouldn’t have the household’s credit cards smoothing the way for me this time.
I wouldn’t have the household at all. When I left here, it’d be for good.
The thought hit me hard enough to stop me in my tracks in the middle of the hall. A momentary chill flooded me.
I’d left the house plenty of times before, of course, but never for more than a week for a particularly complicated mission. Rarely for more than a couple of days. The rooms behind the bookcase had been mine for as long as I could remember. I’d barely talked to anyone other than Anna and Noelle except to get what I needed from bystanders in the middle of an assignment.
And in the blink of an eye, it’d all been destroyed.
My fingers curled around the makeshift blades I was holding until the pinch of the glass warned me to loosen my grip. None of this should have happened. I’d worked so hard—
I gritted my teeth. I’d keep working until the vicious assholes who’d done this were just as lifeless as the bodies they’d left behind.
When I was finished checking every inch of the house, I headed back to my rooms. I stuffed a box of energy bars and a couple of changes of clothes into the tote bag before pausing over the plush tiger toy perched on the headboard of my bed.
The stuffed animal’s fur was worn from the many nights I’d gone to sleep hugging it when I’d been very young, and one of its glossy eyes was coming loose. But looking at it brought a sharp sense of possessiveness into my chest.
Damn it, it was mine. Somehow it felt like the only thing in this place that truly was, which didn’t make any sense since it must have come from the household like everything else. Holding it had always given me a weird sense of comfort even though I couldn’t remember who’d given it to me or when, I’d had it so long.
Without letting myself second-guess the impulse, I grabbed the toy and stuffed it into the bag with the rest of my belongings.
On my way out, I stopped by Anna’s body with another twinge of regret. My practical instincts told me that I shouldn’t let it be obvious she’d opened this hidden door.
My presence here was meant to be a secret. That might still matter to someone—it might matter to me. I’d have an easier time dealing with the pricks who’d done this if they didn’t know I existed.
I eased Anna’s body a couple of feet farther into the office room so I could push the bookcase and close the door. The bookcase swung back into place against the wall, concealing all trace of the entrance. I didn’t know how to open it again—I couldn’t have returned to my rooms even if I’d wanted to.
There was no way to go but onward.
I snuck out the back door I’d noted in my survey of the first floor and headed to the garage. Inside, a thick, oily scent laced the air that set off my inner alarm bells. I opened the hoods of each car in the row and found the engines’ cables snapped, the compartments cracked by swift blows.
Of course. The killers had probably come through here before they’d entered the house so no one who managed to flee would have a vehicle to escape in. I couldn’t repress a flicker of respect for their thoroughness, even if it made my jaw clench at the same time.
I’d just have to find transportation outside the property.
As I slunk across the expansive treed yard, the night’s darkness cloaked my movements. Thick clouds blotted out the stars. A damp breeze licked over my face and my bare arms. It tasted like incoming rain.
The stone wall that surrounded the property stood a foot higher than me, but with a running leap, I clambered onto and over it. I dropped to the sidewalk outside with only the faintest rasp of my shoes on the pavement.
The whole rest of the city—the whole rest of the big, bad world—stretched out before me.
Clutching the tote bag close to my side, I touched the wall in silent farewell and set off through the shadows. Resolve hardened inside me.
The killers who’d descended on the household might be good, but they were going to pay the price anyway. They couldn’t have counted on tangling with me.