“Now let her go,” Ella said, moving closer. “You don’t need to do this.”
“Do you know why I did it?” Zack asked
“Of course.”
“Oh really? Enlighten me.”
This was her chance. If she could enrage Zack to the point he attacked her, Paige would have a chance at survival.
“Your mom. It’s all about her.”
“Easy. Anyone could have figured that out.”
“She was abusive, depressed, addicted. You were her only son. She worked as an escort, got impregnated by a client, then opted for termination. The procedure gave her severe sepsis. Amputation followed. After that, she turned into a monster. She took her frustrations out on you.”
Zack laughed. “Very good.”
“These women remind you of her. You’re tarnishing her memory by killing these women. A final insult to her. Every link in the Gigli sequence references her. Hospital procedure, sex worker, Irene, and now heterochromia. The next person in the sequence will have two different colored eyes.”
“Excellent,” Zack said, smiling.
But there was just one thing Ella didn’t yet understand. Curiosity got the better of her.
“But how did you know Paige would come here?”
“I watched you girls. From the church. I was inside. I knew one of you would come eventually. Then I’d just use one to lure the other. Simple.”
A wave of frustration overcame her. She had to exhale deeply a few times to keep herself from lunging at the man. He’d been within spitting distance of an entire police force hours ago.
Ella switched her glances between Zack and Paige, and she was starting to see signs of life return in her partner. She’d stopped flickering, stopped trembling. The wound around her neck wasn’t deep enough to be fatal, but the intense pain was playing havoc with her nervous system. Once it became accustomed to the pain, she’d reanimate. Ella had been in the same position many times before.
“It was me that figured it all out,” Ella lied. “So if you want to attack anyone, attack me. You’re not going to take my partner’s leg, so your little sequence is ruined.”
“Nice try.”
“Oh, and your sequence was broken right in the middle. Rena wasn’t the victim’s real name. It was Kate.”
Zack gripped the handles of the Gigli device and pulled a little. The life drained from Paige’s face again. Ella stepped forward but stopped herself. She needed to play the long game.
“What?”
“Seriously. Check any obituaries. Rena was her escort name. I can’t believe you didn’t realize that, given your experience with escorts.”
Zack began to slide off the chair, bringing Paige with him. “My experience?”
“Your mom. But it makes sense. Too busy getting railed to raise you properly.”
Ella felt like a monster for resorting to such a cheap tactic, but sometimes you had to lower yourself to your enemy’s level to get results. She could feel his frustration, taste his rage. Just a little more.
“But the funny thing is, even though she was an addict and a failure, her son turned out much worse.”
Zack fired up. He pushed Paige off and she collapsed to the floor, then charged at Ella, shoulder-first. They slammed into the surgical table, medical equipment raining down on them. Ella clutched Zack by his t-shirt, thrust her forehead into his nose and pushed him away. Ella climbed to her feet as Zack began thrashing around a gleaming scalpel that he must have grabbed from the table. The blade caught Ella’s cheek, flooding her mouth with blood.
She used the grim taste as adrenaline fuel, launching herself at Zack fist-first, unconcerned with the weapon in his hand. She spat blood in his eyes to blind them then disoriented him with fist strikes, but Zack was fast. He dodged a few, kicked Ella in the stomach then retreated to the far end of the garage.
Ella grabbed her stomach and hunched over. In her peripherals, she spotted Paige crawling back towards her, back to life. Ella toppled over to her and took the surgical device from around her neck, Paige yelping in pain as the teeth dislodged from her flesh. She dropped the device, not sure exactly how it functioned, then started after the killer.
A sudden mechanical whirring invaded the room. Grating, earsplitting. From the other side of the old brown vehicle, Zack emerged like a zombie from the grave, buzzing chainsaw in hand.