Killer Instinct

33 | Michael

            "Well that adds up."

He wanted to laugh at the expression on Jordan's face when he spoke. She clearly had been wanting something bigger, or more interesting, than him being completely alright with her having been ordered to murder him.

In actuality, it was a bit comforting. The scariest part about a threat was not knowing when it would happen or who was going to carry it out. Now he knew both things and could actively avoid them: Jordan was going to kill him within the next 48 hours.

"It adds up?"

Michael nodded.

"I guess it makes sense for me to go next. I was told that I would be killed in the next 48 hours if I didn't turn myself in for what happened with Erin about a year ago."

"What happened with Erin?" Roland asked.

Michael looked over at him with a bit of pity in his eyes—it wasn't as if it mattered that Roland found out now; his sister was already dead to begin with.

"I tried to kill Erin." Michael said, "I tried to stab her about a year ago, but Mary stopped the knife and took the wound herself. That's why the innocent man is in prison—she blamed him for the stabbing to protect me. I tried to kill your sister, and the stalker wants me to come forward."

Roland's eyes were wider than Michael had ever seen them.

"You tried to kill Erin? Why? Wh—you're the Hadden in her restraining order."

Michael nodded.

"She revealed my infidelity to Rachel."

"Rachel?"

"My girlfriend at the time."

Roland was quiet for a second.

"I'm not going to judge. You didn't actually kill her, but whoever did seems to want to blame you instead."

Michael nodded, feeling a slight wave of relief wash over him. Roland didn't hate him. He wasn't sure exactly why he cared about the opinions of the nerd, but he couldn't have taken the news that Michael had actively tried to kill his sister any better.

"So, Jordan." Michael looked over, "How are you gonna do it?"

Jordan rolled her eyes.

"I haven't planned it out, you moron. I was hoping we could come to a different solution before anything like that had to happen."

"And how are we going to do that?" Mary asked, "For all we know the stalker has every single one of our houses bugged."

"Then let's get out of here." Michael offered, shrugging. "We have a beach house in Ocean City. It's only a ninety minute drive, and we could probably make it sixty since it's like one o'clock in the morning and no one's on the roads."

The rest of the group exchanged glances before nodding slowly.

"Alright. I guess that would work."

Michael nodded and stood up from the table, grabbing his car keys off of the counter behind him.

"I'll drive."

Mary rolled her eyes and took the keys out of his hands.

"You still have a concussion. Sit in the back."

***

OCEAN CITY

SUNDAY

2:09 AM