Little Deadly Things Read Online Free PDF Page B

said,
You’re a scientist. Use what is at hand. How did you stop Papa?
    She looked at Gergana and then back to Bare Chest. Her eyes narrowed and her head moved in a slight double-take, as if the obvious solution to an intractable problem had presented itself. Then she nodded: a decision proposed, seconded, and approved by acclamation.
    Now Eva spoke with a steady voice. “Nobody calls me a runt. I’m going to kill you.”
    “Oh, you think so?” Bare Chest snarled. “For that I will split you open.” He looked back to the fat man and said, “Hey, Doran, I give you the runt when I’m done. No charge. A present from me.”
    Eva heard herself shout—or was it something within?—
Now!
    Eva’s right hand, her free hand, moved unseen under her cape as Bare Chest spoke to the fat man. She slipped her small squeeze bottle out from an inside pocket. One-handed, she flipped the cap open. The action was practiced and smooth, thanks to Papa’s nocturnal visits. She sprayed Bare Chest’s blood-engorged penis. It would be three seconds before his sensitive skin reacted to Eva’s homemade pepper solution. In that time, Eva reached up. In a motion perfected by her encounters with Papa, she sprayed Bare Chest’s eyes. The effect was instant. His eyes reddened, bled, and bulged. Surprise, then agony, replaced his grin. Sightless crimson puddles replaced his ice-blue eyes. Then the oily fluid penetrated the dilated blood vessels in his penis. He screamed. Eva reached up to empty the remainder of the bottle’s sap down Bare Chest’s throat.
    He gasped in agony. The pepper-laced oil coated absorbent tissues in his lungs, searing and choking him. His throat began to swell and his yelps of pain trailed off to a rasp. Eva, her right hand still hidden under her cape, dropped the spray bottle and drew her knife. She thrust the four-inch blade, aiming for Bare Chest’s genitals. She’d never used a knife in anger, and she missed her target. But the blade sliced neatly across his groin and severed the femoral artery. The resulting blood loss was instant and catastrophic. Bare Chest was still rubbing his eyes when he collapsed. Blood spurted as he bled out. A bitter stench filled the room as Bare Chest’s bowels relaxed. Eva stabbed again. Her blade penetrated a corpse.
    In the moment of Bare Chest’s truncated scream, Doran lost all restraint. He bore down on Gergana. The weight of his body radiated through fat arms. Sausage-sized fingers dug into Gergana’s slender neck. He pressed harder and now she convulsed, her feet moving in a frantic swimmer’s kick, up and down, up and down. Then they were still. Doran grunted and relaxed in his release, Gergana relaxed in hers.
    The fat man rolled off the body and towards Eva. She tried to ward him off, but she was drained. Killing Bare Chest had required that she reach deep into a core of rage and muster every bit of her strength. The simple act of lifting an arm was beyond her. Doran shot out one meaty fist and caught her in the temple.
    Eva was sitting in a puddle of blood, wide-eyed and mute, when the police arrived eleven minutes after calls from several neighbors brought them up the three flights of stairs to the Rozen apartment. The responding officers found Mama asleep as they cleared the apartment. She could answer none of the questions posed by the police, nor could Papa, once he was located and escorted to the abattoir where Gergana once grew and dreamed.
    “What happened?” one of the police asked Eva.
    Eva was silent.
    “Come on, miss. Something terrible happened here. Tell us what it was so we can find the man who killed your sister.”
    Eva was silent, still.
    Mama came into the bedroom and screamed. “Tell them what you know!”
    Eva looked up at her mother without speaking, and held Mama’s gaze until the woman turned away.
I’ll find him,
Eva said to herself. Then she tilted her head, as if listening to sound inside. The din was building at the Table.
    Eva hunted