He took my keys, I suddenly remember. My keys and my phone. I can run, but it would be with nothing.
A viciously satisfied expression crosses Emmett’s face as I stand there, blinking from the hit. It’s a familiar feeling—the panic of being trapped, the frustration of his having all the power.
I scream. It’s guttural, a sound I’ve never heard myself make before.
I charge at him, and the shocked expression on his face as I do it might be the most satisfying thing I’ve ever seen. We crash hard into the ground, a mess of limbs and grunts.
I claw at his arms, trying to grab the hammer. My knee connects with his chest, and his grip on the handle loosens as he gasps. I snatch it from him and spring to my feet.
He scrambles up as well, lip curled, his chest rising and falling too quickly.
I swing the hammer into his stomach.
He buckles over with a gasp and heaves. He holds out a hand, like he wants me to stop. I pause with the hammer poised to strike again.
He bolts upright suddenly and takes off running.
“Emmett!” I scream. I consider, briefly, sprinting in the opposite direction. But my feet have other ideas. I’m chasing him before I realize I made up my mind to do it, my anger driving me forward.
Distantly, I hear my own name. I don’t know whether it’s real, or whether it’s Savvy.
There’s a small patch of trees behind the store. Emmett runs into them, and I push my legs as fast as they’ll go. Emmett casts a terrified glance over his shoulder. Something about it is satisfying. Maybe this is what Savvy felt like when she killed that man. He deserved it.
“Better run faster, asshole!” I scream.
“Lucy!” the voice yells again. Not Savvy. Closer.
I’m close enough to almost reach Emmett. I stretch my hand out, my fingers grazing the fabric. I snatch it, yank it back into my fist. He yells as he tumbles to the ground, and immediately tries to get to his feet.
I lift the hammer over my head and bring it down hard on his leg. It makes a very pleasing crunch sound as he screams.
“Lucy!”
Emmett uses one leg for leverage as he dives forward on his knees, yanking the hammer from my grasp. It goes flying.
And comes to a stop at Ben’s feet.
He’s breathing heavily, eyes wide and horrified as he looks from me to Emmett.
“Oh my god, Ben,” Emmett pants. He uses his good leg to scoot away from me. “She’s lost it. She’s fucking lost it. She’s trying to kill me.”
Ben holds my gaze. I wipe the back of my hand across my mouth. Blood smears across my skin.
I look down at the hammer. Back up at him.
He slowly reaches down and picks it up.
“He killed her.” My voice is low. It doesn’t sound quite right. “He killed Savvy, and he tried to kill me.”
Surprise flickers across Ben’s features. I can see the wheels turning, the interviews starting to loop in his head. I have no idea whether his research will back up my claim.
“Matt saw him that night,” I continue. “You can ask him. Emmett was there, and he fucking killed her.”
Ben stares at me. His expression is unreadable.
“No,” Emmett says. He shakes his head desperately. “No. I never would have hurt Savvy. Or you, Lucy. You have to believe me.”
Ben cocks his head.
“You saw her!” Emmett points at me. “She was about to kill me! She would have, if you hadn’t come along!”
Ben looks down at the hammer in his hand.
“Let’s find out,” he says.
He tosses me the hammer.
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
LUCY
I sit in a hospital bed, staring at a police officer.
He’s standing just outside the curtain surrounding my bed, talking to Ben. I can see them both through the crack where the fabric isn’t closed all the way.
“You heard him say that?” the officer asks.
“Yeah,” Ben says. “Emmett yelled something about how he’d tried to kill Lucy once.”
I blink. My head is swimming and aching, but I’m pretty certain Emmett said nothing like that.
“And Matt Gardner saw Emmett that night,” Ben continues. “You should ask him about that.”
The officer nods, writing something down. He pushes the curtain aside and fixes me with a hard stare. “We’ll have more questions for you in a minute.”
I nod numbly.
He walks away, and Ben steps inside the curtain with me. His eyebrows are drawn together, the nerves and stress obvious in the way he keeps crossing and uncrossing his arms.
“She’s lying! Why aren’t any of you listening to me?” Emmett’s scream is distant from down the hall somewhere.
“I could have killed you both,” I say to Ben.
He looks startled. “Sorry?”
“When you tossed me the hammer. I could have killed him, and then you. Your sense of self-preservation is lacking.”
He lets out a breath of air that’s like a laugh. “Like you said before, that would have been a better ending. You kill the real killer and the host of the podcast trying to solve the crime. I think a lot of people would have liked that ending better.”
I side-eye him. “There’s something wrong with you.”
“I know.” He smiles. “I never thought you were going to kill me, Lucy.”
I don’t know whether I believe him.
I’d like to, though.
“Emmett didn’t say that,” I say after a brief silence.
“What?”
“You know what. He didn’t yell anything about killing me. He told you he was innocent.”
He shrugs.
I imitate his shrug. “That’s it?”
“Whatever. It’s close enough to the truth. People are going to believe whatever I say. Your word isn’t enough.”
“The truth doesn’t matter.”
Savvy’s words sound gentle this time. Less angry.
I shift my attention back to Ben. “The truth is whatever you say it is.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
LUCY
Matt is waiting for me outside the hospital.
I look like absolute shit—a black eye, three stitches in my eyebrow, a bruise starting to form on my chin. Luckily my nose isn’t broken, but my entire face is vibrating in pain.
“Oh my god.” Matt rushes over to me. I see my parents, not far behind him. Ben left a while ago, because I was tired of his hovering. I told him I didn’t need him to call anyone for me, but I can see that my request was ignored.
“I’m going to kill Emmett,” Matt says.
My parents stop not far behind him. Dad’s chest is rising and falling too quickly. Mom’s eyes are red, and she won’t look at me.
“You saw him that night,” I say. Matt has the decency to look embarrassed.
“After you,” he says. “You ran away, and then Emmett appeared a second later, crying and saying he’d seen you kill her.”
“And you just believed him.”
“You said—you said…” He clenches both fists in frustration, and I instinctively take a step back. “You were covered in blood, mumbling something about killing! And you said she deserved it, and ‘Savvy tried to.’ What was I supposed to think?”
“She tried to save me,” I say. “That was the end of that sentence. Savvy tried to save me, and he killed her.”
“Oh, Lucy,” Mom says, and moves like she’s going to hug me. I step back, shaking my head.
“The cops want to talk to you,” I say.
Dad gapes at me. I thought that I was too exhausted to feel even more annoyed, but apparently I’m not. I don’t know where he finds the nerve to look surprised.
“You lied to them. Hid evidence. Good luck with that.”
Mom’s mouth drops open.
“We were protecting you,” Matt says. “You have to understand. Me, your parents—we thought we were protecting you.”
“No, you didn’t,” I snap. “You protected yourself, Matt. You knew what would happen if I started telling people the truth. You knew what would come out.”
Matt’s face reddens. Both my parents are statues, tears streaming down Mom’s face.
I step away from them. “The only person who ever protected me was Savvy.”
Listen for the Lie Podcast with Ben Owens
FINAL EPISODE
Police have charged Emmett Chapman with Savannah Harper’s murder. Matt, Kathleen, and Don have been charged with withholding evidence.