Page 39 of I Will Ruin You

“Your keys. Show me.”

She shook her head, pulled out a set of keys from her front pocket, and tossed them his way. He snatched them out of the air and examined them.

Car key, house key, garage key. And another one.

“What’s this one?” he said, holding it up.

“My locker at the hospital.”

He still wasn’t sure. He moved in closer, his body pressed up against hers. He opened his hand wide and rested it on her shoulder inches from her neck.

“You don’t have any other key?”

Her eyes met his defiantly. He felt a sharp, increasing pressure on the left side of his abdomen. The screwdriver.

Her voice was no louder than a whisper. “You get your fucking hand off me.”

They both were very still for a moment before Billy brought his hand away from her neck and took a step back. Lucy lowered the screwdriver.

“Suppose you start from the beginning,” she said.

“They came to see me. Accused me of skimming some product off the top.” He grimaced. “They hurt me.”

“Hurt you?”

He lifted up his sweatshirt.

“Jesus,” she said. “The guy did that to you?”

Billy’s face flushed red. “The woman, actually.”

“She bite you?”

“No, she—doesn’t matter.”

“So, like, you’re not just trying to fake me out here, are you? I mean, did you steal from them?”

“No way.”

“It wasn’t me, either.”

“Then what are you doing in here with the lights off?”

She sighed and held up the screwdriver. “You don’t believe me, come inside, I’ll show you the loose cupboard door. What about Stuart? He’s always moping around here, hasn’t got two cents to rub together. It was probably him.”

“Saw him already, says he didn’t do it. Said maybe it was somebody closer to home.”

That left Lucy momentarily speechless. “That asshole.”

“He didn’t outright accuse you. He was just saying it wasn’t him, so, like, who else is left?”

She shook her head. “I don’t want him around here anymore. Accusing me of shit. And he creeps me out. Looking at me like I’m a Popsicle he wants to take a bite of.”

There was a moment of quiet between them. Lucy put a hand on Billy’s arm. “So what are you gonna do if you can’t find who took it?”

“I gotta pay them what the missing shit is worth.”

“Which is?”