Chapter 6 - The Confession in the Dark
The world seemed to tilt on its axis.
David stared at Jason, the blood roaring in his ears. "What did she say?"
Jason stopped walking. The calm, composed mask he had worn all evening cracked, revealing a cold, psychotic fury underneath. His eyes flicked from David to the small girl hiding behind him.
"The brat talks too much," Jason muttered, his voice losing all pretense of civility. "Just like her mother. Sarah couldn't mind her own business either. She started crying, screaming about calling the cops, threatening to ruin everything we built. She brought this on herself."
The confession hung in the damp air like a death sentence.
David’s mind raced with horrifying clarity. Sarah hadn't left for a trip. She hadn't taken "time away." The dark shapes beneath the murky green water of the swimming pool weren't garbage bags filled with household trash.
They were human remains.
"You monster," David breathed, a dark, primal rage washing over him, burning away every ounce of caution. He lowered Emily gently behind a thick concrete garden pillar near the fence. "Stay right there, Em. Don't move an inch."
"David, wait—" Emily sobbed.
Jason pulled his hand out of his pocket. A heavy, tactical hunting knife with a wicked serrated edge gleamed under the moonlight.
"You should have stayed out of it, David," Jason hissed, stepping forward with sudden, explosive speed, the knife raised.
David didn't run. As Jason lunged, bringing the heavy blade down in a vicious arc, David sidestepped with sharp precision, using his years of martial arts training that he rarely spoke of. He caught Jason’s knife-wrist with both hands, twisting it upward with brutal force while driving his knee straight into Jason’s stomach.
A sharp gasp of air escaped Jason’s lungs. The knife slipped from his fingers, clattering loudly against the flagstone patio.
Before Jason could recover his balance, David unleashed a ferocious right hook that caught him squarely on the jaw. Jason’s legs buckled, and he crashed hard onto the overgrown grass, stunned and breathless.
David didn't hesitate. He dove on top of Jason, pinning him to the earth with his knees pressed firmly into the man's chest, raining heavy, merciless blows until Jason’s eyes rolled back and he went completely limp.
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Panting heavily, bleeding from a superficial scratch on his forearm, David scrambled off Jason’s unconscious body. He ripped the heavy chain and padlock off the front gate, throwing it wide open, then rushed back to scoop Emily into his arms.
"We're going, baby. We're going right now," he choked out, carrying her through the open gate just as the distant, wailing scream of police sirens began to echo down Elmwood Avenue.
