Silently, she entered the kitchen and walked through to the living room. Quickly, she made her way up the stairs, to the bedrooms. There were two. In the first one Gwen rested soundly. Molly pushed open the door to the second; here Val tossed and turned but she didn’t seem to be awake.

Molly went back to the first room and watched Gwen for a few minutes, making sure she was soundly asleep. She reached into her bag and pulled out a syringe. Then she hovered over Gwen, waiting for the right moment. She aimed carefully. Then in one quick motion, plunged in the needle.

Gwen eyes flew open at the sting. She stared at the woman who stood over her, as if trying to comprehend what she was seeing, but before any sound could come from her mouth, Gwen’s eyes rolled back.

“You’re going to be out for a while,” Molly whispered. She’d given Gwen a sedative that took effect almost immediately, and more importantly was metabolized completely. In a few hours, it wouldn’t be detectable in her system anymore. For now, an earthquake couldn’t wake her up. Molly needed Gwen alive. Gwen, in this crime, was going to be the assumed assailant, suspected of killing Val.

In Val’s room, the plan was a little different. She wanted Val to truly experience terror before she was ripped apart. So, timing was far more important with the drugs she planned to use now. What strategy beats a victim who can’t fight back? It would take almost two minutes for the pancuronium to incapacitate her. That was long enough for Val to fight back and Molly just couldn’t risk it.

To solve this problem, she first placed a rag soaked in chloroform gently over Val’s face.

Molly couldn’t do this with Gwen. There would be a possibility of the chloroform being detected in Gwen’s system. For Val, it didn’t matter. If drugs were found, it would only incriminate Gwen further.

Val’s body jerked as the rag was held over her mouth and nose. She finally went limp as she passed out. Next, Molly gave her the pancuronium and waited.

“Time to wake up, sleepyhead.”

Someone was patting Val’s cheek. It took a couple of taps before her eyes slowly opened. She tried to lift her arms, to turn her head, but she couldn’t move at all and immediately began to panic. Her lungs attempted to inhale as she gasped for air. She felt like a fish out of water, gills moving, but completely ineffectively.

Again, the cheek patting. “Val. Pay attention now. It’s Julia. Are you afraid of me?” The tone became taunting. “You should be.”