“But I know you, too,” my sister continued now, her voice matter-of-fact. “I understand not feeling pain actually works against you. It means you’ve never been able to take self-defense or engage in any kind of physical training because of course you can’t risk hurting yourself. You don’t know how to handle a blade, fire a gun, even throw a punch. You’re vulnerable, Adeline. I know it; bet the killer knows it, too.”

“Stop.” I meant the word to sound forceful. It didn’t.

“Rose Killer’s gonna come for you. You call to him. And your call will only be silenced when you’re dead and he’s proved his superiority by murdering his idol’s daughter. He’ll kill you, Adeline. Slowly. Because he or she will have to test out this whole theory of you not feeling pain. My best guess: He’ll skin you alive. Because he’ll want to see how you react. He’ll want to look into your eyes as he flays every inch.”

I couldn’t face my sister anymore. I glanced sharply away, staring at the floor, because her words spooked me, no doubt just as she intended. She manipulates, I reminded myself. This whole conversation, I had to keep asking myself, what is in it for her?

My sister continued. “I sit in my cell, Adeline. Day after day. I hear things. I read things. And this is what I see. Some Daddy wannabe picking off my baby sister. Boy, girl, who the fuck cares. The Rose Killer is gonna come for you. The Rose Killer is gonna kill you. And then I’ll be all alone.

“Course, you don’t care about all this right now, do you? You came today to tell me good-bye. To prove to yourself you’re stronger and wiser than me. But I didn’t leave you, Adeline. All those years ago, I got you out of that closet. I honored my vow to Daddy. I held you close. I kept you safe. And I’d do it again—”

Shana’s voice broke.

I glanced up, just in time to catch a spasm of sorrow cross her face. Unexpected emotion? Particularly powerful acting?

“If . . . somehow, someway, I got a twenty-four-hour furlough from this joint, I could get this killer for you, Adeline. I’ll agree to any terms, follow any rules you want. What matters is that you let me at him, give me a chance to keep my little sister safe.” My sister smiled. A cold baring of her teeth that sent shivers down my spine. “As Daddy said, if you don’t got family, then you got nothing at all. You’re my family, Adeline. Get me out of here, and I’ll kill for you. You know I’ll get the job done right.”

Chapter 25