Archie searched for the correct answer, the one that would ensure that Rachel made it out of here alive. “I liked having sex with her, because she reminded me of you,” he said.

Gretchen gave him an approving smile. “Very good,” she said. Then she walked to Rachel and put her arm around her. Rachel shrank from her touch, but Gretchen just kept patting her shoulder, comforting her, until Rachel’s wracked breathing had slowed. “It was a fine effort, little one,” Gretchen said to her. “But restraining him isn’t enough.” Gretchen looked up at Archie, her eyes blazing. “You have to hurt him,” Gretchen said. “He likes to be hurt.” She squeezed Rachel’s shoulder. “I told you that.”

Rachel was shaking her head. “I couldn’t…”

“That’s okay,” Archie said quickly. “I soured on those games about the time I woke up strapped to a gurney in your basement,” he added to Gretchen.

But Gretchen’s attention was now firmly on Rachel. She stroked Rachel’s hair like she was calming a lamb she was readying to slaughter. Archie knew that look in Gretchen’s eyes—that heated anticipation—it might as well have been a rattle on a snake. Archie moved to Gretchen’s side and laid his hand on her shoulder blade. He could feel the muscles of her back contract under his touch. She turned from Rachel and faced him.

“What do you want, Gretchen?” Archie asked.

Her eyebrows lifted slightly. “Aren’t you happy to see me?” she asked. She sighed, leaned her cheek against his shoulder, and lifted a hand to his chest. Archie swallowed hard. Up close, her skin always amazed him. It was smooth, without lines or pores, like a doll’s. He moved his hand down to the small of her back.

“Is she still alive?” he asked softly.

Gretchen took a few breaths, nuzzling against his shirt. “I know how much you care about her,” she said, fingers drumming against the cloth of his shirt. “I know you want to keep her safe. But I also know that you are little bit tempted to put a bullet through my brain. So I want you to know this.” She was drawing on his chest with her finger. The same shape, over and over. A heart. “She is someplace where no one will find her, so if you kill me, she will die.”

Archie fought to keep his pulse steady. Her ear was over his heart, so that she would notice any nervous system change. He was grateful for the pills in his system. He did not want to betray Susan by caring too much.

Gretchen gazed up at him. Her eyes were like a doll’s, too, he realized—they reflected back what the viewer wanted to see. “Do you understand?” Gretchen asked.