The Flawless Beast

Victoria’s perfect features contorted with animal fury. Clutching the chef’s knife, she sprang at me, crossing the garage faster than I thought possible.

I did not retreat.

As she rushed me, I drew my leg back and drove my heel into the canvas duffel at my feet.

The heavy bag shot across the concrete. Its strap caught beneath Victoria’s expensive boot, and she lurched forward, both arms jerking wide as she fought not to fall.

“Lily, go!” I shouted.

Lily did not bolt through the open garage entrance. She did not stand frozen either.

The little girl in the oversized gray sweatshirt moved with startling purpose. Her hand disappeared into her sweatshirt pocket and came back holding Victoria’s metal master keyring.

All that time, Lily had been carrying it.

Victoria had not noticed Lily steal the keys from her jacket. My heart slammed with pride and terror at the child’s quiet, desperate bravery.

Lily pressed her thumb against the oversized red emergency button on the fob. With her other hand, she struck the control beside the garage door.

The estate alarm detonated around us.

Its shriek was so sharp it seemed to rattle my teeth. The concrete quivered beneath my shoes while the sound tore through every corner of the garage.

At the same instant, the reinforced garage door descended. Its motor groaned as the steel barrier cut off the black, icy night beyond it.

Victoria shrieked with rage. Forgetting me, she clawed herself upright and hurled herself toward Lily, desperate to recover the keys before the door sealed us in.

I went after her.

I threw my weight into her back, driving my shoulder between her shoulder blades with everything I had left.

Victoria slammed into the side of the idling SUV face-first. The impact knocked the breath from her and sent the knife spinning from her manicured fingers.

It scraped and clattered over the stained concrete, sliding toward the iron grate embedded in the center of the floor.

For one suspended second, the blade balanced above the opening.

Then it slipped through the grate and vanished into the storm drain’s darkness.

The knife was beyond reach. The garage door had shut. Victoria had nowhere left to go.

She sagged against the SUV, dragging herself down its side as she struggled for air. Her makeup streaked across one cheek, ruining the polished mask she had worn for so long.

The alarm kept screaming. It swallowed the SUV engine’s low rumble and made the garage feel like a metal box closing around us.

Red and blue flashes suddenly splintered through the narrow windows overhead.

The time had run out. Julian’s biometric watch had followed through on its warning.

A violent pounding struck the door leading to the kitchen hallway.

“Police! Open up! Police!” voices thundered from the other side.

Victoria looked up, and her transformation was instantaneous. Murder left her face. In its place came terror, tears, and a shivering helplessness so convincing it made my stomach turn.

The interior door burst inward in a spray of splinters. Three armed officers flooded the garage, flashlights slicing through the exhaust haze, weapons aimed and ready.

“On the ground! Everybody down!” the lead officer roared above the siren.

I dropped to my knees at once and raised both empty hands.

Victoria released a piercing scream and pointed directly at me. “Help us! Please! The housekeeper lost her mind! She attacked my husband upstairs and tried to murder us!”

The officers reached me before I could say more. They yanked my arms behind my back and locked cuffs around my wrists.

“Check the freezer!” one officer shouted after spotting the raised lid and Maria’s pale hand.

They rushed to it, then recoiled when they saw Maria’s frozen body inside.

“She put our former maid in there,” Victoria sobbed, covering her face as if the sight shattered her. “She’s evil. She has been poisoning all of us.”

Panic climbed into my throat as I fought the cuffs. “She’s lying! Check the diary—it was forged! Victoria poisoned Julian with pesticide!”

“Stay quiet,” the officer behind me snapped, pressing me against the SUV.

Her trap was holding. Maria’s body was there. Victoria had tears, money, status, and a flawless story. I was only the frightened housekeeper accusing the woman everyone expected to believe.

Static cracked from a police radio through the alarm. “Unit Four to garage. We have a survivor in the master study. Male, early forties. Severe neurotoxin exposure, but he’s breathing. Medics are administering atropine.”

Victoria stopped crying. Her body went rigid as the truth landed: Julian was alive. Then a gray-haired detective entered the garage carrying an iPad.