Insane - Who Are You To Judge? (Gripping Psychological Thriller)

Avery

His eyes suddenly roar. "Don't call me that!" he exclaims. "You do not deserve the right to call me that."

His eyes glisten. It seems as though I've struck a nerve. "Oh come now, don't be like that," I reply in a calm, soft voice. "I know we've got our history, but it's time to rebuild those bridges. Don't you agree?"

Throwing his head back, he laughs. "Those bridges never even existed."

I shrug. "Okay, if that's what you want. It'll take time but I'll get over it. So," I spark up with a newfound intrigue, "why don't you tell me what you had cooked up for your big sis? I have to say, I definitely taught you well – you really had me going for a minute there. Cinderella's little quest for vengeance was your doing, I take it."

He doesn't even blink. "She was a lovely girl. It was truly sad what you did to her."

"Oh please," I interrupt. "You wanted me to kill her. You put her up to it, didn't you?"

"I may have convinced her that the only way to get closure was to bring you to justice, and I may have pointed her in the direction of where she might find you."

I snap my fingers. "I knew it. I knew she wasn't smart enough to find me all by her lonesome. So, I kill Cinderella and my DNA is at the crime scene. How was that going to get me into the interrogation room?"

"I'm not stupid. I do have some experience," he snaps, "I knew that wouldn't be enough to get you charged. Besides, I didn't just want you in jail, I wanted you to pay for all your crimes. I had no choice. I had to do it."

I tut, shaking my head. "Poor Sleeping Beauty. She wasn't even my next tale, she had a long, happy life to live before I put a tick next to her name. How could you do that? How could you be such a monster?"

"I'm not a monster!" he shouts with a fragile voice. "I had no choice. They had to die. It was the only way I could make sure you would definitely be brought to justice. So no one else would get hurt."

"Okay," I chuckle, "you keep telling yourself that, if it helps you sleep at night. But you're just lying to yourself. Admit it – you're just as bad as me. Worse, in fact. I don't pretend like I kill people because of some twisted sense of justice that I've made myself believe."

"Stop it," he warns me. I don't listen.

"But you have, haven't you? You've tried to make the act better. You've tried to make yourself better than me."

"Stop it!"

"But you're no better than me. How can you even look yourself in the mirror, knowing that you have become the same monster you think I am?"

"I'm not a monster!" He growls and lunges at me. The blade catches the moonlight and I quickly jerk out the way. He falls past me.

"Now, now. Let's not do that. If you kill me, where's that justice you've worked so hard for? All of this – those four women you killed – will all be for nothing."

I can hear his breath from across the room reaching the hairs on the back of my neck. My heartrate remains steady and I continue to treat this how I intended – like a business deal. My poor little brother has never been able to stand up to me. Just because he has a knife, doesn't mean he's going to be able to now.

"So let me guess," I begin again once I hear his breathing has calmed slightly. "You ensured they would find my DNA at the Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty crime scenes...then assumed they'd make the link when they discovered it matched...but then what? You still haven't explained how you were planning to get me on their persons of interest list." I spin round and gasp. "Oh wait, could you have been stupid enough to, I don't know, plant recording devices around this house, expecting me to admit it all to you when we met?" I ask as I reveal the devices I have zipped up in my pocket.

His eyes flare when he sees them. "How did you find them?"

"You seriously think this is my first rodeo? I'm not stupid. Oh, James...have you not seen every crime movie ever?"

His face goes stiff. "That is not my name."

"Ooh, my bad." I contort my face. "I forgot – you changed it, didn't you? Harry... Was that to honour Dad? How did it feel, by the way? Taking your wife's name instead of her taking yours?" I look down, trying to withhold my laughter. "That must have been very emasculating."

"You changed your name too!" he blurts before taking a deep breath. "Besides, I didn't care. I just wanted to be rid of all my connection to you. She understood."

"Of course she did," I agree. "She has been with you through it all, hasn't she? How is my sister-in-law, by the way? I saw her the other day, although I didn't recognise her – she really has changed. Is it rude of me to say she's changed in width?" I see his eyes widen and I hear his teeth grind. I hold my hands up in defence. "Well it's true...you know what they say, putting on weight usually means an unhappy marriage..."

"Don't you dare comment on my marriage."

"Okay, okay. Anyway, that's not the bit I'm interested in. No, I didn't remember Martha until this afternoon. Suddenly, it all clicked."