Molly’s feet were already well planted on the deck boards, but she dug in her heels, moved her center of gravity back, and bent her knees slightly. She was ready for a fight. To distract Craig, she started talking for the first time since he’d entered the shop. She hadn’t actually said a single thing to the man yet. The police had to be here soon. Hopefully, she could buy some time.
“So what happened? Why are you saying what’s done is done?” She tried to keep her voice somewhat friendly and conversational and not as thoroughly panicked and out of breath as she felt. She felt sweat pool in the small of her back.
“You know, of course,” Craig said, his pull on the door slackening just a little. “You saw the bridge. We had a fight.” He wasn’t yelling now, just stating facts. He knew she and Claudia had visited the bridge.
As Craig spoke, Molly quickly took the screwdriver out from under her arm with her right hand and changed the grip so that she was holding it with the metal end pointed down, ready to stab. She still had a firm grip on the doorknob with her left hand. “But why? Why pick a fight with a college kid?” she asked him.
“This really isn’t any of your business, Molly. I’m telling you to walk away from what happened. It doesn’t affect you at all,” he continued in a calmer voice, while still pulling on the door. He seemed to have realized that she had less muscle behind her tugging and looked her in the eyes through the glass. He gave one huge yank on the doorknob. With this, he gained more ground and could open the door enough to push his shoulder and arm around to the outside.
“Trevor was here! He was in our store and on our trail! It has really affected me!” Molly yelled at him. When Craig’s arm appeared on her side of the door, Molly saw her chance and hacked at it with the screwdriver in the dark. Her aim wasn’t great, but she sliced at him five times and definitely cut into his arm at least three of them. She didn’t really count. Craig shrieked in pain and tried to pull his arm back into the building, but Molly kept yanking on her side of the door and he was pinned.
“You didn’t even know him!” Craig bellowed, waving his arm around. His hand tried to grab her, but Molly easily dodged.
“Why does that matter? You knew him and you took his life!” Molly yelled back. She tried to stab at him again, but his arm was waving too violently. Her anger gave her strength to keep pulling on the door one-handed, but not enough speed or aim to follow his arm. Molly could see Craig’s face through the window, sweaty and panicked. She realized she had tears dripping out of her eyes, not just sweat.
“Stop that! I didn’t mean to! I just pushed the kid! Punched him a few times, but he punched me first.” Craig’s voice was pleading and loud.
“He was a sweet guy, just a kid. He’s like fifteen years younger than you! Why would you ever punch him to begin with?” Molly recognized that not only was she trying to keep him talking to stall until the police arrived, but also she really wanted to know what happened. She grabbed his arm and pinned it against the door. She didn’t really expect it to work, but it did. Molly put her entire weight into it. Her face was close to Craig’s between the glass, and they locked eyes. “Why?” she asked, moving the screwdriver into his view threateningly. She hadn’t known that she was capable of this sort of commanding meanness.
Although it was dark, Molly could see that Craig’s face had fallen and turned pale. “He said he’d turn me in. I was involved with his girlfriend. That’s frowned upon in any university. It’s why I left Ohio University.”
Shocked, Molly dropped her arm with the screwdriver to her side. Certainly, this “involvement” wasn’t financial like Brooks and Shannon’s. Craig had been romantically involved with Trevor’s girlfriend, the girlfriend who had broken up with him, who he was hiking the Buckeye Trail to forget. Of course Trevor would be mad and engage in a fight with a former professor. As she slackened her hold on the screwdriver, she heard sirens in the distance. Finally! That must be the police coming to apprehend Craig!
The sirens helped her focus and hold on to the screwdriver. However, Craig took the opportunity of her visible weakness to pull harder at the door. Just as she was straightening up, he gave the door another hard yank. Molly lost her grip. And then there wasn’t a door between them anymore.