Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 98819 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98819 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 494(@200wpm)___ 395(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
“The Walker family? They’re safe. They were admitted to New Rome Central Hospital and are staying in the private Roy wing there. Rex ordered them to be provided with bodyguards and access to excellent psychiatric care. There seem to be no lingering physical effects.”
“How were they drugged?”
“Some sort of gas.”
Gas is what Rex liked to use to incapacitate his victims.
Something else nags at me. “Did you say the Walker family?”
“Yes.”
“I thought Ted said it was his brother? Wouldn’t they have the same last name?”
Hamish frowns. “I could be wrong, but I don’t believe Ted is a relative at all.”
My insides quake. This is a lead, and I’m afraid of where it will take us. “We need to find out.”
We recontact Mina, who confirms it. “No relation between Ted Raider and the Walker family. No obvious contact between them, either.”
“But. . .” My thoughts are coming slowly. It feels like I’m moving through murky water, swimming toward the light. “Ted told me BK had taken his family. That’s why I snuck out of the hotel in the first place. Why else would he try to lure me out?”
Hamish visibly recoils.
“Holy Sith,” Mina breathes.
We’re all coming to the same conclusion. I feel it like a weight in my bones.
Ted lied to me. It wasn’t his family at risk. And he had no reason to lure me out unless. . .
He was working with the Bondage Killer the whole time.
I remember the details of being with BK on the roof. “On the roof, BK was having trouble breathing. He was older, not as mobile. He had to have help capturing the family and tying them up.”
“A partner,” Hamish says.
“A protégé,” I correct. “Someone he mentored.” The Blackbird murders were homework. “But then, yes, they partnered together. BK saw him as a sidekick, but now BK is gone.”
The weight in my body lifts. I break through the surface and breathe the sweet air.
I’ve got it.
I turn to Hamish. “I know where Rex is. I’m going to rescue him, and I’m going to need help.”
24
Inara
* * *
I can divide my life into a series of before and afters.
Before my family was murdered, I had a happy childhood. After their deaths, I felt alone. Before Lacy found me, I lived on the street. After she took me in, I decided to become a detective.
Before Rex. . . everything was different. There’s so much that’s changed. Before him, I was closed off. I clung to a cold concept of justice, keeping a moat between me and the rest of humanity. I saw myself as a warrior priestess, someone who would go to the dark places to keep innocent children safe. I refused any human contact and condemned myself to be alone.
Rex was the only one who could break through. He refused to let me be and rudely trampled on my boundaries because he’s a fucking psycho who needs a few decades of therapy, but he’s the psycho I need. I needed someone to rescue me from myself.
He’s the master of my afters, and I know he wouldn’t have it any other way.
Before Rex, I did things by the book. I’d never think of heading an investigation with a team made up not of detectives, uniforms, or SWAT members but criminals. The blond twin enforcers are at my back, and a tall, lean assassin with white-blond hair is helping me break into Ted’s squalid apartment.
“You’re sure about this?” Hamish murmurs in my ear. I’m linked to him and Mina by an earpiece.
He’s giving me an out. I can still go to Bonds or even the chief and conduct this investigation the legal way.
But there’s no time. The wheel of justice turns too slowly, which is fine for the victims who are dead. But while Rex is still alive, I’m not waiting.
I guess I agree with Rex now. Walking a moral line is a luxury I can’t afford. Sometimes, you have to descend into the darkness to fight monsters. Sometimes, you become a monster yourself.
“I’m sure,” I tell them, then signal my teammates.
Victor steps back and allows one of the scary twins to kick in the door. The two of them rush inside, guns in hand.
I hang back, my heart pounding. I’m wearing what feels like seven hundred pounds of body armor. I’m even in a Rex-style helmet that Hamish found in my size.
“Clear,” Scary Twin One calls out.
“He’s not here,” Victor says.
“All right.” I step inside Ted’s bachelor pad. I didn’t expect him to make it easy. “I can still look for clues.”
Victor joins me in tossing Ted’s apartment.
“We’ve searched his place before,” Hamish says, “when we first suspected Ted. I’m reviewing those notes now.”
There’s a corner of his tiny living room that holds a hospital bed and medical equipment, including a breathing apparatus and an oxygen tank. I report this to Hamish. “Was all this equipment here, then?”