Page 152 of Empire of Ash
“Boss,look at him.”
I glance past him at the whimper, crying—
I frown, and suddenly, I realize I’ve been wrong. Jon isn’t quaking in fear or whimpering in terror. It’s just hard to tell with his jaw bandaged shut and his face swollen and disfigured.
The piece of shit islaughing.
“He’s off his fucking rocker, boss,” Liam says quietly. “I’ve gone through his background. He’s legit, certifiably fucking nuts. Meds, shrinks. All of it. And he didn’tleaveyour employ, by the way. Cassandra had him fired for petty theft and for being aggressively creepy with one of the cleaning ladies.”
It all hits me like a slap. I blink, my gaze slowly dragging back to the man chained to a chair—bloody, broken, and giggling like a fucking maniac.
“Noel, I know all of those other things point to Oliver. But…” he shakes his head. “The flights, the psychiatric analysis… they’re all circumstantial. Meanwhile, this fucker here gets caught red-handed with the same fucking bomb that could have killed Ella the other week. With the same chemical makeup as the fires that took Cassandra and Matilde.”
Fuck. He’s right.
“Boss, I know you want it to be Prince. Fuck,Iwanted it to be Prince. But,” he shakes his head, jerking a thumb at Jon. “you’re looking at the man who killed those women, right here.”
My eyes close slowly. I’m still shaking with rage, my head still stormy as it tried to change tracks and accept the reality I know Liam is right about.
Ihatethat he’s right. Because I want so badly to be right that Oliver is exactly the insidious fuck I know he is. But as the seconds and silence tick by, I know Liam’s right.
The truth is sitting right here in front of us, smiling like the fucking psychopath he is.
I exhale. And slowly, haltingly, it’s as if the weight begins to lift from my shoulders.
“Call Lewis,” I growl quietly, glancing at Jon before I turn away to Liam.
“Have him facilitate a handoff to the police where questions won’t be asked. He’ll know the right people in the department to call.”
Liam nods. “I’m on it. And boss?”
“Yeah?”
He smiles wryly at me.
“Breathe deep. It’s over.”
Finally.
Liam turns back to Jon.
“Oi, cunt,” he sneers, squatting down at eye level with the monster who took Cassandra and Matilde.
He jerks a thumb back at me.
“He was never here, now was he?”
Jon quickly shakes his head. Then he screams a muffled scream as Liam pats his cheek.
“There’s a good lad.”
Liam walks me back outside. I shake his hand firmly, the weight shedding from my shoulders.
Back home, I slip into bed behind her. I wrap her in my arms and hold her tight—so tight that she stirs, waking slightly. She turns her head towards me, her brow furrowed in the darkness.
“What time is it?”
“It’s early, keep sleeping.”