Chapter 27 #3
“Who do you think did that? You think some random man walked in off the street and picked one of Whitaker’s chosen ones?
We found Whitaker’s ring on the scene. It’s how we figured out that he’s the man we’re looking for.
How do you think we figured out his name?
The body was displayed like Nadine’s was; we can see the connection. ”
Richard is trying not to give away his unease, but I can read it in the way his eyes aren’t holding mine as defiantly. He’s also playing with his hands.
I sigh and run a hand through my hair. “Let me lay this out, Richard. If we can’t pin something on you, you could be released.
But we’re not going to stop watching you.
And you think Whitaker’s going to like that?
You were rash when you attacked me in the parking lot.
You fucked up. If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t even have known about Tate or Whitaker.
It is your fault this happened, do you understand that?
Whitaker killed Tate for simply failing to get me arrested.
What do you think he’ll do to you when you’re the reason the police are hunting him down?
You’re the reason we know that he faked his death.
What happens when we let you out those doors? ”
Richard’s eyes are watching me closely, and I can tell that he’s hearing some logic in my words. “You’re fucking lying. You’re lying. Whitaker would never hurt me,” he says, but I don’t think he’s as confident as he initially was.
“Okay… we want to help you. We want to keep you from rotting in prison for something you didn’t do.
You were a pawn, Richard. You were coerced and used and now you’ve been thrown out.
I just don’t want you to end up like Tate did.
You have your whole life ahead of you. I looked into you, Richard.
You’re doing so well in college. You’ve turned your life around.
You’ve broken away from your horrible family and you’re going to make something of yourself.
If you are ready, I need you to write down the address of where Whitaker is, and we’ll make sure you can keep living that life. ”
“I can’t,” he says, shaking his head.
“If we arrested Whitaker, you’d be free of that life. You’d get to live your life with your beautiful girlfriend. You would have a future with her. Do you want to talk to her?”
He glances up at me, looking hopeful. “I can?”
“Sure,” I say.
I stand up and inform Michaels, who I find waiting outside the door, that I need a phone for Richard to use.
He gets me one as well as the pencil and paper I request before I head back in, and I set the pencil and paper down.
“If you think you’re ready, write down where we can find Whitaker.
If you don’t, we’ll do our best to protect you, but I can’t promise you anything. Do you know your girlfriend’s number?”
“I do! I do,” he says as he nods.
I dial the number and put the phone on speaker on the table in front of me. When a woman answers, I reply, “Good morning, this is Detective Paige, and I’m here with Richard. Do you have a moment to talk to him?”
“I… yes,” she says, sounding timid.
“Baby, I didn’t do it. I really didn’t,” Richard promises.
“I know you wouldn’t,” she says. “I miss you. I really miss you. How could they still be holding you so long when I know you wouldn’t have attacked that cop? There’s no way. They’re just trying to pin it on someone.”
They continue to utter lovey-dovey words to each other, all while Richard does his best to play the role of an innocent man.
“I’m sorry, but the time you have is up,” I say when I feel like he’s buried himself deep enough into this persona of being a loving and wonderful man who would do anything for the love of his life.
“No, please, just a little longer,” he begs.
“I…” I tap the paper. “There are circumstances that would allow you to speak a little longer and give you more freedom.”
He looks down at the paper, absolutely fixated on it.
Whitaker… it is easiest to manipulate those who are at the absolute brink… but they’re also the easiest to sway when they finally see something good in their lives.
He should have learned that with Jesse.
It’s fascinating to watch what true love does as Richard picks up the pencil and writes down an address.
“Thank you,” I say, quickly putting my hand over it the very instant he’s done writing and sliding it over to me. The desire to bolt out of the room is racing through me. I have the address. I need to go. I need to run. I want him to shut the fuck up with all of his cooing and bullshit—
The door opens and Donna comes in. “I’ll take over here,” she offers, and I’m confident it’s the first decent thing that’s come out of her mouth.
I stand up, and as I do, I draw a simple line over the paper that Richard handed me. If anyone watches the security feed, it ought to look like the pencil merely slipped, but it should be hidden by my body. Then I hurry out the door and pass the paper to Michaels.
“We got something,” I say.
He smiles at me. “I didn’t know you had it in you to pretend to be nice, Paige.”
“Right? I… I have to check on Gabriel. I’ll be right behind you. I’ll be right there. I just…”
“Go,” Michaels says. “We have this, Paige. You are extremely essential to this team, but we’re not going to fall to dust if you step away for an emergency.”
That’s good because I’m done after this. I’m done. I’ll go back to that fucking diner. I’ll rot there and keep Gabriel safe by staying out of his life.
As I step out, I gather my personal phone and see that I have a message from Jesse telling me that Gabriel is out of surgery and doing well. Relief washes through me. So much relief. But he won’t truly be okay until Whitaker is dead.
I get into my car and quickly head toward the real address. It’s about forty minutes from here, and I know that it’ll take them longer to get assembled and reach the wrong address. Really… turning that 9 into an 8 will send them heading to a completely different road.
There’s nothing now keeping me away from this man.
My phone rings, and I see that it’s Jesse. For a moment, I debate not answering it, but he might have something about Gabriel.
“Hello.”
“Don’t you dare go alone,” Jesse says.
“Go where? I just got the address from Richard. We need to get everything sorted out—”
“You’re blaming yourself for all of this. You talk about how weak these people are who were manipulated by Whitaker, and yet you let him manipulate you as well?”
“Manipulation is not what has happened here,” I snap. “He hurt Gabriel and he’s going to be arrested because of it.”
“Yeah? So you’re just going to destroy what you have because of what happened? Gabriel’s awake, begging me to find you. What are you going to do, Liam? Because I was just talking to Michaels and he said you’re not at the department and Matthew said you’re not at the hospital.”
“Feel free to tell them that I ran off alone. I don’t give a fuck,” I say.
“Well, I do.” And then he hangs up the phone.
I toss my phone on the passenger seat as my mind flashes back to Gabriel who is lying in that bed, and the second I do, everything hurts.
I don’t know what to do with these emotions, so I shove them down and try my hardest to lock them away.
I bring the rage to the forefront, but when my phone starts ringing again and I see that it’s Gabriel, my stomach squeezes. Is it really him? Is it his mom?
It’s been nearly three hours since I left the hospital between driving, waiting for Richard, and then talking to him… it could be him.
If I could hear his voice one last time before I get out of his life forever…
I accept the call, but I don’t say a word.
“I didn’t know I fell in love with such a ridiculous man,” Gabriel says, sounding tired and groggy.
“Let me guess. After you do what you need to do, you’re going to run away because that’ll keep me safe…
Liam, the only thing you’re running from is fear.
I know you struggle with emotions. I know you think that you don’t have to deal with such pesky things, and I know they are hard for you to understand.
But what you’re feeling right now is just fear over losing me.
Everyone feels this every fucking day in some form or another.
I feel it every time you leave the house to do…
what you have to do. I lie awake, hugging Lucille to my chest, absolutely drenched in fear that you’re not going to come home that night.
Or that something will happen and you’ll be taken away from me forever. ”
I grit my teeth before forcing out, “You’re safer without me in your life.”
And then I hang up.
I don’t know what I’m going to do when I reach Whitaker’s place, but I’m going to make sure he’s dead at the end of it.
The location Richard gave me is a cabin on the outskirts of the nearest city.
There are trees that hide the cabin and many pull-offs for hunters, making it easy to hide the car.
I pull off and barely get out of the vehicle when I see another car heading down this road.
I slide down, hiding behind my car, so they won’t think I need help.
I have to assume a lot of hunters come to these parts, so I doubt they’d find it suspicious.
But when the car gets closer, I see exactly who it is and question whether Gabriel has betrayed my trust in him. I’ve allowed him to track my phone, so he knows where I am. Did he share that with Jesse?
Jesse parks and gets out of his car while I lean against mine and realize that there’s no fucking way I’m getting away with this now.
He rushes up to me. “I’m so glad you came. When you didn’t answer my text, I assumed you weren’t coming.”
I hesitate as I listen to him, well aware that he never sent me a text. He did call me but didn’t say much of use. And for him to have nearly beaten me here… something’s not right with this. Did he know the address before I did? If he did… who told him?
Immediately, I’m on high alert when he gets closer and does this weird movement around me, like he’s wanting to look into my car, but to do so, he has to touch me. It’s almost too quick, but where I should feel his flat chest, there’s something hard and rectangular.
“No one else is with you?” he asks, as though that’s what he’s looking into the car to see.
“No.”
“Back when I escaped Whitaker with Lacey in tow, I became obsessed with looking into the man I killed for him,” Jesse says as he pulls back from where he’d been looking into my car.
“I learned that my victim was a really good guy.
He had two little kids. He was divorced, simply looking for a hookup, and assumed I was eighteen.
There was absolutely nothing indicating the tendencies that Whitaker had convinced me he had.
He was pushed to the limit, forced to fight for his life because of Whitaker…
and I killed him, convinced he was a monster. Kill or be killed… or so I thought.
“It was really hard for me to face what I’d done because of Whitaker. And when Lacey saw Zach… I knew I would do whatever it took to make sure he couldn’t touch her because all of those people… he’s done everything he can to destroy them.”
Jesse sighs before he continues. “If Whitaker goes to prison… do you know how many fucking minds he can manipulate inside? He might never see outside those walls, but the people whose minds he fucks with will eventually get out and they’ll come for me.
It doesn’t matter where Whitaker goes, he will destroy my life. ”
Taking a deep breath, he asks, “Will you do this for me?”
“For you?”
“For Gabriel?” His look is desperate. “I don’t care who you do it for, I just… I need it to happen. I need him to die. Liam, you’re the only one I can count on.”
I blatantly rub my eye, hoping he gets the hint. Leave it to Jesse to do so. He’s always watching everyone. He didn’t have an easy path in life and probably got through a lot of it by assessing people, much as he assesses their bodies after death.
He gives me a nod that’s so discreet I barely catch it, telling me that Whitaker is watching us at this very moment, which means he can also hear us.
How on earth did we end up in this situation?
And how the hell am I going to get a fucking bomb off of Jesse?