The Villain
It was midnight before the man of the house—apartment, whatever—graced us with his presence. He stopped in his tracks when he found Hemlock sitting at his kitchen table and Juniper bundled in my arms. I had a thick sweater and leather gloves on so the baby wouldn’t freeze.
“Officer Castle, it’s about time you showed up.”
“Where’s my wife?” he asked.
“Funny, I was going to ask you that.”
“How the fuck should I know where your wife is? I don’t even know who your wife is.”
I tsked as Juniper started to stir. “Keep your voice down, you’ll wake the baby.”
I began rocking in place, hoping she wouldn’t. I’d only picked her up a few minutes ago when she started to cry. I might be an asshole, but I hadn’t planned to use this man’s newborn baby against him—that just wasn’t right.
“Please, don’t hurt her. I’ll do whatever you want. Just put her down.”
“We’re not here to hurt anyone,” Hemlock said softly. “We just have a few questions that need answering. Then we’ll be on our way.”
“I’ll answer whatever you want. Please, just put my baby back in her crib and tell me where my wife is.”
“Your wife is safe, sleeping soundly in your room. But if I put little Juniper down she’ll start crying so I think I’ll hold onto her for now.” I nodded at Hem to turn the video feed for their nanny cam. “See for yourself.”
The officer approached cautiously, but visibly relaxed when he saw the rise and fall of his wife’s chest.
“You’re welcome to check on her before we get started.”
He looked between me and Hem, then his daughter and the camera feed.
“I just want to know where my wife is. I promise you, I would never hurt your daughter or your wife, Violet would never forgive me.”
Castle’s eyebrows knitted together. “Violet Hayes? Violet Hayes is your wife? Who the fuck are you?”
I stepped into the moonlight streaming through the balcony door. His jaw dropped.
“They said you were dead…”
“Yes, they certainly did their best. But Violet saved my life and now it’s my turn. So, where is she?”
“I… I have no idea. Why do you think I do?”
“You expect us to believe, you have no idea what your partner has been up to? Speaking of whom, where was Officer O’Neill tonight?” Hemlock asked.
“He called out, some kind of family… Wait, you think he took Violet? Why… Why would he do that?”
“That’s what we were hoping you could tell us. We know he did it, we know he’s been after her for a while, but we don’t know why. So, have a seat. Enlighten us.” Hemlock kicked out the seat across from him.
“Who are you?”
“Hemlock, at your service.”
Castle paled. “You swear you won’t hurt my family if I answer all your questions?”
“I swear. We just want Violet back. You answer our questions, we’ll help you all get out of the city and you’ll never see us again.”
“Why would we need out of the city?”
“Violet missed her check-in and every villain in the country will be making their way here to tear the city apart to find her. We’ve already made arrangements to get you on a train to Thunder Bay. Your mother-in-law will be waiting for you at the station. So, do we have a deal?”
“What do you want to know?”
It turned out, he knew more than we thought.
He absolutely hated his partner. They got paired together three years ago and there was an instant dislike.
O’Neill was too chatty, always in his face, doing things totally and completely by the book.
Castle said it felt like he was trying to distract from something, but he hadn’t known what.
He found O’Neill’s obsession with Violet really fucking weird.
Especially after the first meeting. A call came in over the radio that there was an attempted mugging, the assailant was subdued and the victim was waiting for police to give a statement.
He jumped on it, even though they were over ten minutes away.
Castle tried to reason with him—just because the assailant was subdued now, didn’t mean it would stay that way.
That was the first time O’Neill’s mask slipped.
After the fourth call, Castle started digging.
He asked a friend in the RCMP to peek at his partner’s records.
It turned out O’Neill came from a long line of senators.
So why the fuck did he become a cop who appeared to have no political aspirations?
Then people started going missing. A mugger here, a drug dealer there.
And no one seemed to care. But Castle had been investigating off the books, even found some links to the O’Neill family.
“Wait right here.” Castle practically sprinted down the hall.
I followed him, taking the opportunity to put Juniper back in her crib.
In the hour we’d been talking she’d settled back into a deep sleep.
He didn’t notice me until we entered the bedroom.
Abby was still sleeping peacefully, sprawled out on their queen sized bed as I set Juniper into the crib in the back corner.
“You’re good with her.”
“What?” I asked turning to the officer.
“Junnie. Usually it takes me hours to get her back to sleep without Abby.” He looked at his wife with a small smile before turning his attention back to me. “But you managed to keep her from fussing the whole time. You’re good with her.”
I looked back at the baby. It had only been two months since V came home with all those pictures and videos. I hadn’t considered a committed relationship, let alone marriage or kids, before her. But I’d realized in that moment I wanted anything and everything she was willing to give me.
Only two months ago. It felt like yesterday and years ago.
“You’ll get her back.”
I nodded once. I knew I would. I wouldn’t stop until I did, but I was terrified.
Every second she was away from me, I was struggling to breathe.
What were they doing to her? Was she scared?
Was she in pain? Was she trying to escape?
Was she waiting for me to save her? What condition would she be in when I found her?
Would she lose hope? Would she hate me for leaving her alone?
Would she remember how to laugh and smile? Would she lose the light in her eyes?
“She’s strong. Probably the strongest person I’ve ever met. She’ll be okay.”
I huffed. “I’m usually not this easy to read.”
Castle chuckled. “You’re not. I’m just saying the things I would want to hear if our roles were reversed.
” He paused. “Sorry, I’m not just saying that because I would want to hear it.
It’s all true. You will get her back and she is strong.
I’m not saying she’ll be okay when you find her, but she will be eventually. Just don’t let her push you away.”
I snorted. “Not in a million years.”
“When you find her, know there’s a place for both of you in Thunder Bay. If she needs to get out of the city to heal, Abby and I will be happy to have you. And you can teach me how the hell you got my baby to sleep right away.”
He grinned when I laughed.
“You’re not worried about Violet stealing her?”
“Naw. At least not permanently. Now, should we get back to it?”
I nodded. He turned to the closet and pulled out a chalkboard—more accurately, a murder board. There were newspaper articles, police reports, and pictures on both sides, connected with green, yellow, and red strings.
“You’ve certainly been busy.”
“Oh, this isn’t all. Give me a second.”
He pulled out three more before he turned back to me.
“Holy shit, dude, do you even have clothes in there?”
He laughed. “Yes, to hide my investigation. Oh, speaking of observations, you know your friend out there is in love with your wife. Right?”
I sighed and rolled my eyes. We weren’t talking about observations, but sure, why not.
“Yes. Thank you for that. I’m not oblivious.”
“I’m surprised he’s still breathing.”
Another sigh. “I think about it daily, but V would be pissed at me. I’m giving him a bit of grace period to get over it, considering he just found out she’s my wife eleven hours ago.”
Hemlock popped his head into the room, glaring at me.
“I still don’t understand what the fuck she was thinking when she did that. When we find her, I’m going to have to make sure you didn’t coerce her into it.”
I flicked my fingers in his direction. A pebble of ice took form and hit him square in the forehead.
“Fuck off, dude. I didn’t coerce her into anything.”
Hem gave me a sad smile. “Well, let’s hurry up and find her so I can make sure.”
I nodded. I wasn’t the only one who wanted to get her back, worried about what she might be going through. Violet teased me about having a team. Well, I accepted it now and we were going to do whatever it took to get her back.
Even if we had to burn the city down to do it.