Chapter 40
C assie
Subduing Piers was disappointingly easy. He squealed like a piggie, barely shaking Shade who gripped his throat while I knocked the rapist the fuck out with a needle and a fast-acting drug.
He dropped to the floor.
I spat on his prone form.
We got out the way we came in, with Shade having kicked through the lower panels of the fence Riordan and I once climbed. The cameras that watched over the garden had likewise been smashed and left hanging. In the car, we wasted no time getting out of the fancy neighbourhood and exiting the city.
Shade had already explained that we’d finish Piers off at the boathouse, and my fingers shook in anticipation.
They also shook at the words I’d just read.
Riordan loved me.
A rush of mixed emotions threatened me, part of fear, part elation, falling into turmoil with the bloodlust.
I found my phone. Read it again. And again. And again.
Goddamn it, Rio.
To distract myself, I clicked on the number that Tyler had sent me and wrote a very short text to my uncle. Just a brief statement that I was Cassandra’s daughter. He’d probably be a terrible person, but the contact was made.
The fact it was off the back of desperation was undoubtedly a bad idea.
I set my head back on the seat, trying to get myself under control. I couldn’t settle. Couldn’t think straight. My mind lurched to Riordan again and again.
I tried to force it elsewhere. To Lottie going to hospital but being okay, to Genevieve’s engagement and Everly’s pregnancy. Those were happy-ever-afters in action, and I loved it for them. I thought about Bronson, caught, the killer removed from the streets. I worried over the problem Dixie had promised to share and her obvious fear. She’d been so sweet and kind to me. I wished I’d had longer to talk more with her, but later, I’d find the time for certain.
Yet again and again, I came back to my boyfriend and imagined the words falling from his perfect mouth.
I love you.
God. I tapped over to my message thread with him. Started a reply. Deleted it. Started again.
Cassie: I’m sorry.
What was I sorry about? My carrying a burden of fear? Doubting myself? For being right? I didn’t know.
I couldn’t finish the text.
Killing Piers was going to be my salvation. At least in that, I knew exactly what I was doing. I’d get lost in removing him from the planet.
“What’s your method?” I blurted.
Shade snuck a look at me. “For the end? I read him his rights then kill him. How fast or slow depends on my mood and the time available. Though now I come to think of it, I like them to see their dick disappear into the river before they’re too far gone. Arran’s the same. Ye can pick your own ritual.”
He drove us on into the dark night, coming down off the hillside to follow the curve of Deadwater River. “I had a message from Struan. He and Riot want us to ask a few questions of our friend in the boot. They think the mayor is up to some shady shit but need details.”
I exhaled, some of my mental capacity returning. Riordan had messaged me the same. I could do that. Torturing Piers would be worthy. He deserved nothing less than a healthy dose of pain, and Riordan deserved answers about his father.
Ahead, a car cruised into an exit off the road. Skeleton crew acting as our support. We entered the car park and climbed from our vehicles. The two crew members set a fire going in a canister then took positions of watch. Shade retrieved Piers from the car and carried him to the dilapidated wooden structure, griping about how much he weighed.
My breathing quickened again.
This was it. It felt auspicious. It felt ominous. I’d do this again and again to rapists and abusers, but I wanted my first to be marked somehow. Important.
I opened the door and let us inside.
Water rushed further on down the dark interior, and the tangy scent of the river tickled my nose. I took a deep sniff then blinked, the odour not right.
There was something else in it.
Coppery. Like blood.
My gut tightened in anticipation. That was wrong. I’d been here before, and the place was cleaned of evidence. It had to be. Shade had a process down pat.
I turned back to him. “Who was responsible for cleanup in here last time ye used the place?”
His eyebrows dove together. “Did it myself.”
His expression shifted, telling me he’d picked up the same anomaly I had.
My sense of foreboding grew. Rounding to the steps, I climbed to the boat launch platform.
My boots rang on the metal walkway. My knees shook. The cold river rushed below, the open space thick with shadows.
It wasn’t dark enough to hide the body.
On the edge of the gantry, in danger of sliding into the frothing waves below, a woman sprawled. Naked. Unmoving.
A red slice glistened at her throat.
Oh God, no.
In pure shock, I clasped my hands to my mouth and stumbled as recognition hit me fast.
My pulse drowned out all other sounds. My whimper, the deadly water, Shade’s muttered anger, everything.
Not her. Please.
Shade grabbed my arm.
I spun around to the grim-faced enforcer, furious and with tears threatening. “Don’t. Don’t ye dare.”
My voice cracked.
I twisted back. Put one foot in front of the other until I reached Dixie’s lifeless body.
At her side, I sank down, my knees giving out at the last so I hit the metal hard. Her pretty face was tipped away from me, extending her neck to showcase the cut that had ended her.
It was the scent of her blood I’d picked up. Her loss of life as she’d bled out through the open floor.
With shaking hands, I wrenched off my jacket to cover her, and to give my friend a last shred of dignity.
“I’m so sorry.” My voice quaked. “I’m so sorry.”
She’d been murdered. Dumped here.
My thoughts snarled up too badly to consider what that meant for Deadwater’s serial killer, only that this was how the lives of four women had ended. No, not four. Five now. My friend.
With care, I settled the jacket on her torso.
My fingers grazed her skin.
I took a short breath. “She’s still warm.”
From behind, Shade’s footsteps thudded. He’d yelled to the crew to call for backup. Maybe for the police. I couldn’t process his words.
He settled next to me. Laid two fingers on her arm.
“The killer must’ve just done this.” I stared at him.
Shade’s gaze jerked from her wrist to her face. “Wait.”
Confused, I followed where his attention had gone.
Red bubbles formed at Dixie’s ruined throat. Air. Her chest rose, just slightly.
Shock slammed into me.
“She isn’t dead,” I stammered. Then I shook Shade by his shoulder. “She’s alive. Call an ambulance. We need to get her to hospital. She isn’t fucking dead.”
He jumped up and moved away. Feverish for action, I collected Dixie’s hand in mine. I wanted to press down on her throat to stop the bleeding, but what if I killed her with my touch?
“Listen to me, we’re getting help. You’re going to be okay. Do ye hear? We’re going to get ye to a hospital.”
I sobbed half the words.
Dixie’s lips moved. The action forced another well of blood to spill down her slender neck.
I squeezed her hand, wishing I knew anything about first aid. I could make this worse. She could die just from me trying. “Don’t try to speak. Save whatever ye need to tell me until later. I won’t leave ye. You’ll survive this. I swear.”
Everything that came next passed by like a movie scene.
Piers’ prone form vanished with a member of the skeleton crew, to go where, I didn’t care. Others arrived. Blue lights flashed. Hurried voices came with more ringing bootsteps.
Two burly ambulance men joined me, their faces ashen as they took in my friend.
“Help her,” I begged.
On their order, Shade guided me out of the way. I refused to go further than a few steps. One hooked her up to a machine while the other did something to her throat.
Dixie gave a soft, almost animal-like moan, more blood bubbling.
My heart nearly stopped. “Don’t hurt her.”
“I need to stabilise her breathing,” the second guy said. “Can you tell me her name?”
“Dixie.”
He repeated it. Talked to her as he manipulated a piece of equipment into her neck. In some quiet communication with his colleague, one retrieved a stretcher, and they moved her onto it.
Her eyes were open just a fraction, but I knew she looked for me.
“I want to go with her,” I said.
“Are you family?”
“She doesn’t have any family. I’m a friend.” They had to let me.
“Sorry, family only. Stay and talk to the police.”
Shade loomed beside me. “I’ll take ye.”
They loaded her into the ambulance and blue-lighted her into town. We chased them. Shade dropped me off with a promise to return after he’d handled the police.
I tracked her down to an emergency surgery ward, her bare foot uncovered by the white hospital blanket as they wheeled her into a room.
There was nothing left for me to do but wait.