Chapter 24
Chapter
Twenty-Four
BARON
I flip through the local news channels over and over, briefly stopping on each to see if I can catch any breaking news.
Ves hasn’t said one word since we clarified that Lennox and I would have done the same thing he did, whatever it was, but he clammed up, got in the shower, and he’s been in there the entire hour he’s been home.
He just booted us out and locked himself in the bathroom, and while that normally wouldn’t stop either of us from getting in there, we decided to give our omega some space.
It hasn’t stopped Lennox from sitting outside the locked door, though.
Hell, I just came out to the living room a few minutes ago so I can’t really say shit.
I’m worried about his headspace, worried about any long term effects of what he did, but I know better than most, you have to process first in order to make sense of things.
Talking it out with anyone wouldn’t do him a bit of good right now.
The look on his face, the vacancy in his eyes, I know that look, so I can do the math, but I don’t like it on other people.
Correction.
I don’t like it on my people, not when I don’t have an explanation for it.
I can understand the struggle.
Right versus wrong, good and evil, to serve and protect.
Ves has been with the bureau for a long fucking time, and it’s been his job to catch the bad guys. I highly doubt he ever anticipated becoming one of them.
Depending on who you ask, anyway.
I would have torn that fucker apart right there at the show if Arlo and Cali weren’t with us.
I wouldn’t have thought twice about it but they were my focus.
Once I knew they were safe, that shifted to Ves, but he was insistent on Lennox and I coming back here and while I can understand the logic he posed.
I agree with it to a degree, and I have a better understanding of why he was so hellbent now.
To a degree.
If I had more information, things would be a hell of a lot clearer.
Clearer than my omega murdered the piece of shit who tried to hurt our girl.
That’s cut and dry, and he deserves a medal for it. I just want all the details, especially if there’s a way I can help.
I would have loved to help, truth be told.
My meds work for the most part. I avoid people and scenarios that could result in violence. I try to keep my nose clean because the two deaths I’m connected to on paper aren’t the only ones, but I need to keep it that way. Not just for my sake anymore, but my pack as well.
That said, I still would have liked to participate.
“Good evening. We interrupt this weather report for a breaking news story.”
Bingo.
I stop on channel four and cross my arms against my chest, watching intently as an on scene reporter starts answering some of the questions we’ve had since Ves got home.
“The body of an unidentified male was found in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park a few short hours ago by park rangers.”
I let the news play while I pull out my phone and start scrolling, knowing damn well if it’s on TV, the internet is going to be a gold mine.
Sure as shit, it is.
“Lennox!” I whisper-shout. “Lenny, get your big ass in here.”
He comes lumbering down the hall quickly, his worry laced with anger as he enters the living room. “What the fuck is your deal?”
I shake my head and motion for him to be quiet before I point toward the huge screen on the wall. I give him a few seconds for it to soak in then show him my phone, the two of us scrolling through the unauthorized photos of one of the more brutal deaths I’ve ever seen.
“No,” Lennox whispers as we both lean in, almost cracking our skulls together as we look over the skinned body. “No way, this wasn’t Ves.”
But I'm already nodding. “Hell yeah it was.”
“But it looks like… holy shit.”
Yeah, our omega made that crime scene look almost exactly like it belongs to the serial killer he’s been hunting.
“Authorities have yet to release an official statement but this reporter doesn’t need that to come to the obvious conclusion. The Orphan has struck again.”
“That was smart,” I grunt as Lennox nods. “That was really fucking smart.”
“Sure was. What better way to shift focus and throw everyone off than blaming it on the very well known psycho who’s currently terrorising the state?”
Exactly.
Ves said he and his team made a little headway, said that they started connecting some dots that weren’t obvious before. I bet he used that along with what he already knew to cover his tracks.
It makes perfect fucking sense.
I know there are serial killers who haven’t been caught, murderers who died before anyone figured out who they were, and if there are everyday assholes getting away with it, you can bet your ass a profiler for the FBI is going to be next level.
“Is it weird that I’m proud of him?”
Lennox shakes his head with a soft chuckle. “Nope, ‘cause me too.”
“We probably would have been in the way.”
“Definitely.” He pulls up a video of someone running along the police tape at the scene, watching with a grin the entire four and a half minutes it plays. “Not that I’m doubting either of our abilities to get out there and fuck some shit up, but—”
“We would have left something behind, maybe made some mistake we didn’t even know we were making.”
“Exactly.”
Then another thought occurs to me. “He was protecting us.”
Lennox nods. “He was absolutely protecting us. Us, and them.” He motions down the hall toward Cali’s room. “Ves was making sure none of it could be traced back to us.”
“And that we’d still be here if it gets traced back to him.”
My words hang in the air as I flip to another station, the hard reality of them heavy and a little suffocating.
Ves has to know that’s a possibility, no matter how small. No matter how good he was, or all the measures he took to make sure no one will ever find out what really happened.
If they somehow figured it out, if someone on his team or at the police department managed to link it to him, Ves could lose everything. He would lose everything, and he put that all on the line to make sure his daughter was safe, and his pack was taken care of.
I bet that asshole already made the adjustments to his life insurance policies, and his will.
“You don’t think—”
“Gotta go,” Ves grunts as he comes barreling down the hall, shoulder holsters already in place as he pulls his suit coat on.
I blink a few times then shake my head. “What the fuck do you mean you have to go?”
“Work. Got a body.” He grabs his keys and phone from the counter, stuffing them into his pockets as he walks toward the door. “Yes day today. I’ll try to come back for lunch.”
Then he’s gone.
“Did he really just leave?” Lennox asks, both of us staring at the closed door as if we can see through it.
“Sure did. Our omega just left to go to a crime scene he just created.” And if that isn’t the fuck all of it wasn’t me, it was the one armed man, I don’t know what is.