24.
“L edge, look!” Alex runs over to a long bench in the back gardens, crouches in front of it to grab something from the ground, then brings it over to me. “It’s her phone,” he says, turning around a smashed, all but annihilated iPhone in his hands. “It’s beat pretty bad, though.”
“Wait, what’s that?” Magner jogs over to a patch of blood-stained grass, just steps away from the bench.
I can feel my heartbeat crashing against my chest as I watch him pick up Cigs’ Glock from next to it, and as he walks back to the rest of us, I notice that the gun, just like the grass, is painted in blood.
“It’s got fingerprints on it,” Safiya observes, silently asking Magner to hand her the Glock.
He glances at Aras, who gives him a subtle nod. Sending an unsure look Safiya’s way, Magner places the gun in her waiting hand, then resumes his place next to Aras.
She rolls her eyes at him while pulling back her hand, then studies the Glock for a long moment before looking at me. “It’s not her blood,” she tells me.
“And suddenly she’s a one-woman forensics team,” Aras mutters with disdain.
She glares at him. “Say that again, and I’ll show you what else I’m capable of, you asshole .”
Magner sneers at her. “Watch it, Gaddafi.”
She cocks her head at him, completely unafraid of his overpowering frame. “Or what, kopek ?”
Aras moves towards her. “What did you just call h–”
“Shut the fuck up, you idiots !” Solo’s voice cuts through their argument, silencing them.
He points a finger at Magner and Aras, then at Safiya.
“Have some shame, will you? We’ve lost a member of our family to an animal , and you three can’t seem to find common ground with each other for one fucking night? ”
Guilt takes over their faces as they realize their error. Magner is the first to relent; he takes a step back and raises his hands. “Sorry,” he mutters. “I’ll behave, I promise.”
Aras clenches his jaw as he glances sideways at Safiya. “Fine; I’ll step back too, but only because I care about Cignette.”
Safiya scoffs, but when I give her a hard look, she sighs and nods apologetically at me.
“So, how do you know the blood on the gun isn’t Cignette’s?” Solo asks her.
With the Glock still in her hands, she runs her fingers through the now-drying blood on its body.
“The quantity of blood on the weapon is high. And, the blood itself is starting to turn lumpy, which means it was lost in great amount, most definitely after close-ranged gunshots. Fredrick confirmed that it was Cignette who killed his son, so I’ll say this is Timothy’s blood.
Besides, in the video, she didn’t seem to have taken a hit that warranted for too much blood loss.
She’s bruised, yes, but definitely not bleeding heavily.
” She hands me the gun, and with a swallow, I take it from her before gazing down at it.
The swan embossed on the Glock’s magazine is stained red, and I’m not a superstitious guy, but seeing that… it makes my chest hurt.
I sniff and use my thumb to clean the blood off the swan, then scratch the rest of it off with my nail before facing everyone. “The fingerprints on the gun are hers, so Safiya is right.”
“I saw two bodies being dragged out of here – Timothy’s, and a security personnel’s – so it’s possible she killed them both,” Magner adds.
“Seems like the only logical option,” Alex says.
“Where did you say they are holding her again?” Varsha questions Safiya.
She points to our right. “Behind the life-size hedges over to the si–”
“Dorran?”
We all turn around at once, and I see a man standing on the other side of the garden, assessing us all.
His hands are clasped in front of him, and his posture is relaxed.
The blue suit he’s wearing is hanging on by a thread against his short and stout frame, and as moonlight falls on him, it casts a sheen on his hairless head, and makes his skin appear pale.
“Yeah?” I answer, moving forward.
He gives me a slow once over, then smirks. “Mr. Byron would like to see you. Now ,” he states. “You’ve kept him waiting longer than he’d like.”
Alex comes next to me, followed by Varsha, Solo, and Safiya.
“I think it goes without saying that he’s not meeting Mr. Byron without us,” Alex says.
The man laughs darkly. “But of course .”
“ Heyman ,” Safiya spits his name. “I see you’re just as swamp-lathered as the last time I saw you.”
He narrows his eyes at her. “Since when did you start fraternizing with commoners ? Last I checked, you were too busy flipping gold out of your posh ass, cruising through the streets of this city in your pretty little Harley. I didn’t take you as the charitable type.”
“With your boss craving his company so fucking desperately , I wouldn’t exactly call my brother a commoner. Would you , Heyman?”
His gaze widens as he laughs once again. “Your brother ?” he spits out. “Oh, dear Safiya; you really are a charitable one, aren’t you?”
She grunts under her breath and makes to go to him, but I gently grab her arm, stopping her. When she looks at me, I shake my head at her, to which she gives in, pulling away from my grasp.
“Right, that’s enough time wasted,” Heyman all but announces, glancing between us with a disinterested expression on his face. “Follow me.” Turning his back to us, he starts walking in the direction Safiya had pointed moments ago.
I let go of a breath, then slide Cigs’ Glock in my pant pocket before feeling around for my switchblade in the other.
As the familiar weight of the weapon falls onto my palm, and its cool metal brushes my skin, I find comfort in its presence.
Giving the others a nod, I follow after Heyman, with the sound of my thrumming heart echoing like an unwavering drum in my ears.