“I was a seventeen-year-old girl clearly on the run from something. I think they took pity on me.”
“I’m going to need their name,” I say.
Freya shakes her head. “They have nothing to do with my father. I found them on my own.”
I sit forward, leaning my elbows on my thighs. “That’s not how this works. I ask, you tell. You don’t get to pick and choose, darling.”
Freya’s jaw hardens. “The agreement says I need to tell you anything I know that could aid the investigation. My father has never had any contact with the forger, knowing their identity will not help you catch him.”
Eli pushes off the wall. “This is bullshit. She should be in an interrogation room not our fucking living room.” He points at me. “I told you this wasn’t going to work. We can’t trust her.”
His outburst has Freya flinching but before I have a chance to respond, Freya pins Eli with a ferocious look. “I want to catch myfather. You can trust that. I will do everything I can to help you put him behind bars, but I will not give up the person who saved my life.”
Her defiance hangs in the air for a moment. Eli’s waiting for me to put an end to this but I’m not going to. Whether we can trust her or not, we’ll get more out of Freya when she’s calm and relaxed than if she were locked up again. I know why Eli’s hurting and it kills me to make him do this, but I have to think about the end goal. Right now, working with Freya is the best chance we have of catching Maxwell.
Jude reaches out to Freya again. He takes her hand in his, rubbing circles on her wrist with his thumb.
She tenses at first but then settles back into the cushions.
“You never answered the first part of the question,” he says, “why did you run?”
Freya shrugs. “Because if I didn’t, he would have made me kill his next victim.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Freya
A LETHAL SILENCE sucks the air out of the room. I don’t think anyone’s surprised. I asked for immunity for a reason after all, but Eli’s glare is thunderous. To be honest, I prefer that to the pity twisting Jude’s face.
I draw in a breath and block out their reactions. I knew the second I signed the agreement I’d have to talk about this shit but apparently that doesn’t make it any easier. I’m self-aware enough to know that I probably look like a robot right now but inside I’m trembling.
“Had you previously killed any of his victims?”
My nails dig into the couch. I was expecting the question, but River’s words still tighten like a noose around my neck. I swallow against the pressure and make sure my next word comes out loud and clear. “No.”
“Have you killedanyone?”
I’m still sitting cross-legged and Jude’s palm curls around my socked foot. I jolt a little, but his touch grounds me. “No.”
Eli asks the next question, glaring at me over crossed arms. “Were you in any way involved in the murders of Maxwell’s victims?”
And there it is. The question I’ve been dreading. The one I never wanted to have to answer out loud. I can feel a flashbackclawing at my mind, but I lift my head and meet Eli’s accusing gaze.
Never show them you’re scared.
Eli’s hands tighten into fists, his knuckles whitening.
Oz shifts in his seat and keeps one eye on Eli. Until this moment, I didn’t think Eli would actually hurt me, but the way Oz positions himself, as if he’s ready to intercept at any moment, has me second guessing myself.I force the answer out anyway. One simple word. “Yes.”
Jude swears under his breath.
I turn just in time to see River puts the dots together. “Your question, at my lecture. How did you know Maxwell wasn’t the one to make the crosses?”
He knows the answer already, but I say it anyway. If we’re going to work together, there are certain things they need to know, and this is one of them. “I knew,” I say. “Because I’m the one who made them.”
River just nods but Jude’s hand leaves my foot, and my toes go cold.
Eli slams his fist into the wall, and I jump, scrambling back on the couch. He takes a step towards me, but Oz shoots up and blocks his way.
