“You think I’m capable of doing those horrific things?” Incredulity, his voice rising.
She shook her head, trying to meet his eyes. A couple on another table was looking at them curiously, and she felt her face burn. “Seth … I, please, let’s talk about something else.”
“But we’re not talking. You’ve barely said a word all morning.” He leaned in, lowered his voice. “Are you worried I’m going to stab you to death, Ori?” It was a growl, his face, contorted. “Are you scared I might eviscerate you? Cut you open like Alex did?”
Icy drops of terror went down her spine. She couldn’t look away from his gaze. The other couple was staring at them, and Seth turned his head and glared at them.
“Something interesting?” His fierce eyes bored into them, unblinking, the pupils so constricted they had almost disappeared.
The couple looked away quickly, clearly disturbed. Seth continued to stare at them until they got up and left, the woman casting anxious glances at Ori.
Ori was mortified. She got up and strode out of the restaurant, away from him, away from the violence of that moment. She walked blindly, automatically, toward the parking lot. She had to get away from him. Her breaths came in short, sharp gasps, fear and embarrassment a churning mass inside her. Seth caught up to her. She wrenched her arm from his grasp, but he stopped her.
“I’m sorry, please, Ori. I’m sorry.” He was breathing hard, his face red. “I’m so sorry. I’m just so … I can’t believe you’d even consider that of me. I’m just … hurt.” He stepped closer to her but didn’t touch her. “I’m hurt because you mean more to me that anyone ever has. I mean it. You are my family. I can’t imagine what it would be like to lose you. Please don’t push me away. Please. Look, let’s go home and talk.”
Without waiting for her answer, he took her arm and led her back to his car.
The detective camein and handed Maceo the photo. Maceo glanced at it. All five of them Every member of the Midnight Club. He felt sadness as he looked at them. Before all of this.Happy. Laughing. Brotherhood. He swallowed the lump in his throat.
“Mr. Wu, when you say you saw a man with a crossbow, is he in this photograph?”
He handed the man the photo and waited. With a sinking heart, he watched the man nod.
“Yes, yes. I do.” He waved a shaking finger towards the photo.
Maceo closed his eyes briefly, then said to the detective. “There you have it. Proof that Alex was the killer. Good riddance to the son of a bitch.”
The detective focused on Mr. Wu. “Mr. Wu, do you mean this man?”
He indicated Alex, standing in the center of the group, flanked by Maceo and Benoit.
“No, no. ” The man pulled on Maceo’s shirt as he turned to him. “Not this man …thisman.”
Maceo’s blood turned to ice as he saw who the man was identifying. Everything he knew was wrong. His heart banged against his chest, and he felt lightheaded.Oh god, no …
Because the man Wu identified was the one person he could have sworn would never have done this. The one person who they all relied on. The person that at this very moment was with the love of Maceo’s life. The man who had already tried to kill her.
Seth.
Panting for air, Netta looked up at him, her hatred radiating from her. “No. You are not worthy of anyone’s love. Not Viola’s. Not Ori’s. Not mine.”
Seth smiled. “Viola’s dead. Ori will be dead soon. You will be dead even sooner.”
Netta, despite her fear, smirked. “Poor little lonely boy. You’re pathetic.”
That got him. Seth ripped the bolt from her and used it as a knife, driving it again and again into her. He could hear her moans growing weaker, her life slipping away from her. Collateral damage, he thought. As he pushed the chair over and let her bleed out on the floor, he looked at her coldly. She’d been a good fuck, a beautiful distraction from the nearly overwhelming urge to kill Ori. Nothing could compare to that night in the car, Ori’s gasp of shock as he plunged his knife into her soft belly. He relived it every moment.
Seth coolly watched Netta die, then settled into the armchair to await Alex.
Poor, misunderstood Alex. How he played right into Seth’s hands.
A half hour later, he heard Alex’s car on the driveway and got up. Less than two minutes later, Alex’s howl of grief when he found his sister dead … then as Seth, coming at him from behind, looped the rope around his neck, finally the understanding in his eyes.
When Alex was dead, Seth had made it look like he’d hanged himself. More collateral damage. But Maceo needed to be sure Ori was safe, or Seth would never get to her again.
And that wasn’t acceptable. Ori was going to die, one way or another.
They had driven backto Seth’s in silence, Ori increasingly uncomfortable.You should have stayed in the city, stayed in public. Too late now.
