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“Sorry. That’s the stress talking.” Between the case and his present personal life mixed with the past, his insides were like a volcano erupting.
“He was closed for business. Maybe he’s taking a long weekend with Labor Day approaching. I don’t know. We have his address and visited his residence, but he wasn’t home either. We’ll try again tomorrow after FedEx picks up the evidence to be taken to the lab in Quantico.”
“Yeah, well, last time we used FedEx, the evidence was stolen by a third party.” Not that it was the driver’s fault, but it had still happened.
“You want to fly your personal plane out?” Asa’s sarcasm was a clear indicator Ty was on thin ice. If he was still in the Family, he’d have access to two personal jets, but he refrained from voicing the remark.
“I’m going to bed,” Ty said, spent and not wanting to brawl. His nerves were frayed, and he knew he was being a jerk. He climbed the stairs to the top floor, then marched onto his private deck and leaned over the railing, staring out at the sound.
As the water lapped at the beach, he let his mind wander to the past and pick up the random memories. Making mud pies with Bexley. Climbing trees. Swimming in the creek. The first time he told her he loved her. He was eleven. He’d meant it even then. He’d never wanted to be with any other girl. At seventeen, he’d told her again he loved her. On her sixteenth birthday. Sealed it with a kiss under the stars.
He’d never meant it to go too far. Never imagined their secret would be uncovered, and to this day he wasn’t sure who saw or how anyone knew. He never dreamed Garrick would ask Father for Bexley’s hand in marriage, or that his father, who knew Tiberius loved her, would allow a union with Garrick.
Garrick’s laugh as he came downstairs still scraped against his spine like needles. Marrying Bexley was nothing more than a dig at Ty, who was the favorite son, and a way to get his hands on Ahnah more often.
But he didn’t get what he wanted. Neither did Ty.
And then there was Dalen. His oldest half-brother, laughing at the news right in Ty’s face and rubbing in the fact that the golden child wasn’t going to get Bexley after all.
His youngest brother, Lysander, had only been fourteen and thought Ty was mad because he got caught setting off firecrackers in John Marlin’s carport. That his dad overlooked. But the eldest son rule was the rule, and Ty still didn’t have a clue why he didn’t change it. Maybe Rand had always wanted Bexley for himself and saw Garrick’s accusation of her defilement as a way to have her as his own bride. She was beautiful, and he had often leered at her when she visited the house. Rand had made a point to bless her before leaving their home when she came over to hang out, which involved touching her hair and pronouncing a blessing before kissing each cheek. At the time, Ty never thought anything about it. Now? Rand was a perv.
“Hey man,” Owen said as he opened the squeaky screen door. “I knocked but you must have been in deep thought. Cool if I’m out here?”
“Sure.”
Owen took the Adirondack chair next to the small end table, and Ty eased onto the other one. For a while they sat in silence, listening to marsh grass rustle and the water lap in a calming rhythm.
“What’s going on, bruh? Ain’t like you to unload on Asa. Not unless he’s the one acting like a total behind.”
“People are dying because of me. Fire & Ice Killer or someone else. Doesn’t really matter. I’m the cause, and the woman I loved...she could be next. Ahnah could die. I gotta find this nut job. Quick. And we have one lame lead. It ain’t Ethan Lantrip or Skipper or whatever his name is. Can’t be.” Could it?
“Who’s got a vendetta against you?” he asked.
“Fire & Ice Killer. The MO is too similar. I want to look at the old case files myself.”
“Violet has them.”
Of course she did.
“You may be too fixated on the Fire & Ice Killer. Violet isn’t always right.”
“She’s mostly right, and again—the MO. Plus no one had a vendetta against me that I know about.”
“What about someone from your past? From the Family. Your brother—the one that wanted to marry Bexley and was cruel.”
“He got what he wanted in the end. Rid of me. I’m not a threat anymore—never was. I never wanted to take the office of Prophet. He knew that.”
“Anything I don’t know about? I feel like you’ve been keeping a lot from me when I’ve been forthright with you. You were there for me when things went south with Jasmin. That one stung, man.”
O was right. They’d been through a lot together. He owed him the truth, but he held back Josiah. For now. “No.”
Owen cocked his head and narrowed his eyes. “Walk me through your past again. Garrick to the inner workings of the cult. Close your eyes and go back to that place. Before you left to rent an apartment in Atlanta and take Bexley and Ahnah away. Tell me about the women and the girls in the Family. What were the beliefs, and how did they affect the two of you?”
“The Family of Glory honored pure marriages. Women were to remain virgins until after the wedding ceremony. If it was discovered that they weren’t prior to the wedding, they automatically went into the Prophet’s harem as another wife. Gave the man the chance to marry a virgin.”
“Okaaaay, keep going.”
“Everyone knew I wanted to marry Bexley, but I couldn’t until Garrick was married or at least engaged. But Garrick had zero intention of settling down.”
