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“Am I under your skin?” Midas asked. He kept his tone mild. Oliver had asked Midas to do the bulk of the talking.
“Leave.”
“Why?” Midas’s hands were under the table. His pose appeared relaxed, but tension poured through every cell of his body. “Are you worried that I’ll realize you’ve been lying, yet again?”
Henry blinked. “What lie?”
“You tell so many. It’s hard to keep them all straight.”
Another mincing step forward.
“But let’s start with the big one,” Midas decided. I need this to be a lie. Because then I have a chance with Alina. “You didn’t kill Alina’s mother.”
Henry glared at him so hard and hotly that Midas was surprised the skin didn’t burn off his body. Elation began to fill him. Henry had been playing a game. Just throwing out that confession in an effort to break Midas. It wasn’t true.
Henry burst into laughter. Loud, raucous laughter. The same kind of laughter he’d been emitting as Midas punched him in this very room.
Terrance swiped his hand over his forehead. Oliver leaned forward in his chair.
And Midas felt his hope die.
Henry took mincing steps as he advanced. The guards secured him at the table. The grin still curled his lips as Henry said, “Oh, you poor bastard. Is that what you thought? That I was lying? No, son, I told you the truth. Hell, there was even a witness to the crime. Watched the whole thing. Why do you think I didn’t get to finish with her the way I like?”
No knife wound to her heart.
“Thought he was gonna run to the cops. But he didn’t. Realized later it was because he liked what he saw. It’s that way, sometimes. You don’t realize the beast is inside until something happens, and he gets a taste for death.”
“What witness?” Oliver asked.
Henry’s head angled toward him. “Am I talking to you or am I in the middle of a conversation with my son?”
Again, that response had been predicted. Oliver had said that Henry would view everyone else in the room as somehow less deserving of his time and attention.
But he’ll talk to me. Henry loved trying to destroy Midas. “What witness?”
Henry’s head swung back so that he stared straight at Midas. “Oh, you’ve met him.” He hummed. “So has that pretty, little Alina. Of course, you carried her away before they could really get to know each other better. I suspect that Bowie person was actually working for him. Not me. Never me.”
Midas jerked in his chair. The wooden legs creaked. He’d started to rise but caught himself. “Are you saying the man who organized the kidnapping was the witness?” And, no, they hadn’t fucking met. Midas had gotten Alina out of the cabin before—
“You should not be here,” Henry told him once more in a chiding tone. “I didn’t ask you to come. In fact, I gave you a chance. I want you to remember that when it’s all over. I put you in place so you could be the big, brave hero you always wanted to be. Making amends, you see. In my own way. My shrink tells me I have to do that.”
Midas tried to focus on the words that actually mattered. “You’re saying the person behind the kidnapping is still out there?”
“I’m saying that he’s an admirer of my work. Occasionally, he likes to tell me about the work he does, too. Though he can’t really compare with me. No one can. It’s like seeing a master’s work next to a novice’s piece.”
“We’ve checked your mail,” Terrance said as he edged toward the table.
“So nosey of you to read other people’s mail. Rude.” Henry didn’t seem concerned. “Didn’t your mother teach you better than that?”
Midas knew he had to get more. But…
I want to get back to Alina. “Why do you hate me?” Again, Oliver had coached him about this question. He was supposed to keep Henry off balance.
Henry pushed back in his chair. His shackles banged into the edge of the table. “What makes you think I do?”
“Because you set me up for multiple murders. Because you’re trying to wreck my life right now.”
“Nah, son. I am trying to help you. If you lose everything, that’s your own damn fault.”
