“You rejected me.”
Considering that you’ve kidnapped me, twice, and that you drugged me, I feel that rejection was a good choice.“Yes, I stand by that.”
He blinked.
“Who died in your place?”Lily asked him.
He laughed.
Oh, but he was certainly full of himself.So confident.Almost high on his power.That overconfidence could work in her favor.
“You called me that day,” he recalled.“Asking for help.I didn’t intend for you to be there, you know.Didn’t realize you were watching Atlas so closely.”
“I called you even as I saw Atlas being attacked.Youansweredmy call, so that means you weren’t the one who attacked him.”She pulled lightly at the cuffs.Not like she could do some Houdini routine out of those.But maybe she could still getupwith them on her.Her feet pressed into the floor.Her legs weren’t secured.Her arms were behind her, but if she shot up quickly, her arms would just slide up and away from the chair.Once she was standing, perhaps she could hurl her whole body at Benedict.Knock him to the floor.And then what?
Hmmm.
She truly hated to think this way but…just what would her mother do?
Poison, of course.But not like Lily had some poison right near her.If only.
“Oh, that was a friend…” He eased back another step.“The same friend who taught me how to wire that bomb to explode at the cabin.”He raised a clenched hand.A hand with a slightly swollen wrist.“Boom.”His fingers spread.“An ex-con who thought I’d go easy on him because he was cooperating with me.Screw that shit.He was going down, too.People have to pay for their crimes.Justice will be served.”
“You put your badge on his body.You killed him…” She considered the timeline.“You did that while Atlas and I were in the basement?”
A nod.
“And how did you do it?”Keep him talking.If he was talking, he wasn’t killing her, and she could keep coming up with options to save her own life.
And to end his.
“You wouldn’t have stabbed him,” Lily decided.“Or shot him.Not like you could have some sort of injury that didn’t match the narrative you were trying to sell.”
His hand shoved into his pocket, only to rise a moment later, fingers holding tightly to a clear, glass vial.Liquid was in that vial.Looked like water, but she was sure it wasn’t.“Took a page from your playbook, Lily.”
Definitely not water.“Poison.”
A nod.“Who the hell is gonna run his bloodwork?Do a tox screen?The overtaxed ME?Nah.The poor vic died in a blaze.Burned beyond recognition.Don’t even know if theycando all those blood tests and tox screens and shit now.Not with the condition of the body they recovered.”
She didn’t take her gaze off the poison.“It’s not my playbook.My mother used poison.”But now she was worried.More worried than she’d been before.“What did you give me…at the car?”Was poison already in her blood?Was the clock ticking down and she didn’t know it?If so, she really needed to speed this scene along.
“A sedative.Worked like a charm, didn’t it?This…” He eyed the vial.“This will put you in the grave fast.Wanted to talk to you first.Needed our one-on-one session.A session with the great Dr.Lily Gallo.”Rough laughter.“I had to personally let you know that you didn’t see what was right in front of your face.”
“I’m not great.”He was so wrong on that.“But then, neither are you.”
His jaw tightened.
“The evidence pointed to you, and, for the record, I did figure it out.The cuffs were the first tip-off.Police grade handcuffs that you used on me and on Atlas and on the other two kills in Dallas.Guess you just couldn’t resist grabbing them from the station and using them on your victims.”
His eyes narrowed.
“The killer was punishing his prey, but…you’d had run-ins with both of the victims, hadn’t you?With the drug dealer, William Lloyd.With the domestic abuser and accused rapist, Conry Harding.”
“The charges wouldn’t damn well stick,” he snapped.“They kept walking.”
“So you punished them on your own.You started with William.Then you went right back for Conry.”
“They were dangerous men!They deserved what they got.”
