The door slams shut, and light footsteps move closer before stopping right in front of the television. “I know you were watching me,” he says.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Will you please move? I’m watching that.” I gesture at him to slide away without letting on how relieved I am to see him in one piece.
“Oh yeah?” He turns to look at the show that was playing. “So, you’re watching Live: Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show 2024?”
I shrug. “I’m gay.”
“You wish you were refined enough to enjoy a fashion show. Did you know I get a notification every time someone accesses my location?
My eyes snap to him. “Seriously?”
He snorts. “No, but now I know you were keeping an eye on me.”He sighs and flops down beside me. “It’s so fucking condescending. You’re allowed to walk into the lion’s den all alone armed with a measly taser, and I can’t even meet a werewolf in public?”
“You’ve got to let that go. And I have combat training, remember? Why does everyone think I’m completely useless? I knew what I was getting into, and I was completely prepared for it. Unlike you, I can handle a werewolf or two on my own just fine.” Why does everyone think I don’t know what I’m doing?
Sam pulls one leg up onto the couch and faces me. “Dude, you know I’m not questioning your fighting abilities here. But this keeping an eye on my every move is weird.”
I blow out a breath. “Yeah, okay. I won’t do it anymore.” I lie. There’s no reason to fight him. He’s safe, and he’s here. I’ll just have to hide my paranoia better the next time he meets Adrian. “Did you at least get something out of it?”
Sam doesn’t look convinced by my easy submission, but he answers anyway. “Not really. He didn’t want to talk about his father at all. Felt more like he wanted to avoid that topic specifically. We mostly talked about his childhood, which seemed pretty normal.”
“What do you think? He’s hiding something?” I could be seeing things because I was desperate for them to be there.
Sam hums. “Can’t be sure. We definitely need to dig deeper here, though. I don’t think he knows you. He didn’t seem very interested in talking about you. Kept changing the topic every time I brought you up.”
I tilt my head as the song changes to one I don’t recognize. Sam pauses the video. “I still won’t rule him safe. We need to continue the precautions.”
“And they only apply to me, do they?”
“Ugh, I won’t go to his house alone. Can we get past that already?”
Sam sighs. “Whatever.” He gets up and makes his way to his room. Then turns. “I’m meeting him tomorrow for lunch at that cafe you like. We need to find everything before hestarts believing I’m in love with him or something. The guy is intense.”
Perfect. As he leaves, I decide I’m accidentally running into them tomorrow. Two people are better than one. Besides, as Sam said, we don’t want to confuse Adrian, especially if he turns out to be a good man.
Leaning back, I switch the fashion show with the footage from the building we’ve been surveilling. There have been no unusual activities in any of them. And none of them have been killed.
If that continues, we may have to find a new way to catch the killer and soon.
***
I spend the night obsessively checking my phone every ten minutes. To watch the video footage, of course. Why else would I let the white light burn my cornea in the dark? Nicholas obviously wasn’t going to text. Iknowthat. I made sure of that.
I don’t regret anything I said. He’d told me back when he was just dating me that he missed having someone to take care of. That’s why he loved Mickey. And that’s why he claimed to love me.
Besides, with a start like that, this relationship was destined to fail. I knew that even when I told him I loved him. When I begged him to love me back. I always knew it wasn’t going to work. So, I wasn’t hoping to hear from him again. It’d just make everything more difficult anyway.
Now that a new team is going to take over the investigation, they’ll inevitably find Dominic’s research. Despite the evidence Nicholas planted in Dominic’s house, they won’t dismiss it as easily as Nicholas convinced his team to. They’ll dig and find enough evidence to look closer.
Sooner or later, I’ll have to take up Sam’s offer to flee. And I don’t want to leave before ending the Raymond chapter. Who knows if we’ll ever find any trace of him again. This isthe closest we’ve ever come. So, this is my last chance to bring him to justice. He might be the last monster I end.
And even if the thought fills me with dread, I intend to keep my promise to Nicholas to whatever extent I can. Now that he doesn’t want anything to do with me, I can take my liberties with it. Not like I wasn’t already planning to do that before. The Vigilante Hunter won’t kill anymore. But Elliot will, for the first and the last time.
Therefore, around lunchtime, I tell Ashley I'd be eating out and drive to my favorite café.
I spot them quickly. A man as big as Adrian, dressed in a sharp suit, is hard to miss among people sipping coffee beneath striped umbrellas. They're sitting at one of the outdoor tables. Sam clocks me as soon as I start walking between the rows of white tables. His eyes narrow at me.
When I reach their table, I put on my best surprise face that Sam would have been proud of in any other circumstance. “Oh my god,what are you guys doing here?”
