Page 52 of Darling

“If he gets away tonight … it’s on you,” Detective Hook said, breathing hard with anger.

Wendy didn’t turn to face him. “No. It’s not,” she said firmly. “I’m just a kid, asshole. And you should have called my parents.”

CHAPTER 15

Everyone looked up when the officer opened the door. Ominotago and Tinkerbelle had drifted to Fyodor’s side. Fyodor was white as a ghost from stress. Charles had managed to get his cuffed hands in front of him like Ominotago and had an arm around Minsu’s shoulders. Nibs and Curly were sitting on the floor between Fyodor and Minsu, Curly’s chin on Nibs’s shoulder. Curly looked like he’d been caught whispering in his brother’s ear.

Wendy stared at Tinkerbelle for a long moment, ages after the door had closed behind her. “You told me to stay home.”

Tinkerbelle’s eyes filled with tears, and she hid her face in the curve of Ominotago’s neck. Wendy crossed the room in three long strides and swept Tinkerbelle into a tight hug.

“I’m sorry!” Tinkerbelle cried, muffled into Wendy’s hair.

“No,” Wendy said resolutely. “Thank you for trying.”

“Did you sign the NDA?” Ominotago asked gently.

“Yes. We have ten minutes before I have to tell Detective Hook whether I’m going to join you all or not.”

“Okay, you need answers,” Ominotago said seriously. “And you need them fast.” She squeezed Wendy’s shoulder with her cuffed hand. Then she scooted over to create room on the couch for Wendy to sit between Tinkerbelle and Fyodor. Charles and Minsu joined the group, sitting on the floor in front of the others and completing the circle.

Ominotago nudged Tinkerbelle. “You go first.”

Tinkerbelle took a moment to get her breath under control and began. “Peter wasn’t looking for you specifically; it was a coincidence. The whole thing with his jacket threw the timing of the entire night off. So I was angry when we met because you were already ruining things before you knew it. We were supposed to get to the train station twenty minutes earlier, and the cops would have been able to grab Peter on the train platform, where there are limited places to run. They probably panicked once we didn’t arrive when they expected, so they started trying to make barricades, but it was too late. Peter watches where we go, so Curly, Slightly, Nibs, and me can’t ever meet with the police in person. He also pays our cell phone bills so he has access to our call and text records, so we can’t talk to them that way, either. We were relying on Ominotago as direct contact for timing, and we missed our connection point. I’d been hoping that you’d get scared off by my story, but you stayed, anyway. You could have gotten away, back—”

“I know, Tinkerbelle, it’s okay.” Wendy squeezed Tinkerbelle’s hand.

“The next opportunity was at the Mermaid’s Lagoon, but by that time, Peter probably knew something was up. The cops chase him every several months or so, but they only tend to do one attack at a time, not many in a single night, so he probably thought he was in the clear—”

Curly interrupted Tinkerbelle. “Peter has been paying the Crocodile off to create interference for as long as I’ve known him.” He nudged Nibs, and Nibs agreed. “The Crocodile takes in a decent chunk of money to keep the police off our backs and texts Peter about where the police will be so Peter can avoid them,” he said. “However, if the Crocodile turns Peter in, he’ll get a lump sum reward, so he’s not 100 percent trustworthy. He’s just holding out to see how much he can get off Peter in the long run before bringing him in.”

Curly frowned, then the corners of his mouth started wavering as he forced himself not to cry. “They met that night with me and Slightly and James at the train party, when Hook almost caught us. The Crocodile agreed that he would protect us all, so long as Peter paid him on time. Not that it did James any good. The Crocodile never said he’d protect us from Peter,” Curly finished bitterly, wiping his eyes on the shoulder of Nibs’s jacket.

Wendy felt a frisson of terror as she reassessed the events of the night. “So Peter really … James … I’d hoped that…”

“You didn’t see James again, did you? Did anyone? Peter probably pushed James off the train,” Fyodor said. He closed his eyes, swaying in a way that made Wendy genuinely concerned about his health. “Is he alive?” He continued, “Perhaps. But also, perhaps not.”

“Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh God. Oh my God,” Wendy mumbled, horrified.

“We don’t have time for you to process this,” Ominotago said firmly. “You probably only have six more minutes before the cops come back. Let’s keep this going. My family knows about Peter and knew the cops were coming to raid the party. The decor was less elaborate, and we had fewer places for someone to hide so that finding Peter in the building might be easier. But he slipped out of there somehow. What else?”

“He never touched me when we were dating,” Tinkerbelle said hollowly. “It was like he didn’t know how.”

“Same,” Ominotago said quickly. She snapped her fingers at the group. “What else?”

“When did you guys figure out all of this?” Wendy asked.

Ominotago pointed at herself and Tinkerbelle. “Three months ago for the both of us. Charles had suspicions slightly earlier, but he got confirmation from the police with me and Tink. We told Fyodor and Minsu soon afterward. Curly?”

Curly looked like he was in agony. “Almost a year,” he said curtly, voice thick. “Alexander … another brother before James … went missing, and I saw Peter washing his hands in the sink. He said Alex had run away, but later I found Alex’s cell phone on the floor in the bathroom behind the toilet, like it had been dropped. Alex wouldn’t have left without it. I told Nibs a month later, and it took him three more months to believe me.”

Nibs clenched his jaw so hard that it looked like it hurt.

“I know it’s not your fault,” Curly continued sharply.

“It’s none of our faults,” Tinkerbelle said.

“I know.” Nibs hung his head. “I’m still sorry. I’ll always be sorry.”