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“Beck hauled Pamela outside,” Jolene added, picking up where Devon left off. “She looked at the baby like she’d never seen him before. She asked us to commit her to the ward permanently, and she’s never asked to be free; never tried to escape. I suppose she’s punishing herself, really. She’s deteriorated since then. I think knowing that she was responsible for the baby’s death and that she’d caused Devon such trauma … it just broke something in her.”
“I go to see her sometimes,” said Devon. “She’s not insane, but she’s not totally rational either. She has days when she’s lucid. Other days … they’re not so good. Sometimes she remembers why she’s in the ward, other times she’s confused and just can’t piece everything together. But she always knows who I am, no matter how muddled her mind is at the time.”
Probably because Devon was the woman’s one constant; the very thing she clung to in order to center herself as best she could. “Has anyone told her of the recent kidnappings?” asked Tanner.
Jolene shook her head. “It would be very harmful to her state of mind. What she doesn’t know can’t hurt her.”
“Is there anything else I need to know?”
“That’s the whole story,” Jolene told him. “We wouldn’t have kept it from you if we thought it was relevant to what was happening right now.”
“Well, I think that it is relevant.” He cut his gaze to Devon. “I don’t think the reason you were kidnapped had anything to do with Asa. I think whoever wanted you used him as a smokescreen.”
Devon’s brow creased. “A smokescreen to hide what?”
“You heard Roth,” he said. “Flanagan—or whoever spoke through him—claimed they knew where Pamela was, and they stated that she needed to pay. Even called her a bitch. Someone targeted you to get at Pamela. Why?”
“It won’t be someone looking to avenge the baby, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Jolene cut in. “The mother killed herself and her older son not long after the baby’s funeral. The father wasn’t in the picture. And there’s nobody in the lair who would feel a need to avenge them or they’d have done it long before now.”
“I wasn’t thinking of the baby’s family,” said Tanner. “Someone heartsore over his death would have used stronger wording than ‘that bitch Pamela.’ That phrase sounds pettily bitter. Resentful. So, who else has Pamela wronged?”
Jolene pursed her lips. “People tended to pity her. She isn’t a bad person. Never was. She’s just weak.”
“Someone didn’t pity her,” Tanner pointed out.
Jolene stood and began to slowly pace. “If this was just about hurting Pamela, why not demand something from me? Why bring Finn into it? He’s not part of our lair.”
“Exactly. It makes me wonder if someone was using Devon to punish them both. The people who’d want to do that? Well, you have four, as I see it. Leticia, Spencer, Reena, and Kaye.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Rocked by his words, Devon stiffened. “I’m not saying they don’t hate Pamela or that they’re not pissed at Finn. But they love him, Tanner. They wouldn’t concoct a scheme like—”
“People betray each other all the time, kitten,” he softly reminded her. “And they’d see it as fitting, considering he betrayed them.”
“Okay, but they could have hurt him in a billion other ways.”
“Yes, they could have, but this isn’t just about him. You, Pamela, and Finn shook their world. I think at least one of them wants you all to pay for that.”
“But whoever’s doing all this made it very clear that the kidnappers weren’t to harm me,” Devon pointed out.
“This is about revenge, kitten. They probably want to be the one who makes you pay. Especially since they can’t physically reach Pamela. They can only hurt her through you. You’re the only thing that matters to her. Take you out of the equation, and she’d have no other reason to live. No other reason to hold on to what semblance of sanity she has. It would wreck her.”
Devon’s stomach bottomed out. He made sense, and she hated that.
“The person behind all this didn’t bank on me marking you; they’d expected to have their hands on you by now. Think of what would have happened if their plan had worked.”
Devon licked her lips, running through the scenario in her head. “If I hadn’t escaped the incantor, then I’d be in the grasp of whatever fucker hired him. They would have asked Finn to make the trade, but he wouldn’t have handed over Asa.”
“That’s right, he wouldn’t have. Primes need to be ruthless. They can’t afford to show weakness. Can’t be seen to give into terrorist actions. Despite understanding that, Knox and Jolene would have pushed him to make the trade. And if he refused …” Tanner trailed off, allowing her to finish.
“They’d have killed Finn,” said Devon.
