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“The killer,” I say matter-of-factly. “The one who used a chainsaw to dismember the latest victim. Jack thinks he was telling me I’m next and he’s coming at me in the mask with a knife. “
Jay curses.
Kit scowls and leans forward, pressing his hand on the table to meet me at eye level. “Are you fucking serious?”
“I’m better with a knife than he is. You, of all people, should know this.” It’s a reference to him helping Kane and Andrew bury Roger’s body.
“Why the fuck would you run off when this is going on?”
“Stop saying ‘fuck,’” I snap. “It’s offensive.”
He curls his fingers in the air and does a cute little pump thing that probably doesn’t seem cute to him at all. But I always enjoy watching people struggle to get a grip, which is never a problem for me. I’m in control. Or not, and when I’m not, someone dies. I really should analyze that later. After I catch my killer. I really don’t want to keep trying to talk myself out of killing him.
I stand up. “Time to go.” I offer Kit a deadpan look. “You want to go first so he’ll come at you first and I’ll finish him off, or do you want me to go first and just get the job done myself?”
He scowls or this is so frequent maybe it’s just part of his face and I never put that together. I slide the strap to my bag across my body and round the table. He stands his ground and lowers his voice. “You know I’m just trying to protect you, right? People with and without badges bleed, Lilah. Just let me help.”
“My mother was murdered,” I remind him. “My father may or may not have had something to do with it. A similar scenario applies to Kane’s mother. I know people die, which is one of the reasons I trust almost no one.”
“Really, Lilah? You don’t trust me?”
“I’m getting there, Kit. I’m not there yet. If you take a bullet for me like Jay did, it might speed up the process.”
“If I take a bullet for you, I let you get in a position to be shot at.”
“Hey,” Jay objects. “You just lost her. I kept up with her. That’s how it works with Lilah. You keep up or else. That night—”
I hold up a hand because that night was a night The Umbrella Man planned and planned well. He knew me. He knew me perhaps too well. “You did nothing wrong but get shot, Jay. Roger was a seasoned killer.” I eye Kit. “I don’t care if he dies. You understand?’
“Me?” Jay asks. “Are you serious, Lilah?”
Kit cuts him an irritated look. “She means the man in the mask.” He turns his attention back to me. “I don’t have a badge. I don’t arrest people.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Lilah arrest anyone,” Jay observes.
Because I kill them all. Nail on the head, exactly where my thoughts were this morning.
It’s a statement that says a little too much about me. I’m also not sure fighting the side of me that kills bad guys is smart right about now. I shrug. “I guess everyone needs to stop pissing me off and I might grab the handcuffs, not a knife.”
Kit offers me a heavy-lidded stare. “Do you carry handcuffs?”
“Piss me off and you might find out,” I promise.
“Does Kane know about the man in the mask?” Kit asks.
“How intense would the pressure be on you if Kane knew?” I counter.
“That’s a no. I can’t not tell him, Lilah, and neither can you.”
“For all we know, it’s Miguel, and he already knows about Miguel.”
“It’s not Miguel,” he replies.
“We won’t know until we take the mask off, now, will we?” With that, I step around him and walk toward the door, and I can only pray the killer comes at me. Focus on me and no one else. That works for me. As for Miguel being the man in the mask…if only. If only...
Chapter Twenty-Nine
I walk into the pizza joint and I’m back in bizzarro world because I’m looking at something I never thought possible.
