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“Yeah, but no one is going to blink at an electrical company handling electrical in a room,” I say. “It has to be one of them.”
“Orbothof them,” Roy retorts. “Let me gather more evidence. Now that we have a direction, I’ll dig into it. I’ll get you something concrete soon.”
We hang up and I bring my arms around Sarah. She looks shaken, which isn’t surprising. They might not have been parents, but she’s lived with those people for a while, and while she knew the son was the worst, she hadn’t known what kind of people the parents were. She might even have trusted them a little.
I have to be here for her, to comfort her, even as my instincts are demanding something else entirely.
Inside, my rage is brewing, too bright, eclipsing everything else.
I was there. I was in their house, and I had them at my mercy. But they’d tricked me, so I knew better.
Shit, there was another girl in their house—some kid with boy band posters, likely around the same age Sarah had been when they were trusted to look after her.
No matter. Today’s a new day.
I’m not waiting for Roy’s intel. I’m not even going to ask my brother to help this time. I learned what I needed from our first trip. All I need is a solid alibi and an exit. Markus was always going to let me do the dirty work. And a good thing, too. I want to kill those bastards.
I need to.
And I know exactly how to go about it.
86
MARIUS
We’ve been in a game of cat and mouse for weeks, and the fuckingClarkswere the cats all along. Sarah was their mouse. Time to bring a tiger to the fray.
I knew they wouldn’t resist the bait when I had maintenance call them back.
“You left without checking the kitchen wiring yesterday,” the staff member says, as instructed. “There’s a suspicious smell at the back of the fryer when it’s on.”
“Yes…we had an emergency,” the man on the line says, sounding tired. “We can come back. We still need to do the dorms.”
I bet they do. I nod to the man making the phone call for me, mainly because my voice is too recognizable to anyone paying attention.
“Great. What time can we expect you?”
“Two,” a feminine voice pipes in. “I need to prepare before going in this time. We’ll finish it.”
My fist tightens, but for the sake of the poor boy looking at me like he thinks he might have done something terribly wrong, I fake a smile. “Thanks, Ben, buddy. I’ll let the board know you did a great job.”
He smiles. “Right. Thanks. Anything else I can do?”
“No, my friend. I have this.”
And I do.
My next phone call is to my elder brother—the one who looks the most like me, and the one I don’t yet owe any favors to. “So, can you do it?” I check. “At two.”
Magnus sighs on the other end. “Why you try to involve me in childhood pranks, I’ll never know.”
To keep me out of prison if necessary.
“You attend my sociology class, dressed as me, and I owe you an unnamed favor. That’s the deal. Are you taking it, or do I have to call Markus?” Reminding him my little brother is an option has always been the ace up my sleeve.
Magnus can’t stand to lose anything to Markus—certainly not something as valuable as a favor.
But I need him to do it. Markus is too distinctive. The way he walks, talks, moves, is quite unique to him. Magnus only has to remove his glasses and a T-shirt, sweatpants combo, and he’s basically me.
