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“There was no mud on her face in the crime scene photos, Blane. Only minute traces were found in her hair and in her mouth because she’d been in the water for a while. The only way you’d have known that she was pushed face first into the mud and suffocated was if you’d been there yourself when she died. Either you killed her, or you helped the person who did. What happened, Blane? Did you owe so much money to Padraig that you had to repay it by killing your own sister?!” Sage screamed.
Blane stumbled but Nate caught him.
They entered the musty cabin and headed for the stairs.
“Talk!” Sage yelled.
“I got in deep with my gambling debts. At one of Padraig’s clubs in B.C. Rosemary told me about the place. She was working there. They ran an underground poker game for high rollers. Next thing I knew, I was in so much debt I couldn’t see a way out. So, Padraig told me I could repay him in various ways. I gave him references to my legal contacts, and people in finance who could help them launder money. Shit like that.”
They walked down the stairs and Sonny opened up the first room.
Cameron and Naria were still down here, as was Raven and Padraig. All four of them looked like death was bearing down, the stench of blood overwhelming in its intensity.
Sonny tied Blane to a chair while Sage stood in front of him. He struggled and sweat was rolling down his ashen face.
“Then what happened?”
“Raven reached out to me. Said they’d wipe half my debt out if I did them a favor. I flew out to Canmore. Raven--”
“Shut your mouth, you fucking moron!” Raven growled.
His black hair was matted with blood, and dark streaks of pink ran down his face.
“In case you haven’t noticed, it’s over!” Blane shook his head, his body trembling. “Raven told me to go to their lockdown site, out near the Michichi river. He told me there was a package that needed to be… permanently disposed of.”
Sage bit back the urge to throw up.
“When I got there, Rosemary was already beat up. Real bad. Said she was gonna go to the cops and tell them about Padraig’s business, about everything she knew about the club, including some guy in the government they were bribing. She wanted out. At first, she was so happy to see me she just kept talking, and talking. She was so fucking stupid. She wouldn’t shut up. Until she realized that there was only one way I could have known where she was.”
“Jesus Christ, Blane.”
Blane bit his lip. “I shoved her in the mud. I tried to do it as fast as possible. She was already tired by then, and it didn’t take that long for her to… to stop breathing. Then I slipped her into the riverbank. And I confirmed with Raven that it was done.”
Sage couldn’t hardly believe the words Blane was saying and yet, it was all there.
The truth was closer than she’d ever believed possible.
Then she thought about poor Rosemary. For a brief moment, Rosemary thought Blane was there to save her and then just as suddenly, he took her life. It was a sick turn of fate that Sage wouldn’t ever fully comprehend.
Sage walked to the corner of the room where Padraig was tied up.
“You! You piece of shit. You did all this. It all comes back to you.”
Padraig looked up at her with cold eyes and sneered.
“Fuck off, cunt.”
“Actually, my name is Sage Lowry. Sage Benson Lowry. Rosemary’s sister. And I’ve been waiting for this day for a long fucking time.”
Sage turned around and nodded at Sonny. Then she glanced at Gage and Nate before she headed up the stairs.
Blane screamed her name.
Once.
Then silence.
Sage kept walking up the stairs and finally stepped out of the bunker.
