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Elliot’s eyes widened and he looked away, dragging a finger across the page of his book. The mask he had slipped on was now gone. Now I knew his tells, and that meant he had been telling the truth about wanting to give Beverly a break.
Before I could ask him what he was really in for, my shivving target stomped into the library.
Chapter 5
Myvictimmarchedintothe library as though he owned the place. His white hair was cut short, and he wore his jumpsuit unzipped halfway down his chest as though he thought he was hot shit.
This was Volos, the person who had murdered one of Juniper’s men. Oscar had been brought back to life, thankfully, but this guy had still slit his throat over a vat of ice cream.
To think, I had been in prison with him for almost two years before Juniper told me. Maybe she knew I’d do something to him and get into more trouble. But it would be worth it.
Volos’s gray eyes shone with a rage that could not be quelled. The rage of someone who believed they were better than everyone else if only someone, anyone, would recognize it.
A type of rage I knew well.
His gaze fell on Beverly. She was stacking her pieces of wood like some HGTV snob trying to decorate a room just right.
“What the fuck is that beaver doing?” Volos roared as he plodded toward Beverly.
I leaped between him and the beaver. Behind him, Elliot jumped to his feet and rushed around his desk.
“Like the beavers of every woman you’ve ever spoken to, this one wants nothing to do with you,” I said.
The thing with assholes who thought they were better than everyone else: they were actually cowards. Acting like they were the best was just a front to cover their fear.
Volos glowered at me but took a step back. “You’re all paying for this furniture!” He spun on his heel and snapped at Elliot, “Where are the new donations? I want the puzzle books.”
“Umm… aren’t those for everyone?” Elliot said.
“I’m the head librarian. They’re for who I say they’re for.” Volos marched down the row of shelves. “Where did you put them?”
Elliot gaped after him. “There isn’t a head librarian,” he whispered.
I crouched down and pulled up the leg of my jumpsuit to retrieve a tampon and applicator from my sock.
“Keep an eye on Beverly and a look out for guards,” I told Elliot.
“What are you doing?”
“Less than he deserves.” I spared a glance at the pieces of jagged wood Beverly had chewed.No, I’m not murdering anyone, I reminded myself. I was better than I once was.
So, clutching the tampon applicator, I followed Volos into the stacks.
I found him crouched by the back wall as he rummaged through a cardboard box. He didn’t even hear me coming. I had been a thief, and I knew how to move quietly, even in the clunky prison boots.
I wrapped an arm around his throat, putting him in a chokehold. As his mouth opened, gasping for breath, I jammed the tampon applicator in as far as it would go and pushed down on the plunger.
“This is for Oscar, you fucking hemorrhoid on the ass of a tick.”
I let go of Volos, and he collapsed to all fours with a tampon string hanging past his lips. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish as he tried to gasp air past his tampon-blocked throat. He reached up, grabbed the string, and yanked.
As the tampon came out like a turd out of his anus of a mouth, he retched, puking on the library carpet.
I dropped the applicator before him, turned on my heel, and left him to finish vomiting up his lunch.
“Hello, Officer,” Elliot said very loudly from the other side of the library. “Thank you for visiting. Can I get you anything?”
He was stalling for me, I realized. I smiled to myself, then grabbed a random book off a shelf as a cover for why I was back here.
