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Her voice bursts from the walkie-talkie, loud and clear. “He’s got downloads of the camera tapes on his laptop. I’m taking it in as evidence. You know what to do.”
It gives me a sadistic kind of pleasure to take out my handcuffs. Normally, I don’t rejoice when people step outside the bounds of the law. It makes it worse for everyone. But after I saw Avery Capulet today and witnessed firsthand the dark circles under her eyes and the way she’s anxiously edging through life, I’m glad for this.
Will doesn’t unfold his arms. “What do you think you’re doing with those? I haven’t done anything wrong. So what, I left that app installed on the phone I lent her, my phone. Avery knows I’m just looking out for her with that crazy fucking family of hers keeping her locked up in that mansion. She’s not going to press charges.She loves me.”
Isobel chooses that exact moment to come out the front door of the house, fury in every step she takes, vengeance alight in her eyes. “Cuff that pretentious little shit,” she calls. “Don’t wait another second.”
“You’re under arrest on suspicion of illegal wiretapping and aiding and abetting a kidnapping.”
“Kidnapping? What thefuck?” Will doesn’t even sound convincing. I don’t believe his outrage. I do believe the pissed-off scowl he’s wearing. “I didn’t kidnap anybody.”
“You have quite a few videos of Avery Capulet on your laptop.” Isobel watches intently while I push on Will’s shoulder, then draw my other hand down toward his wrist. “Videos of her being held in a dungeon by a serial killer. Yet you did nothing.”
“I’ve never seen videos like that.” Will resists, but not much. He’s panicking, now. This is not part of the narrative he thought he’d be living through when he saw us approach.
I cuff his hands behind his back. “If there are videos of that on my computer, then somebody else put them there. I’m being set up. Can’t you see that?” Will jerks his hands in the cuffs, growing more agitated. “I was at the hospital with her every day. I fucking love her. You assholes think I had something to do with her being taken? Being tortured?”
Will’s voice rings with disbelief. It’s pretty damn convincing.
“Your father really taught you how to act,” Isobel says, whistling as though she’s impressed. “You’re almost believable.”
“You have the right to remain silent,” I begin the spiel of reading him his rights. “Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Will spits. “I didn’t have anything to do with that. All I did was help Avery out after her family tried to lock her away.”
“You have the right to an attorney,” I continue. “If you cannot afford one, one will be provided to you.”
Isobel winks at him. “I’m sure your daddy will hire you the biggest, meanest lawyer to get you out of the slammer before you drop your soap in the showers. If a judge even grants bail.”
It’s a clear, sunny day, people walking in the neighborhood, witnessing the arrest. Agents swarm the outside of the house now, looking for any additional evidence to be collected. We got a search warrant within an hour of discovering the spyware on Avery’s phone. Now this is a crime scene.
“Time to get in the car.”
“For what?” Will can’t stop himself. “For what?”
Another vehicle pulls up to the curb. It’s a tricked out Range Rover, brand new, top of the line. We’ve taken almost all the available space, running up onto Will’s yard, but the driver finds the last bare stretch of concrete. I recognize the car in a vague way.
The passenger door opens, and Avery Capulet climbs out.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
AVERY
Nathan wouldn’t let me come alone, but he should have. I’m ready to burn this place to the ground. Will’s house, Verona Heights, the greater area of San Francisco...all of it. The world. The universe. I just can’t fucking believe that Will would do this. He’s somebody I trust, somebody I love. When he slipped me that phone, I thought it was an act of love, not an act of malice. If I can’t trust him, who can I trust?
There are a million cops here. A million, or ten, but none of them do anything to stop me. I’m stepping out of the car before Nathan has even thrown it into park, my vision tunneling to one spot: Will’s front door. There’s no traffic in what is normally a busy street and no sound other than the afternoon breeze whispering over the manicured lawn in front of his house.
“Avery. Avery, wait.” Nathan’s voice gets louder as he catches up to me, grabbing my elbow. “I didn’t drive you here so you could kill him before he goes to trial.”
I whirl on Nathan, pushing him away from me with both hands. I probably push a little harder than he’s expecting, because he has to step back to balance his footing.
“Don’t ever grab me,” I hiss. “Either shut up and let me do what I’m about to do, or get the hell out of here.”
“Avery,” he protests. “You’re acting like a crazy person.”
I don’t care that I’m acting insane. I don’t care what Nathan says. I haven’t cared since the moment Elliot looked me in the eye and told me what Will had really done to my phone.
Will.My Will.How could he do this? How could he fucking do this? He sat there next to my hospital bed and he read out the list of all the injuries I’d sustained. None of those injuries come close to the throbbing ache of betrayal. I told him I was okay.Icomfortedhimin my time of darkness when he couldn’t even bear tolookat me. I stroked his hair and wiped away his tears.
