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The killer listened as well as looked, and could here the voices shouting, carried by the cold winter air.
"Keep back, please," Finn's voice was authoritative, slicing through the thickening tension like a scalpel. His stance was wide, arms raised as he faced the agitated assembly that had gathered outside the morgue.
"Everyone will get answers, but we need space to work," Amelia added, her tone firm yet edged with a thread of empathy.
"Answers," the killer muttered to himself, the word tasting sour on his tongue. "They want answers that could unravel everything." He felt the unease clawing at him, the disquiet that had taken roost in his chest since he had left the castle grounds. Within him, justification waged a silent war with the remnants of conscience, both vying for dominance.
The killer moved from behind a car and then to another to get closer. Just close enough to hear every word.
"Sir, I understand you're upset, but escalating this won't help," Finn continued, addressing a burly man whose face was flushed red with anger.
"Upset?" the man bellowed. "Do you realize what this idiot has done?"
The killer's attentions moved to another man. A man he knew well. An infamous real estate agent who had represented the Richmonds. Now, the man was clearly under threat from a small group of men outside of the hospital.
"Please, let us do our job. We are on your side," Amelia interjected before the man could go on, her hand reaching out in a calming gesture. There was a practiced grace to her movements that belied the urgency of the situation.
"Side..." the killer echoed softly, an ironic smile playing on his lips as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. In his mind's eye, he saw the layout of the castle, the careful steps he had taken, every precaution meticulously planned. Yet here were these two, capable and determined, perhaps even enough to be problematic. And all because Thomas Richmond had spotted him through a window in the library. That had meant improvising. The original intention was to make the murder look like an accident, but that was impossible after that. Still, Thomas had to go one way or another because he was defacing a castle of historical importance. The legendary resting place of King Arthur himself, and all the history that had passed after that.
How dare he do such a thing.
The killer's attention switched once again to the altercation.
"You're not as clever as the papers make out," the man shot back at Amelia, jabbing a finger towards her from distance.
"Look," Finn cut in, his voice carried by a light wind, stepping closer to the man, his eyes locked onto his in a way that commanded attention. "We know why you are angry. We get it. But two people are already dead, I think the area has seen enough violence, don't you? And it's hardly justice."
"Justice," the killer repeated under his breath, the word resonating with him on a perverse level. It reminded him of the justifications he had constructed, the narrative he told himself about setting right a terrible wrong. No. They wouldn't understand. They couldn't.
"Let's talk this through," Amelia urged, her voice a soothing balm amid the cacophony of murmurs and sobs from the crowd.
“Please help me, for God's sake!?” The real estate broker shouted, practically cowering from the burly man.
Finn looked around and glanced momentarily down the street towards where the killer hid. The killer withdrew slightly, retreating further into the shadows. He thought of the blood that had been spilled, of the necessity of his actions. Outsider though he was, his confidence hadn't waned—no, he was too meticulous, too careful to be caught. Yet as he watched Finn and Amelia, a sliver of doubt pierced his resolve, the vague notion that he might have to act again to ensure his secrets remained buried.
With that chilling prospect, he turned and melded into the anonymity of the street, leaving behind the scene that broke into shouts of desperation between the men in front of the hospital—all orchestrated by the very hands now stuffed into his pockets.
CHAPTER NINE
Finn felt like this was the last thing they needed, stopping a fight in the fading light of day, the hospital’s sterile tranquility behind them now replaced by the chaotic din of raised voices and unchecked anger. Two robust figures were posturing like territorial animals before a sharply dressed man who looked sheet white with nerves. They had been trying to calm the situation, but it was getting worse.
"Ye bloodsucker! It's 'cause o' you we've got bodies piling up!" one of the burly men bellowed, his face ruddy with indignation.
"Your renovations are diggin' up more than dirt, you heartless swine!" The second man spat the words out as if they left a foul taste in his mouth, his glare fixed on the real estate agent.
“Well, are you going to arrest them? They are threatening me,” the man in the suit asked.
“If we have to,” Amelia replied.
"Enough of this nonsense!” the man in the suit continued. “I have worked in this area as a real estate agent for ten years. The market dictates progress, not superstitions!" retorted the real estate agent, his accent crisp and out of place amid the rural tones of the locals. His hands gestured wildly, exacerbating the situation rather than calming it.
Finn scanned the growing crowd, noting the way some onlookers clutched each other, whispering fears and suspicions. There was a tangible tension here, a community pushed to the brink, their frustrations now personified in the figure of the real estate agent. Nearby, the shadow of Richmond Castle dominated the darkening skies.
Amelia's eyes flicked between the men, as if assessing their body language, the set of their shoulders, the clenches of their fists. She was ready to intervene to prevent the boiling pot from spilling over. Finn admired her coolness; she was a lighthouse in this storm of human emotion.
"Hey! Let's all take a breath here," Finn called out, his voice authoritative yet not confrontational, stepping forward with a peacekeeper's grace. "Nobody's solving anything with shouting."
"Stand down, gentlemen," Amelia added, projecting confidence as she positioned herself beside Finn, an unspoken signal of solidarity. "We're all looking for answers, not more problems."
