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She buried her face in the pillow. What she thought was numbness was really an onslaught of too many feelings. I, too, was wading through a myriad of emotions.
Pain for how hurt Pepper was.
Anger that innocent people were dying. That Pepper had been dragged into something that ultimately was aimed at me.
Determination to stop this madness.
Fear that I wouldn’t be able to.
“They didn’t care about me. None of them.” The torture in her voice clawed at me.
I held her close and kissed the top of her head. I didn’t have the words I desperately needed to comfort her. But what could I say? What could anyone say? Until my mother’s death, I’d had a good home life. And then even though I lost my mom, I still wasn’t alone. Lincoln had been my rock. Beau had been my joy, often a light in a dark time. Pepper had been so alone. For so long. It wasn’t right.
It wasn’t fair.
She sniffled. I hooked my finger under her chin. In the moonlight, the shimmer of tears reflected back at me.
It was wrong, but I wanted to stuff my father into a barrel and set him on fire. He’d hurt her. He had to pay.
But an eye for an eye wouldn’t fix this. It wouldn’t take away all the damage he’d done.
There was nothing to change what had happened that would make it any better.
Not even his death.
“I underestimated him,” I said against her hair. They weren’t the right words to stop her tears. They weren’t the right words for the moment. But she allowed me to be who I was. The me very few people knew.
“You defied him.”
I wiped away the tears that leaked down her cheeks. “I have to tell Burke. It’s the only way I know to stop him.”
“Pointing the finger in his direction won’t do anything. Especially if he’s not the one actually murdering people and setting them on fire,” she cried.
Muffy lifted his head and put it on her leg.
“It might slow him down.” She was right. Obviously my father didn’t care if we knew what he’d done. He seemed to be taunting us.
Pepper shot out of bed and went to the window. “Someone could be out there right now.”
I moved behind her and wrapped my arms around her middle. “I don’t want you to worry about this.”
She spun and tilted her head back. “How can I not?”
I cupped her cheek. “I don’t know. I just—I want you to be able to live your life like normal.”
“There is no normal life anymore,” she said. “Normal now is wondering where the next fire will be and who’s going to die.”
I cradled her against me. That was the brutal truth. I couldn’t dispute it, and I wouldn’t disrespect her by trying.
I could still hope.
Bzzz. Bzzz. Bzzz.
Someone’s phone vibrated near the bed, but neither of us moved. The first rays of light highlighted the edge of the sky. It was too early for more bad news.
The noise stopped and immediately started again.
“I don’t want to answer,” I confessed.
