Page 66 of Compulsion
“Lonely,” Magnolia said.“And isn’t that the greatest tragedy of all?To know that you will be forever alone in this world?That’s why she thinks that she has to find the others like her.That they will somehow fill the void inside.”
Hell.“She’s…going after the children of serial killers, isn’t she?”Because he’d stumbled on her research once, seen it on her laptop.She’d slammed the lid down closed when she caught him looking.Lily hadn’t been working alone on that project, though.She had a friend, Sloane, who’d been just as caught up in the dark as she was.
Sloane’s parents hadn’t been serial killers.They’d beenkilledby a serial.“Is she with Sloane?”
“Who?”
“Sloane.Sloane Armstrong,” he enunciated slowly.“Her friend.”
“Sloane isn’t her friend.Lily thinks she is but…deep down, we know the truth.”
We?
“Sloane has always been a bit afraid of Lily.Just as you have been.”
“I’m not scared of Lily.”
“Aren’t you?”A taunt.“Would you drink tea if she offered it to you?”
Hell, no.Dammit.He grabbed the edge of the table.“I need to find Lily.I know she comes to see you.Clearly, you know about her research.Look, I’m worried about her.”
Her expression shifted, just a little bit.
“David Warren,” he said softly.David was the reason he’d never drink Lily’s tea.“Others will look into him, too.I need to find Lily.”
Again, her expression changed.It grew harder.Anger flashed in her eyes.“Let them look.He’s ashes in the wind.”
Wait, wait, wait.“He was cremated?”That hadn’t been in the files?—
Magnolia began to laugh.Delighted peals of laughter that sounded like a bell ringing.“You were never a match for her.”More laughter.“But maybe he will be…maybe…maybe I was wrong.”
“Who?”
More laughter.More fucking laughter, and she didn’t answer him.When she left with the guard a few moments later, Magnolia was still laughing.
Gage strodetoward the prison’s exit.The trip had been an utter waste.Magnolia had given him zero insights, and he needed to find?—
“What’s it worth to you?”
The low voice stopped him.He turned to find a guard trailing behind him.Tall, rounded shoulders.Blond hair.The guard who’d been in the room with him and Magnolia.
“I know where Lily Gallo went.”The guard shuffled forward.A taser was clipped to his belt.A baton dangled next to it.“What’s it worth?”
The guard was trying to get him topayfor the intel?Fuck.“I have five hundred dollars in my wallet.”
“Done.”
Hell.He should have offered the guy one hundred.They had to wait for Gage to get his wallet and ID back from the check-in desk and then…
He palmed the money to the guard, making sure that no one else saw the movement.
“Atlas Bennett.That’s the one she went to see.Heard her say his name.”
“You heard Lily say that to Magnolia?”The name Atlas Bennett hadn’t just rung a bell.It had reverberated through him.Everyone knew Atlas.His father had been as twisted as they came.
Lily, stop playing with monsters.Didn’t she get that they were just dragging her deeper into the dark?
“Nah.Didn’t hear her tell Magnolia.Heard it when she was on the phone to someone, on her way out.Said she was going to Dallas to see him.”
