Page 140 of Brutal
Too close.
The wind doesn’t matter anymore.
The cold doesn’t matter.
Just him.
Just this.
“You think it was set up,” I say.
“I know it was.”
The certainty in his voice does something to me. Something dangerous. Something that makes me want to believe him.
I shouldn’t.
I do anyway.
“Then who set it up?” I ask.
His gaze hardens. “That’s what I want to find out.”
A voice cuts through the wind. “You shouldn’t be here.”
We both turn.
An older man stands near the edge of the dock. He looks like he works here. His face is weathered and his eyes… They look like they’ve seen too much.
He’s watching us.
Samson shifts. He’s ready. Ready to take on an old man if he has to.
“We’re just looking,” I say.
The man snorts. “People always say that. Then they end up at the bottom of the water.” He steps closer and looks at me. Then at Samson. “You’ve been here before.”
Samson doesn’t reply.
The man nods once. Like that’s enough. Then he looks at me. “You’re asking the wrong questions.”
My heart races. “Then tell me the right ones.”
A pause. I expect Samson to grab me and haul me away. Or to tell the man to shut the fuck up. To my surprise, he does neither.
The old man coughs. “That man wasn’t the only one expected that night.”
Everything in me stills. “What do you mean?” I ask.
The man shrugs. “Just what I said.”
“Expected by whom?”
Another shrug. “I don’t get paid to know that part.”
“But you saw something.”
“I saw enough to know it wasn’t random.”
