Page 34 of Rascal

“Detective Emilio Hawthorne,” Lio said and most grinned. They all knew him. To my surprise, the groups sat around by separating themselves.

“We aren’t starting until Hallie’s security team arrives,” King stated as the door opened and they walked in, followed by two bikers.

“Bitch got away. I’ve sent Leila the details, but I’m betting the car’s stolen,” one said.

My private security placed themselves behind me.

“Did you call Phil?” Hawthorne asked.

“Yes. He’s on his way.”

“Does anyone want to explain what this is?” Lieutenant Richards demanded, looking bored.

“It’s a sit-down. A sharing of information and we’re trying to work out what’s true and what ain’t,” King said.

Lieutenant Richards pursed his lips and nodded. “This could be interesting.”

“Okay. Who wants to start?” Harry asked.

“I will,” Artemis said. Nigel opened a briefcase and passed a file around to everyone. Guess they’d been informed how many were attending, since they had the right number.

“Background on Hallie Milton,” Artemis said and ran through it. The group already knew mine, so I wasn’t bothered.

“We have found no medical records that Mrs Milton ever carried twins with Hallie. No death certificates and no family member who could resemble Hallie so closely. Basically, we ruled out the relatives,” Nigel stated.

Simone took over. “We’ve two varying and honest people both giving different statements. It makes no sense that Hallie flipped out and stabbed Rascal. Especially now, when evidence is proving Hallie’s alibi is genuine. There is still the missing footage, but what has been discovered, alongside the witness who lied, leads us to suspect Hallie didn’t stab Rascal.”

Rascal shifted in his seat. “I saw her.”

“No, you observed someone resembling Hallie. Images and CCTV have shown someone running around who’s identical to Hallie. And today, the lookalike attacked Hallie. You all witnessed it. There’s no doubt that someone is mimicking Hallie, right down to her scar,” Simone said.

“With—let’s call her Jane—attacking Shane first, we don’t believe he was the target. Her goal was to get rid of Hallie, which Jane succeeded in doing,” Simone continued.

“Wait a minute, the bitch nearly stabbed me in the heart, but you don’t think I was the victim?” Shane snapped.

“No, Hallie has always been the target. Jane attacked you and made sure you identified Hallie. Your statement put Hallie behind bars. In there, Hallie was beaten and lost her child. She was cut and tortured until she fought back. Someone paid the women to do that; we’ve statements from them and bank records. Nigel traced the account to the Cayman Islands; we aren’t going to get an identity,” Artemis said.

“Okay,” Shane said, not looking convinced.

“Second, nobody attacked you, Rascal, once Hallie was locked away. You stayed in your hometown for a year before leaving and moving around, but you were trackable. You could have easily been killed, but you weren’t. Someone paid the cops to hide the alibi and to lose witnesses. That’s not aimed at you, but Hallie,” Artemis continued.

“But since Hallie’s got out, it’s started again,” Shane pressed.

“Yeah, it has. Everything is aimed at getting Hallie back in prison. The wreath, set up to make it look like Hallie was harassing you. The hit-and-miss was aimed directly at Hallie. Rascal, the beating you took, ensured you saw her. Jane knew exactly where Bernard’s cameras were. She made it appear as if she’d slipped and shown her face, but Jane hadn’t. That was premeditated. Only Hallie had rock-solid alibis, and Jane continued screwing up,” Artemis finished.

“Everything keeps coming back to Hallie. Rascal, you’re collateral damage,” Kristoff said. “Someone is either obsessed with you or wants you kept single so they can fantasise. Or they are fixated on taking over Hallie’s existence. But every detail revolves around removing Hallie from your life.”

“Hallie didn’t stab me?” Shane whispered.

“No, Rascal, we’re ninety-nine per cent convinced she didn’t,” Artemis replied gently.

Shane sat there as silence fell. King squeezed my shoulder.

“I ran background checks on you both,” Nigel said and tapped the folder. “Neither of you has hired anyone to either set up the other or off them. You’ve no massive expenditures and no sign of a secondary bank account. You’re both innocent.”

The bomb dropped and exploded. I reeled back, and King wrapped an arm around me. I’d obviously known I was innocent, but hearing it struck deep. Shane hadn’t deceived me as I’d assumed.

That rocked me. For over five years, Shane had been my villain; now I was on rocky ground. Jane clearly deserved my hate, but I’d no idea who she was.