Page 44 of Wicked Games

Violet and I iron out her next steps, and she says goodbye, warning me to go slowly with Avery, though it’s a little too late for that. I leave my phone in the kitchen and trot over the grass. She’s standing at the island looking over something in her notebook, and when she notices me, she gestures me to come inside.

I wrap my arms around her and cover her lips with mine, my heartbeat slowing. I need her, and I know without a doubt as I hold her close that if I lose her after all the hell I’ve been through, I won’t survive it.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Avery

Idon’t get much sleep, lying in bed and trying to piece together why Hattie would have been at the park the day Theo was kidnapped, who could have told them where the tracker was, and hoping with all my heart that it wasn’t Hattie. She had nothing to gain kidnapping Theo, and it’s difficult to shove her into that role. She never would have hurt a little boy.

I crawl out of bed, my head pounding.

Bill’s tried to call me twice already, and I search for my earbuds. I plug the cord into my phone, wiggle them into my ears, and call him back.

I need coffee and fill the carafe while the line rings.

“Avery—” he starts.

“Hey, good morning. I’m sorry about yesterday. I didn’t mean to make you mad.”

“Never mind that. I’ve been trying to get a hold of you. Has Detective Crane been in contact with you at all?”

“No.” I pour the water into the coffeemaker. “Why?”

“He dropped the case.”

I pause. “He dropped it or closed it? What do you mean?”

“He dropped it. Said it wasn’t going anywhere and a Detective Mueller took it over. Just promoted. He called me yesterday and said that he was going to give it a better shot than Crane had.”

“Oh. Okay.” I finish pouring water into the back and add coffee grounds. I can’t fight with Bill without caffeine, and I know this conversation is going to turn into a fight.

“He already found something. I tried to call you last night but you weren’t answering your phone.”

“I was with Seth.”

“You need to stay away from him. This is going to get complicated. Very complicated.”

“What do you mean?”

“Mueller looked through the alley where Hattie was killed. He found the bullet stuck in the side of a building. He thinks the crime scene unit didn’t see it because it was covered with snow. The building, I mean. We’d just had that blizzard and there was snow everywhere.”

I freeze, watching the coffee drip in stunned silence.

Bill doesn’t wait for me to come up with anything to say. “They ran the ballistics report. It came from the same gun that killed Theo Lockwood.”

“Christ.”

“That’s not all.”

I tense. “What?”

“They’ve kept the details out of the news, but now that Hattie’s part of the investigation, Mueller let me know. The gun belonged to Titus Jenkins. He finally got his revenge.”

Tears fill my eyes and run down my cheeks. She testified against him five years ago, but they didn’t forget about her at all, patiently biding their time until they could kill her without getting caught.

I sniffle, trying to keep the sobs in my chest.

“I’m sorry, Avery.”