They’re all prime targets, right?
I think about what I might do when I see that Parrish really is here, that he’s truly okay. If I just open my mouth and scream that Justin Prior is the Seattle Slayer, that he was holding Parrish hostage in the house he’s just put an offer on, if I give the authorities the Maxine-phone … Could I end all of this now? Will I have an opportunity here to blow his cover?
I’m going to do it, I decide. No matter what. I’ll just do it. If I’m quick enough, clever enough, this is my chance. It might very well be the only chance that I’m going to get.
We turn down a long gravel drive, trundling over potholes at such high speeds that I keep bouncing up off of my seat. Not that it matters. I would run over here if I had to. I’d fucking crawl.
In the distance, I see several police cars with their lights flashing—and try my best not to think about the fact that a cop just held a gun on us at the Vasquez house. There’s an ambulance, too, and my heart starts to pound, my pulse racing. I take my seat belt off before we even come to a full stop.
As Tess slows the car down, I throw my door open, even as she lets out a small sound of surprise.
I hit the ground hard, stumbling as I catch myself, and then I take off running around the front of the ambulance toward the back, feet skidding in the gravel.
When I look up, I see him.
Parrish.
He’s limned in the white light from inside the ambulance, shirtless but wrapped in a blanket. As soon as he sees me, his eyes widen and he’s throwing himself off the ambulance’s bumper.
His arms wrap around my neck so tight that I can’t breathe, the blanket fluttering around us like wings. His smell overwhelms me, that clean linen and citrus and dewy clover scent. Tears prick at the edges of my eyes as I squeeze him back just as tightly, smearing blood from his chest across my body and not caring.
His lips move to press against my ear.
“Maxine is with Justin; don’t say anything.” Parrish’s words make my eyes go wide as he pulls back, looking down at me with so much love in his gaze that I can barely stand it. He blinks and it’s gone, turning his attention over to Tess as she scrabbles around the corner of the ambulance just like I did.
“Parrish!” she screams, and then she’s hugging him and I’m stumbling back, trying to process some horribly mixed emotions. Pure, unadulterated fear for Maxine. Endless, boundless joy and love for Parrish.
“Maxine is with Justin; stay quiet,” I whisper as Chasm and Maxx appear on either side of me, panting and quivering.
Kimber screams and launches herself at her brother, throwing her arms around his waist while Tess sobs and kisses him all over his face. The paramedics and police officers hang back to give them a moment.
“He what?” Maxx whispers, his face absolutely stricken when he looks at me. His eyes flick back to Parrish’s and warm slightly, but he can’t shake that bitter cold. “We just traded one hostage for another?”
“I don’t know yet,” I breathe, trying to reconcile two very different, very powerful emotions. “Go … go greet him, and I’ll … I’ll deal with this.” I slide my phone from my pocket—my Maxine-phone, actually—and hope that Tess is just too overwhelmed with Parrish to notice that it’s a Samsung and not an iPhone.
“We’ll be right back, okay?” Chasm chokes, and then he’s running forward and grabbing Parrish just as tightly as I did, squeezing him with an arm around the neck as Parrish wraps his own arms around Chasm’s waist.
Maxx is right behind them, and Chasm welcomes him under his other arm, dragging him into a three-person hug. I clutch the phone to my chest for a moment, watching them with tears in my eyes. I want nothing more than to be a part of that, but I have to put my sister first.
I dial Justin’s burner phone immediately (he has a real valid number, but this isn’t it), and wait with shaking hands for him to answer. He does, but it isn’t his face that I’m looking at. It’s the feed from a camera mounted near the ceiling of a large, formal dining room. Seamus McKenna’s house, probably. But Chas will know that.
I can see my sister tentatively walking in, her eyes sweeping up the towering walls toward the ceiling and the massive person-sized chandelier above the table. Justin is there, which is a new development. Not once, not fucking once, did he ever allow himself to appear in any of the previous videos.
An employee moves forward from the shadows to pull out Maxine’s chair for her. She seems surprised, but I can see her smile from here as she accepts the offer and sits down, allowing the person to push the chair back in as well. Another employee—this one has a maid uniform on that reminds me of the Vanguard house—brings a tray with a tea set in and sets it down on the corner of the table between Justin and Maxine.
