Dark Child (Wild Men 5)

Well, the bad ones, anyway.

“How’s Ross?” I ask. “Is he okay?”

There’s a funny pause, as if Matt is debating what to say. “He’ll survive. He was taken to the nearest hospital, but the old man missed. Too drunk to aim well, probably, and thank God he couldn’t find his gun. He threw a knife at his son.”

“Oh my God,” Cos whispers.

“Hit Ross in the shoulder,” Matt goes on. “He’ll be fine. To be honest, I think the boy’s mostly in shock.”

“Yeah.” Who would blame him?

“Are you coming back?” Matt asks brusquely.

“No, I want to talk to John Elba first. And maybe Ross.”

“Suit yourself. I told you all they’ve found out so far.”

“Thanks, Matt. I owe you.”

“And don’t you forget it, kiddo.” His voice changes, softens. “Look out for him, Cosima, girl. Don’t let him fool ya. He acts like an angel one minute, then goes and gets involved in a murder investigation the next.”

She snickers.

Traitors, both of them. “You know what this angel has to say to you?” I mutter, and reach sideways to end the call, ending Matt’s guffaw.

And so we drive to that fucking neck of the woods, that fucking bend of the river, that’s now crawling with police cars, cops and dogs who start to bark as I park and we get out of the car.

Cos looks a little lo

st, and although the unreal quality of what is going on hits me, I find myself going to her, taking her hand.

So that’s what keeps happening, and I find our hands tangled together every time. We gravitate toward each other, like planets caught in the same trajectory.

John Elba spots us and walks toward us. I remember him from the time my sister Octavia had a stalker and he ended up kidnapping her, right after she met Matt, some years ago. He looks just the same as he did then—whipcord thin, dressed formally in a dark suit, dark eyes shrewd and gleaming.

“So you’re the dreamer,” he says, extending a hand for me to shake, and somehow it doesn’t sound like an insult, or even a metaphor.

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“I remember you. How’s the family?”

“Fine. They’re fine.”

We shake hands, and then he shakes hands with Cosima who says nothing.

“What a story,” Elba says. “Never expected anything like this here. It’s such a quiet little place.”

I want to point out he caught a stalker-about-to-turn murderer in this quiet little town three years ago, when that psychopath had kidnapped my sister, but I don’t. “Have you discovered anything else?”

“Actually, yes. I’ll tell you as long as you don’t go to the papers with it.” He claps my shoulder, hard, before I open my mouth to reply, grinning widely. “Just kidding. So yeah, we found another skeleton.”

Cos makes a faint sound, and I turn to her, pulling her against my side.

“Another woman, from the looks of it,” Elba goes on. “We’ve got a team excavating the bones. I wouldn’t recommend going that way.” He waves a hand at the center of the activity. “Crime scene and all, if old.”

“That’s okay. What about Jasper Jones?”

“Your dad, right?” He looks pained. “Matt says you believe him to be the killer.”