Reeling, I hit Pause and jumped to my feet. Holy shit. Holy shit. Governor Roffe was Cosmo’s dad? He was the one responsible for Cosmo’s disappearance and the murder of his mother? Fuck. Fuck. Now Cosmo’s pardon made sense. The man knew who Cosmo was. That was the real reason he’d visited Cosmo in the hospital and not to thank him for providing that list.
Did Roffe also know Cosmo wanted him dead?
I sat again and resumed the video.
“There are very few things Cosmo cares about. In fact, I’d say his singular purpose right now is to assassinate Governor Roffe. He might or might not get away with it, but he is resourceful in getting himself out of trouble, and he has an abundance of luck like you’ve never seen before.”
He took a long drink from his water bottle.
“You can call this a revenge video if you like, but he needs to be stopped. I owe it to my wife. For years, we’ve watched you try to figure out who we were. He seemed even a little obsessed with you and your investigation of us. He might try to get close to you, but don’t make the same mistakes as I did.
“You must have questions about your wife. I wanted to teach you a lesson by taking her away from you. I guess to punish you for never finding out who murdered all those people. For you to feel the same pain that the surviving family members did.” He smirked. “And also to have the upper hand as well. Do you wish to know where the remains of your wife are, Detective Neely?”
“You son of a bitch,” I whispered at the screen. “You psycho son of a bitch.”
“Maybe this will be added motivation for you to find Cosmo and put a stop to what I started.” He looked straight into the camera. “You find Cosmo, and he’ll tell you exactly where she is buried. After all, he took the shot that killed her, then asked for her body as a prize to commemorate his first victim.
“Good luck, Detective Hunter. I might be dead, but there’s another killer loose on your streets. Don’t sleep too well at night.”
I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t suck enough air down into my lungs. I clutched my chest, the pain there too great. Cosmo had killed Petra?
“You know everything.”
He’d looked into my face and lied to me. Again.
It was time to put a stop to it. To him. Once and for all.
I marched up the stairs on stiff legs, Cosmo’s lies ringing out in my head. He’d known who I was all along.
“He seemed even a little obsessed with you and your investigation of us.”
What a fool he must have taken me for all this time.
I strode into the bedroom and stood over him, watching him sleep, looking so innocent. How was he capable of sleeping at night? Did he think about shooting her when I held him down in bed and fucked him? Did he enjoy his disgusting secret that I was pleasuring the one who’d turned my life upside down? Cost me my relationship with my son?
It would be so easy to stop this madness. To make sure he never hurt anyone else ever again. It was the right thing to do.
But I had to know the whole truth of what had happened to Petra, and he was going to share everything, even if I had to torture it out of him.
I placed a hand over his mouth and nose. He twitched, panting. His eyes flew open, and he grabbed my arms, his screams muffled under my hand. I pulled my hand away, and he choked on a sob, inhaling deeply.
“Hunter, what—”
“No, you don’t get to speak unless I tell you to. I’m sick of your lies and half truths, Cosmo. You’re going to take me to her.”
“Hunter, I don’t know—”
“Petra’s body, Cosmo. You’re going to take me there right now, or so help me god, the next time I cut off your air supply, I won’t stop until you’re lifeless under my hands.”