No reply.
“Answer my wife.”
Still, nothing.
Bleu has waited eighteen years for this moment. I’m going to make certain Todd gives her the satisfaction she deserves.
I can see that he’ll need some persuading. “Oh … Todd. There are so many things that are much worse than death.”
Sangster has been standing in the corner silently waiting to have his chance at Cockburn. He’s going to get it.
I motion for The Fellowship’s master of torture to come forward. “Take a finger off and see if that convinces him he should respond to my wife’s questions.”
Sangster grins and moves toward Todd.
“No!” Todd yells as he uselessly fights to get away from him. “I’ll answer any questions your wife has.”
Sangster stops, waiting for me. “Take it off anyway for good measure.”
Sangster displays the cutting pliers for Todd and snaps them closed several times. You can hear the friction of metal on metal.
Todd fights to pull his hand away but it’s useless.
His screams fill the room when Sangster closes the blades. Blood drips to the floor while he twists the pliers back and forth to force Todd’s finger free of his hand. Crunch.
Sangster finishes and tosses his finger on to the table. He returns the pliers and holds up the saw for Todd to see. “Ignore my wife again and you’ll lose your hand next.”
“Why did you kill my mother?”
“I was skimming off the top at the Biloxi casino. She found out and didn’t want to be tied to it. She left without a word. I ran into her eight years later and she was with Thane. I knew he’d kill me if she told him I was stealing from The Fellowship so I had to keep her quiet. I had no idea she was pregnant with you when she left me. I didn’t know she even had a daughter until that night. And I certainly didn’t know you were mine.”
“I wouldn’t have been able to identify you. You could’ve left me unharmed but you chose to kill an innocent seven-year-old. Why?”
Todd closes his eyes and lifts his face to the ceiling. “I couldn’t help myself. I don’t know why I do the things I do. It’s something I don’t understand and can’t explain.”
Bleu paces back and forth in front of him as she speaks. “It starts as an itch and spreads until you have no choice but to scratch it. If you don’t, you’ll explode. You fantasize about the ways you’ll make it happen. Because it isn’t always possible to do it when the desire presents itself, you use these items to get you by until you’re able. Each represents the respective victim, and each helps you relive the murders. That temporarily satisfies the drive you have. Until it becomes too much to handle and you have to do it again. And again. And again.”
A grin spreads on Todd’s face, quite possibly the most sinister I’ve ever encountered. Pure evil. “You understand because you are my daughter. You’re like me.”
Bleu shakes her head. “Don’t mistake my knowledge for understanding.”
“You thirst for the knowledge because it’s inside you too.”
Bleu walks toward him and leans down so she can spit in his face. “My only thirst was to hunt you down so I could kill you.”
“Your craving is displaced. You can’t see it but you’re just like me. You’re my daughter. A part of me is inside you. And in those babies you carry.”
“Don’t you dare speak of my children. Ever!” Bleu shouts.
“Your babies have two parents who kill. Their potential is endless.”
I’ve heard enough of Todd’s insanity. Bleu has her answers. It’s time to end this for good. “You’re plagued by a sickness that can only be cured one way.”
“Let my daughter do it. She knows she wants to.”
“I’ve spent my life dreaming of the way I’d kill you. I was so obsessed, I allowed it to ruin me. And then I met Sin. He sees the damage you’ve done to me and wants to take all the ugliness away. And I’m letting him.”
“Killing me isn’t going to fix what’s inside you.”
“I’m certain it won’t, but it’s a damn good start.”
Bleu comes to me. “I can’t listen to him anymore and I don’t want to be here another minute.”
Todd’s taunting can be heard loud and clear as we walk out of the building.
She stops by the car and puts her arms around my midsection. “Knowing you’re going to do this for me is enough. You were right all along. Killing him won’t bring me the closure I need. Only more torment. It would be the worst mistake of my life because I’d always wonder if on some level, he’s right.”
“He’s not.”
“I know, and I’m proving it by walking away. Being the one to kill him isn’t what is going to heal me. It’s you and these babies. It’s the life we’re going to have together. Our happiness.”
I pull Bleu into my arms. “I’ll take care of everything.”
I kiss the top of her head. “Mum doesn’t need to stay for this. I’m going to send her out so Sterling can take her home.”
“I probably shouldn’t expect you home soon.”
“No. I’m going to make him tell me who the other victims are so I can give their families closure.”
She cradles my face in her hands. “I love you, Breck.”
I press my forehead to hers. “Love you too.”
She kisses me quickly and gets into the car.
I wait until Mum is gone to pick up where I left off. “Now, let’s talk about who these items belong to.”
“I don’t remember.”
“Sangster. What do you say about refreshing his memory?”
He chooses the saw. “As you wish.”
Chapter Nineteen
Bleu Breckenridge
I wake to the sound of water running in the shower. It’s Breck’s routine after a kill. He’s never admitted it but I strongly suspect it’s his way of washing away the filth he feels after taking someone’s life––even if they deserve it.
I need to go to him. This is the time he needs my support more than ever.
I slip out of my gown and panties. “I’m coming in with you.”
He needs fair warning so I don’t startle him. “No, Bonny. Go back to bed.”
“You need me to be with you.”
He’s standing with his hands pressed against the tile wall, water cascading down his back, head lowered. He won’t look in my direction. “I don’t want you to see me like this.”
“I’m not leaving you.” I wrap my arms around him from behind and squeeze, placing my face against his wet back. “You aren’t alone. You never are.”
Sin shivers. “He admitted to horrible acts. Things that will haunt me until the day I die. Had you not left on your own, I would’ve sent you away.”
“I’m sorry you had to endure that.”
“All females. Mostly adolescents from the States. The ones he killed here are from The Order. Their deaths and disappearances were blamed on us anyway.”
“The whole thing is horrible regardless of who they are or where they came from.”
“He’d been toying with the idea of murder for years before he killed your mother and attacked you. Since it was his first slaughter, he’d not yet honed his skills. It’s likely the only reason you survived.”
I was his first taste of blood, so to speak. “His initial involvement in the death of a child was with his own daughter. The irony is extraordinary. You can’t make that kind of stuff up.”
I squeeze body wash into my palms and work it over his back. I want to help him wash away the night’s events. “Todd Cockburn’s death had to happen. We both know that. Don’t suffer a single minute of guilt over an act that was completely unavoidable. Despite what you’re feeling right now, you righted a wrong within the world. You have saved innocent children from whatever he had in store for them. He wasn’t afraid to kill Fellowship children. For all we know, our babies could have become his victims.”
“Don’t say such things.”
&nb
sp; “I’m trying to make you see that you shouldn’t regard what you’ve done as bad or evil. It’s good. Serial killers are creatures of habit. He would’ve done it over and over again but you’ve stopped him. You’re a hero because you’ve saved the victims who would have fallen into his snare. But you’re my hero as well. You’ve saved me.”
Sin looks at me for the first time since I came into the shower. “Saved you from what?”
“Myself. I don’t feel that dark place inside anymore. You’ve taken it from me and its vacancy is filled with hope and love.”
He turns in my arms and holds my face. “Say it with me, Bonny.”
We look into one another’s eyes and together speak the words that express the deep intimacy we share. “Into me … you see.”