Page 46 of The Villains We Make

“No, that’s fine,” she says but I can see she’s surprised.

“Good. Call if you need me,” I say before she can ask any questions and walk out. I climb into my SUV and drive out of the lot, turning in the direction of the prison because I need to talk to Horatio again. Since I’ll likely get there after visiting hours, I dial Higgins’s number, which I’ve saved on my cell phone, and ask him to meet me. As Hart’s lawyer, he’ll be able to see his client anytime.

The prison is a forty-five-minute drive out of town, and I arrive at the same time as Higgins. We enter together. He must have called to let them know he was coming because they’re expecting us. Well, they’re expecting him, but it’s not an issue to let me enter with Higgins and I wonder if that’s the guards turning a blind eye or if it has to do with the stabbing, but I don’t dwell.

We walk past the large visiting area which is empty now since we are here after normal hours and are shown into a smaller, private room.

The guard walks Horatio in and Horatio thanks him. I notice he’s had his hair cut and is clean shaven. If you didn’t know he’d been stabbed, you wouldn’t say he’s the same man who was lying in that hospital bed just days ago.

“John.” Horatio and Higgins shake hands before Horatio turns to me. “Silas. I had a feeling you’d be back soon.”

“How are you holding up?” Higgins asks.

“Well, I guess you could say my accommodations have been upgraded.”

I raise my eyebrows.

“Solitary. They’re worried about another attack, so they’ve moved me to a different part of the prison. At least it offers more privacy. Prison doesn’t want a lawsuit on their hands.”

“I guess that’s the cup half full outlook,” I say, distracted, because I need my questions answered.

We all sit down. “Have you told him?” Horatio asks Higgins.

Higgins shakes his head.

“Told me what?”

“I’m retracting my confession and bringing forth new evidence.”

“Excuse me?” I look from Horatio to Higgins and back.

“Fox and I had a deal. He’s gone back on that.”

“Unfortunately, when a prisoner confesses after admitting to having lied at least once, the courts aren’t exactly eager to take him at his word again,” Higgins says.

“Well, it’s a start,” Horatio says. “And the evidence I have doesn’t rely on my word. They hear it directly from the horse’s mouth.”

“What evidence are you talking about?”

“Later. That’s not why you’re here. How is my daughter?”

I raise an eyebrow.

“She is that, Silas. No matter if we share blood or not. How is she?”

“She met her grandfather today.”

His eyes narrow and he clenches his jaw.

“To be honest, he doesn’t seem so bad.”

“No?” he sits up, leaning toward me. “Then you’re not paying attention.”

“Listen, Horatio,” I start, sitting closer, clasping my hands together and setting them on the table. “I’m going to need to know exactly what is going on and who knows what. I can’t juggle all the players if I don’t know the truth. The whole truth. You know I have Ophelia’s best interests at heart. So talk. Because right now, she’s at my lawyer’s office looking over paperwork sent by Carlisle-Bent’s attorneys that will, from what I understand, make her the sole inheritor of the Carlisle-Bent fortune. And from what I can see, Chandler isn’t too happy about that.”

“I told you to keep her away from them.”

“And she wanted to meet her grandfather. My loyalty is to her, not you.” His eyes narrow but I continue. “I’m back to the envelope Sly had me deliver some years back. The one you saw the other night.”

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