Page 23 of Spiteful Heart

I was the Bloody Queen, the Night Slayer, Lola fucking Harding. I was an angel with a siren’s voice. I was the devil incarnate, and because of that, I refused to sit back and wait for this serial killer to strike again. So, even if it meant I had to continue seeing my brother’s face in my mind’s eye every now and then, I would do what I had to.

Whatever I had to.

Sylvester and Maddox had gone home late last night. Big Mike was out most of the night, though I think he’d gotten back around four in the morning. He hit the sack until noon, which left me with a mostly empty house.

That was, until Harvey showed up with lunch. I let him into the house, and we went to the living room. I texted Viper—I think he was upstairs, working out, but I could’ve been wrong— that Harvey had brought enough food for all of us, but I got no response back, which I took to mean it would just be me and Harvey.

I got us drinks, while Harvey sat on the couch and pulled out the fast food he’d brought. Chicky nugs—you could never go wrong with those. And fries. Ditto. I grabbed us some ketchup, and then plopped myself down on the couch.

“I just saw Sylvester,” Harvey said, causing me to give him a look. “I’m supposed to meet with him every morning at ten to give him my report of the night’s events.” He didn’t touch the food; instead, he leaned back on the couch and rubbed his neck, looking uneasy, like something was bothering him. “Did he tell you he put me on Newton every night?”

“I wanted someone to be on him,” I said, not missing a beat. “A body was found in his club yesterday. When I went, I got a weird vibe off him.”

Harvey’s gray eyes were focused on me, a seriousness to his expression there typically wasn’t. He leaned forward, almost unblinking as he asked quietly, “Do you think it’s him, doing all this?”

We’d talked a little about what was going on behind the scenes. I’d told him not to go around telling anyone else; we were attempting to keep it under wraps for as long as possible, not wanting a mass panic erupting in the city. For a place full of crime, a serial killer would still unsettle most. Me, notwithstanding, of course.

I didn’t know what made me say, “I don’t know, but I’m keeping my options open.” The others might suspect Harvey himself, but there was no way the man sitting beside me was our killer. Just no fucking way. I liked to think I had a bit of a radar for liars and monsters like me, and it didn’t go off around Harvey.

Trust me, it went off alotwhen I was around men. I didn’t trust them by nature; I pretty much hated their asses until they proved themselves to me. But Harvey? I really, honestly didn’t get a killer vibe from him.

Harvey laughed, but it wasn’t a happy sound. “You know, it’s funny. I finally found someone I really like, and she likes me back—I think—and now I’m stuck watching Newton for the foreseeable future.” He paused, quickly adding, “Not that I don’t mind proving myself useful to Sylvester. I know he hates me. I just wish I didn’t have to cancel the date we had planned for tonight—”

“What time do you start watching Newton?”

“Eight every night, which isn’t bad. Giulia said she’s free Friday after four, so we’re getting together then.” Harvey got quiet. “I was just excited to see her, that’s all. I know it’s selfish of me, since finding this killer is obviously a priority.”

I set a hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently. The guy wasn’t muscular. Lean, maybe, but outright muscular? Hell no. I didn’t think a guy like him could cut a girl up like that, not unless he had a really sharp blade… and based on the jagged cuts on the corpses I’d seen, it wasn’t a sharp knife that was doing it.

“I’m sorry Sylvester roped you into it,” I told him, letting him go and grabbing myself a case of fries. I plucked one out of the container and stuffed it into my mouth. Its salty goodness was a welcome relief. “But, with any luck, we’ll have this wrapped up soon. I hope you told Giulia to stay safe out there.” If this chick was from the city, she should know it already.

Harvey nodded. “I told her not to go out and about at night because something’s going down—I didn’t tell her what, though.” He inhaled a slow breath, letting it out as he leaned forward and set his elbows on his knees. “I hope you’re right. I hope we find this guy, and I hope we find him soon. I don’t like knowing there’s someone out there, hunting people down like dogs.”

“Girls,” I corrected him. “He’s going after girls… unless there’s bodies we don’t know about, but I don’t think so. He’s going after them because of me—so yeah, we’re gonna find his ass and crucify him.”

And then, as Harvey and I ate, something occurred to me, something that wouldn’t have occurred to me if Harvey hadn’t told me what Sylvester was making him do. Sylvester put Harvey on Newton each night, at eight. Last night, at the same time, Mike left, and he stayed gone.

Let’s just say I put two and two together, and my jaw ground a bit more as I ate, knowing Sylvester was once again working behind the scenes. I’d have to have a chat with him about it, because no fucking way was I going to sit back and let him take the reins.

Harvey didn’t stay long after eating. He did tell me what his plan was with Giulia on Friday: they were going to see an early movie and grab dinner after. What were they seeing? The newest superhero movie.

Personally, I never understood what the big deal was about those things; the movies about the villains were always more exciting. The heroes always had lines they wouldn’t cross to win, while the bad guys had no lines to speak of… and sometimes the only way to beat your enemy was to be just as vicious as they were.

Just as dark. Just as evil. Just as unendingly ruthless and vile. Trust me, I knew all about that.

I texted Sylvester and told him I wanted to talk to him, and he responded by saying he’d be right over. I paced the house, waiting for him to show his face, practicing what I’d say to him in my head. The plan wasn’t to accuse him of going behind my back to go after Harvey, but that’s pretty much what he was doing.

It wasn’t Harvey. It couldn’t be. Newton, on the other hand… he might not have the voice that I’d listened to on the recorder countless of times, but he could be the mastermind. He could definitely be the one pulling the strings.

But Harvey? No.

I wasn’t expecting Sylvester to show up with Maddox, but when he arrived, I saw he wasn’t alone. Both Luciano brothers came strolling to the door, using their key to get inside—yes, after Sylvester had made such a big deal about keeping it locked, I did my best to.

I met them in the front vestibule, stopping when I saw they were both here. Maddox couldn’t hide the frown on his face, his glower pretty dang intense, cluing me in to the fact that something else was going on. The vibe coming off him wasn’t a happy one.

Sylvester’s blue eyes landed on me, and he gave me a strained smile. “Lola,” he spoke. “Are you alone?”

“Big Mike’s around somewhere,” I said, folding my arms over my chest as I leaned against the nearest wall, eyeing my two dangerous lovers up. “Viper left not long after Harvey—Harvey came to eat lunch with me, in case you were wondering. Oh, wait a second. You already know all that, because you put Viper and Mike on his tail.”

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