Page 7 of The Hand that Frays

I turn it down a bit, still riveted.

“David is outside of HMP Low Newton, giving us coveted footage of Anne Hatt, who has been released and loaded into a caravan to head for London, where she has a home with her husband, Carl Hatt. We’re going to go to a commercial while we try to get David back on the line, and we’ll be right back,” the anchor says, and I release a breath.

I turn to get my mug of coffee off the nightstand and eye Neo, who is still staring at the television, where an ad for deodorant now plays on the screen.

“Neo?”

He doesn’t rouse from whatever thoughts he’s floating in. For a moment, I realize I’m not looking at the Neo I know. I’m looking at the Neo I fell for.

His eyes are feral and darkening around their edges as he stands naked in the bathroom’s fissure. His muscles are on full display, and as his mind works over whatever tedious task it’s mulling, every sinew is dense and flexing.

I lick my lips as the Butcher crawls to the forefront of Neo’s psyche.

“Neo!” I shout again, and he startles, wild eyes snapping toward me. “Are you alright?”

“I—No, I’m not.” He turns and slams the bathroom door shut, and I’m left on the edge of the bed as David returns to the screen and begins speaking again.

I’m torn between watching the story unfold and going to Neo. I know he’s going to need a moment, however. He always does when he gets like this.

Though I’ve never witnessed him look so demented before.

“So, do we think the courts will re-try Mrs. Hatt’s case?” the anchor in London asks David, who’s now standing in pounding rain and battling to keep his umbrella above him.

I drown him out as the words “Child Abuser Walks Free” scrawl across the bottom of the screen, and my brain hones in on them.

Everything I know about Neo comes rushing back into my deranged brain.

How his mother had abused him, and it’s how his motivation for killing built.

Anne Hatt poisoned her children for years before one of them confided in a counselor, unraveling the abuse and getting the authorities involved.

It took them two years to get to trial, all while the children sat in limbo. The MPS couldn’t figure out if Carl had any involvement or knew about the abuse of his three children, so the children were placed under a care order and placed in London’s version of the foster system for their safety.

I know this triggered Neo.

What I don’t know is how hard it’s going to be to get him back.

I slide off the bed and shut off the television.

Before I turn the knob, I close my eyes and steel my nerves.

Pushing inside, I find him standing deathly still at the edge of the fifties-style pink tub, a sick grin on his face.

“Neo?”

“Stupid girl?”

CHAPTER THREE

NEO

“That it?” Sean asks, handing me the manilla envelope as he stands from his desk chair.

Opening it, I make sure everything’s there.

Passports. New I.D.s. Sean even made new Social Security cards for Lyla and me. There are also visas. Permanent ones. He did well.

“No. This is it.” I give him the envelope with his cash and tip him a nod before turning and leaving.

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