Page 39 of Twisted Knight

“We search this motherfucking dump for any clue whatsoever, then we bleach our fucking hands so as not to catch whatever hell this place may carry and we go on our merry way.”

I raised an eyebrow suspiciously. “And that's it?”

He laughed. “No, of course not, then we raise havoc to snuffle that rat out, and once we do…” He turned to me and grinned. “It’ll be my time to shine.”

His grin caused chills down my back; it was sadistic—a twisted grin promising all kinds of pain.

I looked at the table and frowned before crouching and retrieving the white envelope stuck at the bottom.

“Like this maybe…” I ripped the envelope from under the table and reached for what was in it. “A key,” I said, grabbing it between my thumb and forefinger, showing it to Matteo.

It was just a generic silver deposit box key with no real distinctive signs except for a number on one side that said 6734.

“A deposit box key,” Matteo commented, mirroring my own assessment.

I nodded, putting it in my pocket.

“Let’s keep on going,” Matteo ordered, already walking into the next room.

I highly doubted there would be more to find in that dump. To be fair the key itself seemed like a miracle, even if truth be told there were deposit boxes all over the city and it could even be from another state… It was a long shot but it was all we had.

I was going through his kitchen cabinets, which were low on food but overwhelmingly high in cockroaches.

“Fucking vermin,” I spat in disgust as one crawled on my hand.

I shook it off as my phone vibrated in my pocket.

I retrieved it and smiled, my sour mood vanishing at India’s name flashing on my screen.

It was just a simple text and a photo.

‘Babies and mom are doing great. Dad is frazzled but still standing.’ I chuckled and opened the photo of the two infants, wrapped like burritos and sleeping in clear plastic beds.

“What are you laughing at?”

I turned toward Matteo who was standing beside the body like nothing was there.

I flipped my phone and showed him the photo. “The babies are here; everybody is doing well.”

He nodded. “Bene, one last thing to worry about; the Montanari line will keep on going.”

I rolled my eyes. Leave it to Matteo to be pragmatic even at this moment.

I shot her a quick thank-you text before concentrating on Matteo again.

“Andiamo.” He jerked his head toward the exit. “We won’t find anything more and I don’t want to stand here when they find him… or when the rats will come to feed.”

Bile rose in my throat at the thought and at the memory. I’d seen that before and it was even grosser than anyone could imagine.

“Si.” I was just eager to leave this pest-infested building.

Once we sat in the car, Matteo relaxed a little and leaned back against his seat.

“Let's forget about before; it’s not in my habits to let people see that…”

“You’re human?” I offered.

He threw me a glare. “Those things have the ability to get to me.”

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