Page 27 of Back In the Shadows

Twenty-four hours had crept by, and we were still no closer to finding my wife. Desperation coated my sweat-slickened skin while my nerves teetered on the edge of sanity. My world had changed on a dime, Ella had been taken, and my best friends had told me I was two different people in one body. Panic clenched its icy fingers around my throat, threatening to choke the life out of me. I fought to stay conscious, straining to focus on the task in front of me and finding a way to connect with this Death person. But what terrified me most was that I had no recollection of him. It was as if he had erased all memories of our encounters from my mind. And the realization hit me like a sledgehammer; those missing chunks of time were not just a coincidence. My brain was protecting me from him.

Dope finally returned with his laptop and settled in at my desk. “Give me a few.” He opened his computer, and his fingers flew across the keys as he worked his hacking magic.

Ryan cleared his throat. “And?”

Dope never missed a beat as he continued.

“Cami. Is she going to turn us in? Is she leaving?” Ryan’s pitch jumped with his anxiety. Hell, we were all anxious.

“Oh. Yeah, she’s cool.”

“Dope, for fuck’s sake. We’re sweating over here. Tell us what she said,” I demanded.

Dope sighed and dropped his hands to his lap. “She’s not going to the cops because we need to find Ella. She’s terrified of meeting Death.” The corner of his mouth kicked up. “Aren’t we all?”

“Not the time to joke around, mate.”

“Anyway, Ryan, she hates you. Not sure if you two will patch shit up or not. But, she loves Ella and the kids so she’s on our side there. After we bring Ella home, I don’t know how it will play out, but she gave her word no cops or FBI. We can trust her.”

“Goddammit. Why wasn’t I more careful?” Ryan said, his head hanging down.

“None of us were. It’s not on you,” I added.

Kip walked over behind Dope and tapped him on the shoulder, urging him to continue. “Okay, that’s one problem solved for now. Let’s get to Ryan’s plan to see if we can coax out Death.”

Other than the sound of the second hand on the grandfather clock, a heavy silence fell over the room as Dope searched for what he needed.

“Ryan? Is this what you need?”

Ryan leaned over and stared at the screen. “Go here.” He pointed at something I couldn’t see since they’d blocked me from the view of what Dope was doing.

“Fuck,” Dope said as he winced and shrank back from the computer. “I’ve seen a lot of shit, but …” He swallowed hard and shot me a skeptical look.

“You’ve always been so careful except for the guy you left dangling from a hook in the warehouse a while ago.”

Kip chuckled, apparently enjoying whatever they were looking for. “Death’s a thorough motherfucker, that’s for sure. I admire his work, though. I mean it's skilled precision.”

Ryan walked over to me. “Go check it out. You need to check out what you do on your days off from being Sebastian.”

I shot him a bewildered look. “Crickey, sometimes you have a real way with words.”

Ryan gave me a half shrug.

I tried to prime myself for the worst, but nothing, and I mean nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to see. A barely recognizable man dangled from a meat hook in an old warehouse. Blood pooled below him and deep gashes erased his face. His heart and stomach were on the floor next to the puddle. Revulsion shot through me like a shock wave as I stared at the image, speechless.

“That’s Death’s work,” Kip said with pride in his tone. “And the knife you have from your father? That’s Death’s favorite tool. He just keeps it nice and clean. Bleaches the shit out of the blade to make sure there’s no evidence.”

“Show him some more, Dope,” Ryan said.

Horror twisted my chest into knots as Dope showed me images from every angle of the victim. Somehow, I managed to find my voice. “Tell me he deserved that. Tell me that I’m not a stone-cold killer devoid of any empathy.”

“I know this is hard to see and most likely hard to believe that this is your work, but his nickname was Dahmer Junior.”

I stared at my friend in disgust. “He raped boys, then ate them?” Bile churned in my gut, and I pushed it down, unwilling to lose my lunch in front of my mates.

“Yup,” Kip said.

Ryan ran his hand over his short hair. “I think it’s one reason you left him there. I’m not positive though. I’m pretty sure you were sending a message to let the cops know he wasn’t a problemanymore. You should have heard the cheers at the station when they found him. At least you were careful and didn’t leave evidence, but I’m guessing Kip had something to do with that since you hadn’t called me.”

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