Page 67 of Two for Joy

“Because that’ll be doable now.”

“Hear me out.”

Romeo stopped throttling the bars, and sighed. “Go on then.”

“John Nevison was a highwayman. He was locked up for robbery, and pretended he’d contracted the plague while inside. He acted all ill, as if he really was close to death, then dropped down in his cell.”

“Keep talking.”

“So the guards didn’t want to get the plague, so they stayed away from the cell, had this doctor go in, who announced he was dead, and he took the body out of the prison. Not only did he escape, but he had a second shot at life.”

“And how did that work out for him?”

“Well, from what I can recall, he was caught again, then hanged.”

“I see…”

“Still, it was only an idea.”

Romeo looked over to his bookcase. The A-Z medical dictionary. “Maybe you’re on to something.”

“Wait—what?”

“Thanks, Will, you’ve given me something to think about.”

They were treated for broken bones, blood loss, even cancer on the hospital wing. Romeo needed something that required him to visit the city hospital.

“That’s what buddies are for.”

Romeo frowned. “Buddies?”

“Yeah, we’re buddies.”

“I doubt most buddies want to kill each other.”

“Wait…what?”

“Night, Will.”

Chapter Twelve

His mother died last.

Her funeral had been packed out. There had been tributes, tears, even a few somber laughs.

Romeo played the part he was supposed to.

The grieving son.

He got more hugs, and hand squeezes that day than during the rest of his life put together.

None of them knew at that time they were reassuring a monster.

None of them were ever supposed to know.

Romeo had always seen it as getting his fix, then moving on, accepting it was his lot. He’d put it on hold, countless times in his life he struggled to keep his desire in check, but then he’d think of his mother and father, their full-glowing hearts breaking if they ever found out, if he ever got caught.

He’d held back for as long as he could, but it was more than a need. It was fate. Since he’d taken his first breath on earth, he’d always been destined to be a killer.

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