Page 20 of Rising Storm

“Not with you like this.”

“What, I still have control of my facilities.”

Gareth bit back a smile. “You mean faculties?”

“Yeah, those.” He pointed a not-so-straight finger, then picked up his cup to drink. He set it down with a slight splash of liquid out of the cup. “God, why do you think he didn’t show up?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“He was twelve the last time I saw him.”

Ah, now he knew where Helix was going with this. “Your brother?”

“My brother.” Helix nodded. “He was a scrawny, little runt of a kid. Always got picked on and he annoyed me to death. On purpose. Used to wait in this closet under the stairs and slam open the door when I came barreling down them. I once locked him in there and told him there was a secret room filled with demons and flies on the other side of the wall. Kid didn’t sleep for a week. I thought it good payback for the black eye he’d given me at the time. We fought all the time.”

“But you still loved him.”

“Yeah, I used to secretly beat up the kids who picked on him. It’s cuz he was so small. Still is.” He took another drink. “Couldn’t let them do that to my little brother, you know?”

“No, I was an only child. Would have loved having a brother.”

“He was so little when Hayrick took him.”

“Hayrick took your brother?” He knew this, but he wanted to keep Helix talking.

“Yeah. But where did he keep him? What did he make him do all those years? It drives me crazy wondering… and all those years worrying.” His words were starting to slur more and a hint of an accent was showing through. He was dropping some of his Rs and it was seriously cute because he rarely had an accent when he was sober. “What kind of cruel motherfucker kills a family and takes a kid?”

Helix had told him his family had been murdered and he hadn’t said it had been Hayrick, but it had been an easy guess. God, it just broke Gareth’s heart. “One who forced you and others to steal for him. I think we’ve established the man was evil.”

He scrubbed his hands over his face. “Twelve fucking years old and nobody would help me find him—not after a while.”

“Where’d you end up?”

“Foster care at first. But I couldn’t stay and disappear all the time. I finally just went off on my own. Looked older and got shit jobs. Was on the streets for a while.” He picked up his cup and cradled it between two hands, staring down at its contents with bleak eyes. He took a long breath, then looked back at Gareth. “You got ghosts, Gareth?” he asked softly.

“A few. Friends killed in the line of duty.”

“Sorry,” he slurred, setting down his cup and burying his face in his hands. “Ghosts, ghosts, everywhere.” He abruptly broke off and knocked back a shot. “Stupid alcohol won’t make them go away.”

“Tell me about the ghosts, Helix.”

“There’s this one. Judy.”

“You killed her?”

“No, Hayrick did. I just had to take care of her body but she haunts me. I feel like I could have stopped her death if I’d been there when Hayrick took her life. I had to carry her body down to the man Hayrick used to dispose of bodies.”

Gareth couldn’t fathom that kind of pain. “Did you know her well?”

Helix nodded. “We did a couple of steals together. She reminded me a lot of Shelli, independent and colorful. When she wasn’t in the black clothes she used for stealing, her style was wild with bright colors. Even her hair.”

“What did she do to lose her life?”

“Threatened to go to the cops. That was all it took. Hayrick had a blast telling me the details. He didn’t even hesitate to slit her throat. He used her death to keep others in line and it worked. I was so scared he’d hurt Sayer, I just kept going.”

“Did you ever have to kill for Hayrick?”

Helix blinked at him, then focused on his cup. “Do you really want to know that?”

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