Page 55 of There is No Devil

Usually, I’d head back up to my office to mull this over alone. I feel angry enough to bite the head off anyone who even looks at me.

But I don’t want to be alone—I want Mara. I want to tell her everything that happened. I want to hear what she thinks.

I’m only halfway up the stairs when I collide with her hurrying down.

“I’m sorry,” she gasps. “I couldn’t wait any longer. I couldn’t stand not knowing what was going on.”

“It’s fine,” I say. “Hawks left.”

“What did he say?”

I take her hand. “Come on. Let’s get a drink, and I’ll tell you.”

We leave the building, after a quick glance down the sidewalk to be sure Hawks isn’t still lurking around.

I take Mara to a dingy little pub that serves home-brewed cider, her favorite.

We sit across from each other in a dark and quiet corner, the oak tabletop already sticky long before Mara spills a little cider on it.

Briefly, I recap the conversation between me and the detective. I tell her everything, even the part about Danvers.

“Is Hawks right?” Mara whispers.

“Yes,” I admit. “I killed him.”

Mara’s breath catches on the inhale, then releases in a shaky waver.

“Can he prove it?”

“Probably not.”

The only evidence is enclosed insideFragile Ego.It was insane for me to sell it. In that moment, my own ego had swelled past all reason.

No one knows about the bones, except Shaw.

Yet another reason he needs to die.

“The cop’s a crusader,” I say to Mara. “He’s not going to drop it.”

Mara looks up at me from under the fan of her dark lashes.

“Will you kill him, too?” she asks quietly.

“I’d prefer not to.”

Hawks is doing his job, and he’s not that bad at it. Nobody else noticed Danvers.

When the fuck did I make this rule for myself, not to murder people I respect? It’s inconvenient.

“Please don’t,” Mara says, relieved.

“Understand this, though,” I tell her, my voice low and cold. “I’ll do what I have to do. No one is going to take you from me … and no one is taking me from you.”

Now she shifts in her seat.

She doesn’t want me in jail, but she also doesn’t want to be party to the slaughter of a decent human.

“It probably won’t come to that.”

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