Page 23 of Reign By Wrath

“It’s not an allegation. It’s what happened.”

“Are you certain you’re recalling the details correctly?” She leaned back, pressing her tight chestnut bun into her high-backed chair. The wrinkles around her gray eyes deepened. “We have a confession. Connor Langston admitted to setting the fire. Clearly, the body we recovered in the wreckage wasn’t you.”

For as long as I lived, I’d wonder how Mr. Dumont was able to get his hands on a spare corpse so quickly. Wonder was all I could do since he smoothly dodged all questions about it during the three days we were on the boat.

“But that means you weren’t there,” Captain Capaldi finished. “Why should I believe your version of events over Connor’s?”

Scoffing, I shook my head. “Aren’t there courses and seminars available on how to talk to victims? You really need a refresher.”

The lines around her mouth hardened. “Excuse me?”

“You should believe my version of events because I’m the one who was electrocuted, woke up to flames eating the room, and was treated to Everleigh Starling crowing about how she drove my sister to suicide and was now going to kill me. Langston wasn’t anywhere near the place.”

“Why would he lie and confess to such a serious crime?”

“I’m sure a peek in his bank account will answer that question. You could also drop by his house and join the party his family is throwing now that they’re moving up the Royal line.”

Saying nothing, she scribbled something short in her notebook. I noticed she didn’t ask me what the Royal line was.

“So you’re claiming Everleigh Starling set the fire to kill you?”

“She tied me to the furniture and said she was going to kill me, so... yeah, that was the goal.”

Tap, tap, tap, tap.

I gritted my teeth as her pen did another dance on the mahogany.

“Why would she do such a thing?”

“For the same reason she paid monsters to bully my sister. She thought that by tormenting his daughters, she could drive my biological father out into the open and kill him.”

“Your biological father would be...?”

“Alistair Burkhardt.”

A vein in her forehead jumped. Alistair laughed when he said she’d remember him. She was a regular uniformed officer the many times she arrested and then was forced to let the rich boy go, but he said she’d remember him fondly.

I noted her curled lip.Not so much fondly as furiously.

“Alistair Burkhardt went missing eighteen years ago. He didn’t have children.”

“He had two, and the guy you’re shaking hands with in that photo will confirm.” I gestured to a picture of her and Dario Burkhardt. “They set aside an inheritance for me and my sister.”

More tapping, then some scribbling, then tapping again. The captain stared at me like she was trying to x-ray my head and figure out my angle. “I’ll need time to verify these claims.”

“You mean you’re going to investigate the very serious crimes committed against me. Everleigh Starling tried to kill me and covered it up. She’s extremely dangerous.”

“How did you manage to get away?”

“I was rescued,” I replied. “I don’t know by who. I passed out. But someone pulled me out of the fire.

“I lay low for a few days because I was afraid she’d come after me. Then, I saw on the news that someone named Connor Langston confessed to murdering me, and I had to do something.”

“I see.” The captain pushed her chair back, standing up. “I applaud your bravery. Thank you for coming in today, Miss Sinclair. You can leave the rest to me.”

I shook her hand and left without another word. Walking out, I’d describe my mood with one word: unsatisfied.

I thought it’d be a great moment when I went in there and ripped Everleigh’s sweet little heiress mask to shreds, but Captain Capaldi could not have been more obvious in her disbelief.

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