Page 33 of Sinister Legacy
Riveiro spares a quick glance at the screen, at the Madison girl bent over the desk.
Rubbing my tired eyes, I clear my throat. It’s almost nine in the evening. I should be home with my wife, but I’m trying to wrap my head around how I’m going to keep this under wraps for the time being. It will overshadow the investigation once the media gets wind of Principal Byrne’s extracurricular activities. Not to mention create another media frenzy.
One we could do without right now.
Riveiro puts a steaming cup of coffee in front of me before rolling over a chair and sitting down. “Found anything out yet?”
Dropping my hand, I gesture to the screen. “We know he fucked the Madison girl, and she left the office straight afterward. Byrne turns off the camera after straightening up his desk. Did Madison return to seek revenge?”
“But why now? Why not before? She’s in lots of those tapes. And let’s not forget our killer targeted her a week earlier.”
“Which is what I thought. But I found this. Look…” Leaning forward, I rewind the tape, pointing to the screen. “See that?”
Riveiro squints, a tendril of dark hair sliding from behind her ear. “What am I looking at?”
I rewind it again, pressing play and pointing at the cupboard door behind Byrne. “See how it slides open a fraction?”
“Shit,” Riveiro blurts, shifting forward to rewind the recording. “I see it. The fucking killer was in there the entire time, even before Madison entered the room.”
“Biding his time,” I reply.
“So Madison leaves…” Riveiro mutes the moans and grunts, her eyes wide as she looks at me. “Byrne opens the window, tidies up his desk, and switches off the camera.”
“And then he sits down at the desk,” I finish for her.
Her brown eyes flick between mine. “The killer strikes… He was in there the whole time.”
Picking up the steaming coffee, I blow on it before taking a sip. “We just need to figure out who it is.”
“What about security footage at the school?”
My head shakes as I place the cup back down. “Byrne didn’t want any evidence of the girls that came and went. The security systems in the hallway where his office is based have been down for months. We have nothing.”
“And no one knew?”
“Or maybe they knew but didn’t question it.”
The desk chair creaks as Riveiro leans back and stares at the screen, at the cracked-open door behind Byrne. “The killer must have known the cameras were down, right?”
“That would be my guess.” I blow out a breath, rubbing my thumb and finger together. “We need to figure out who this killer is quickly. Before more people die.”
I’m so fucking sore from King’s nightly visits that I shouldn’t shimmy my jeans down my ass when my stepdad tosses the couch cushion on my face and orders me to put it over my eyes. The marble floor in the hallway is cold, and I can feel the chill through my denim jacket.
No sooner had I returned home from school after Principal Byrne’s murder than my stepdad stepped out from the living room in a crumpled suit and ordered me to lie down. Mom is away for two days at a conference, so I should have foreseen this.
I press the pillow over my face as I kick my jeans and panties off.
“Open your legs.”
Of course I do.
I open them as wide as I fucking can, baring my pink cunt to his dark eyes. It’s as if he knows I need this after another shocking murder.
My past is chasing me, and I can’t outrun it.
Only pain can save me now.
Lots of fucking pain.
