Page 50 of When You're Safe

Suddenly, Finnrealized both Rob and Winters were looking at him as though he were mad.

“Should youtake him to the psychiatric hospital or should I?” Rob asked Winters.

“Probably you,”Winters said. “I’m not sure I’d feel safe, he might think I’m a painting drivinghim along the motorway.”

“How amusing,”Finn said, holding his stomach and letting out a sarcastic laugh. “I know it’sweird, but after I woke up I started thinking about people like Demi andElizabeth, how they’re living a double life. Demi was engaged to me, but itturns out she was having an affair with someone else. Elizabeth was trying toescape the influence of the DeGrey family and lead another life, if just for afew hours at a time.”

“And what doesthis have to do with the DeGrey murders?” Rob asked.

“In my dream…”Finn paused, sighing as he did so. It wasn’t easy for him to be so open aboutsuch a private moment as a dream. Normally, he would have kept it to himself,but mentioning it felt like a load off his shoulders. Rob was an old friend,and Winters was a new one. But in different ways, he felt close to both. He wassurprised how easy it was to open up as he kept talking.

Finncontinued: “The dream was all about people not being what they seemed. Peopletrying to run away from something. But in the end of the dream, I still endedup running straight into Demi’s arms.”

“So…” Wintersasked, understandably lost.

“That got methinking,” Finn said. “At first I started thinking, maybe the killer is runningaway from something. He’s trying to do that by destroying the DeGreys. A familymember with self-loathing issues. An employee or business partner who wants todissolve their connections with the family because it’s ruining their lives.Hang on.”

Finn rushedover to a vending machine at the side of the room and put two pound coins intoit, ordering a coffee. It dispensed the cup and started to fill it up. Hegrabbed the coffee enthusiastically and took a sip.

“We’re waitingwith bated breath,” Rob said.

Winters andRob exchanged uncertain glances, unsure of where Finn’s musings were leading. Butthey had seen Finn piece together seemingly unrelated threads before, resultingin revelations that propelled the investigation forward.

Finn tookanother sip of his coffee, its warmth steadying him. The realization he’d cometo was unsettling, and he knew he had to articulate it in a way that made senseto the others.

“You know,”Finn began, slowly choosing his words, “sometimes our actions, even the mosttwisted and inexplicable ones, are driven not by a need to escape but by a needto belong, to reclaim something we feel we’ve lost.”

He paused,gathering his thoughts. “What if our killer isn’t trying to get away from theDeGreys or destroy their legacy? What if, in a morbid and twisted way, he’strying to get closer to them, to be a part of them? What if he feels that byeliminating them, he can claim a place or a title that he believes was unjustlytaken from him?”

Rob raised aneyebrow. “So, you’re suggesting he might think of himself as a lost member ofthe DeGrey family? Someone who’s been denied his rightful place?”

“Exactly.”Finn nodded. “Think about it. Most of our leads have shown that the DeGreyfamily has its secrets. There have been disputes over inheritance, businessdealings that went south, and probably hidden affairs. What if there’s a child,or a relative, who feels they’ve been wronged and is now seeking retribution bytrying to reclaim their place?”

Winters frowned.“That’s a chilling theory, but it does give us a new angle to investigate. Itcould explain the intimate nature of these killings. The killer seems to knowthe family well, their routines, their secrets…”

Rob added, “It’sa theory worth pursuing. We can look into any family disputes, track down anydistant relatives or people who’ve felt wronged by the DeGreys.”

Finn set hiscoffee down, feeling the weight of their task. “It’s more than just a theory. I’msure the killer is a member of the family.”

“I don’t know,”Winters countered. “The DNA result on that vape shows that whoever owned it isn’ta member of their family.”

“Of their biologicalfamily,” Finn explained. “Some secrets come back to haunt you, literally.This all comes down to an affair, and to Quentin’s maid and her son. A littledigging brought me to some newspaper articles about it.”

Rob rubbed histemples, trying to take in the avalanche of information Finn was relaying. “QuentinDeGrey’s affair with a hotel maid? I vaguely remember some whispers, but itnever made it to the forefront. The DeGreys have always been good atsuppressing their scandals.”

Winters lookedintrigued. “I’ve never heard of this. Are you suggesting there’s another lineof DeGreys?”

“Yes and no,”Finn said.

He took outhis phone and started scrolling through it to show them a few old black-and-whitephotos from an archived tabloid website. In one of them, a young boy, no olderthan six, could be seen playing on the sprawling lawns of DeGrey Castle. Behindhim, Quentin DeGrey watched with a mixture of pride and trepidation. Anotherphoto showed the same boy, a bit older, perhaps in his pre-teens, standing witha woman who was presumably his mother, both of them wearing the unmistakableoutfits of servants.

“From what I couldpiece together, from the paltry few sources brave enough to cover it at thetime,” Finn explained, “was that Quentin had an affair thirty-odd years ago. Anaffair with a maid. She already had a son, whom Quentin grew close to and, fora while, it seems Quentin tried to do right by them both. Kept him and hismother close, even if not openly acknowledging the relationship. He had the boyliving on the estate, growing up in the shadows of the DeGrey legacy, almost ason but not quite. The boy living those years with an almost-dad, like anunfair phantom of what could have been in his life.”

Winters tiltedher head. “But then the papers got hold of the story, and Quentin pushed themaway?”

“Exactly,”Finn replied. “The tabloids had a field day. Quentin’s rumored affair became gossip,and people speculated, wrongly, that the maid’s son was his own. To salvage thefamily’s reputation and perhaps to protect his legitimate heirs, Quentinsevered all ties with the maid and her boy. Moved them off the estate, paidthem hush money, made sure they faded into obscurity. And I bet he never spokewith them again.”

Rob sat downand leaned back in his chair, absorbing the information. “So you think thisson, now grown up, is behind the killings? That he’s trying to claim what hebelieves is his rightful inheritance?”

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