Page 88 of The Wicked

Probably me.

Until last night, I’d assumed—well, hoped—that the monster was working alone. His was the only face I’d seen when I was nine. But now it had become clear there were more of them—two monsters at least, plus somebody directing them. And if Garrett’s tenuous theory was correct, the puppet master was a powerful politician, insulated from justice by wealth and privilege. We stood no hope of bringing him down.

Of course, Blue ignored all the obvious issues.

“You know what’s bugging me?” she asked.

I groaned and buried my head in my arms. “No, and I don’t want to.”

“This started when your parents died. But why them? What had they done that meant running them off the road was the only option?”

“How should I know? I was a child. My life consisted of school, dance classes, and play dates.”

“It’s something to do with your mom, I bet. Politics. It has to be. Your dad was just collateral damage.”

“Don’t talk about him that way.”

“What can you remember about the weeks leading up to the crash? Specifically the period after your mom’s boss died? Was she away from home more than usual? Did any strangers come to the house?”

“She always worked late. Sometimes Dad would complain about it, but he knew she loved her job. He painted, and I spent half my time at Marcin’s place because we were practising for a big competition and they had more space. His mom and my dad used to take it in turns to drive us to dance classes.”

Now Luca joined in. “We need to find out who else worked in Colvin’s office with Claire. How many staff does a senator have?”

“I’ll look into it,” Blue said.

“This is a police matter now.”

“How are you going to stop me?”

“If you interfere in an ongoing investigation…”

Brooke threw up her hands. “Stop! Just stop fighting. Sara’s traumatised, and you’re not helping.” She took a seat next to me. “Sara, we need to get to the bottom of this. Burying it worked for years, but I don’t think that’s an option anymore. The best chance we have of preventing someone else from getting hurt is to stop these people, and we really, really need your help for that.”

“But I don’t know anything.”

“There might be some little snippet of information that you don’t even realise is important. Just talk Luca and Blue through your life. That’s all you need to do.”

That’s all you need to do.Did she understand what she was asking? That digging the slivers of my past out of the grave I’d buried them in would leave damage I couldn’t repair? A scar was better than an open wound. But I had to do it, didn’t I? It was the only way to get out of this mess.

“What if they come after more people?” I asked.

“They can’t kill all of us,” Luca said.

“Are you sure about that? I don’t want blood on my hands.”

“We’re doing this with or without your help, Sara.”

“Fine.” I heaved out a sigh. “Fine, I’ll do it, but I need to find somewhere safe to stay first.” Maybe Poland. “I can’t go back to the pool house.”

“Stay here with me and Brooke until we get this cleared up.”

“That could take months. Years. What if we never—”

The buzz of the intercom interrupted, and the others looked at each other.

“You expecting anyone?” Luca asked Brooke, pulling out his phone. They had cameras here, alarms on every door and window, and there was an app that controlled them all.

“Paulo said he’d bring cookies at lunchtime, but it’s only eleven o’clock.”

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