Page 106 of Voyeur

He turns away from me, pacing as I see the cogs in his brain turning furiously. “Why kill him all these years later, though?”

“That’s what I don’t understand. Unless he’s into something else you didn’t see in your research?”

“Possible. Men like him go to good lengths to hide the truth.”

“We’ll never know what his involvement was. We’ll never know his truth,” I say absently, sitting onto the side of the bed in a huff.

“Hey,” Gage says softly, coming closer and dropping to his knees in front of me. Grasping my hands in his, he looks up at me. “We will figure this out. It seems impossible, but it’s not. And this isn’t your fault. Alright?”

I nod, fighting the burning in my throat to not let emotions take over.

“Come back to bed. It’s where I was headed. Once it’s light out, we will go over and speak to Emery, huh?”

He leads me back under the covers, placing his body behind me as silence washes over the room. As Gage rubs my arm lightly, his warmth giving me something to cling to, my mind spirals out of control. Because even though he says it’s not my fault. It damn sure feels like it is.

* * *

“And you think,what, that I snuck out, killed him, and then snuck back in?” Gage’s voice draws me back to the surface of consciousness. I rub sleep from my eyes, swinging my legs over the side of the bed and giving my brain a moment to come back online.

“I wouldn’t put it past you,Gage.” Emery is downstairs, and he’s said Gage’s name like it’s a curse. Or a leading insinuation that it’s, in fact, not his name.

“Listen, I know you’re hurting, as I would be if my best friend was just killed, but…”

“But nothing,” Emery cuts Gage off. “You of all people don’t get to stick your nose all in my fucking feelings. You’ve given her strength back, that’s clear to see. The Carina who walked into my office, and the Carina I’ve seen blossom since the night we three shared in the warehouse, are two different people. But don’t get so cocky that you can’t see past the tip of your own fucking nose!”

Gage scoffs. “Pot, kettle.”

I roll my eyes and make my way out of the room to the landing. I turn and head down the stairs slowly toward where I can still hear them bickering in the living room.

“Does she know what you do? Does she know who you truly are, Gage? Who your father is? You’ve done far worse things than setting a house on fire. Which reminds me, I don’t believe you forgot about that fire. Too convenient if you ask me,” Emery spews, and my feet stop shy of the last ten steps. Leaning against the wall, I wait for Gage’s words.

Because I need to hear them, and I need to hear them when he thinks I’m asleep. What will he let loose while he thinks I’m unaware?

Gage sighs. “I never said I didn’t remember setting the fire. I just didn’t put two and two together. Rochester, the fire, it was the first thing I’d done for my father. It was the least of the things that keep me up at night.”

My heart skips a few beats before getting back onto a healthy rhythm.

“Does she know you’ve killed?” Emery asks. “Because it wasn’t hard for Stan to dig up bodies that trail in your wake. None that can be tied to you, of course, but bodies that were surely your doing, under the direction of no one, too. It seems you run your own business now. One that competes with your father’s.”

That has me backing up the steps a few paces. I always assumed he was still working for his father, handling orders blindly for him. I don’t know why I had because he’d never expressly told me that fact.

It has me looking inward. Do I want to be near a man with a list of bodies he’s stolen life from? My soul feels like it knows him. Like he’d never do anything unless he thought it was necessary. Is that where he and his father differed? Is that why he separated from his father’s business?

I rub my eyes, worry building in every cavernous space of my body as the moments go on.

“She and I are none of your business, Mr. Stanner. You came here for a purpose, now what is it? Was it to accuse me of something I didn’t do? Well, you’ve done that; you can leave.”

Emery sighs, and it’s almost palpable, the tension he releases into the atmosphere with it. “I just wanted to talk to her, man. All that’s going on, it’s just…”

“Do you truly think it was drug related?” Gage asks when Emery trails off.

“No. Conner and I might have partied back then, but I’ve never known him to be into that kind of shit. Booze and women were his thing.”

“Maybe it would do to pull Stan from trying to find Wes and put him onto this. I can work on it with him, if you’d like. Though, your sentiments about me seem as though you don’t want me anywhere near it. Which is also fine. Just a suggestion.”

I step down a few stairs, waiting anxiously to hear Emery’s answer.

He lets out a sigh that’s wracked with emotion. “You’re right. And even though Stan is the best at his job, he hasn’t found Wes. It was like the lead he was given was fake. And my feelings aside, you’re also good at your job. Your track record proceeds you. I’ll get you in touch with Stan.”

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