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“Ananke said she wouldn’t allow it, though. She believed that if she did, Cronos would’ve kept me and gotten rid of her. She said he believed she was grooming me for him. Oh, and this is important. She said, by then, he’d gone mad and she worried he’d ‘hurt the business.’”
“My God,” Magnet said under his breath. I’d no doubt the ramifications of what Ananke said were hitting him in the same way they had me.
“The next thing she talked about was having to kill people, like she’d have to kill me. This is another thing I remember distinctly. She said, ‘So many people…’ But then Sheka took over, telling her she didn’t have to kill anymore. He’d do it. The first person he murdered was Mithras’ mother. It sounded to me like it took place shortly after Cronos died.”
“How are you doing?” Magnet asked, pausing the recording a second time.
“I’m okay. There isn’t much more.”
He nodded and hit the button to continue.
“She said she either wanted to kill me or had needed to at least a couple of times. She also added I was the last Cronos asked for, so it seemed fitting that I’d be the last she’d kill. When I warned her the restaurant was surrounded, she didn’t seem to care. She knew she’d be killed too.”
I reached over and turned the device off myself. “That was all.”
28
MAGNET
“All,” Schön had said, as if she hadn’t just recounted a horrific event filled with equally terrifying facts about her own life. I didn’t blame Schön for her reaction or question it. Had I been in her place, I wasn’t sure I could’ve told the story half as calmly as she had. Then again, there was no doubt she was in shock.
The part that was hardest for me to stomach, and I’m sure for her too, was knowing she’d been specifically targeted at age fourteen. Ananke had told her Cronos had “wanted her.” The thought both sickened and enraged me. No doubt, there would be additional things that would come out in either woman’s interrogation.
When Schön set her mobile aside, I held her closer, whispering how much I loved her and how thankful I was that she was in my arms.
All too soon, my phone vibrated with an incoming call I knew I’d need to accept.
“Hey, Zeppelin.”
“Magnet. How’s Schön?”
“Hanging in there. She’s right here.”
“Good, I wanted to give both of you an update.”
“Shall I put the call on speaker?”
“Please.”
Both Schön and I sat up, but our hands still touched.
“Charlene Vella-Borg and Cassandra Rávdos are being transported separately to Corradino Correctional Facility. Cassandra, which we learned was her given name, should arrive there at any time. Charlene will be transported approximately thirty minutes later. Both women will be held in solitary confinement, and Antaeus Marras understands the importance of keeping the two alive.”
“Roger that,” I responded.
“Here’s the reason for my call. Oleander and Poseidon want to be the first to interrogate Cassandra.”
“I suppose we can trust O won’t kill her since she had the chance at the restaurant and didn’t do it.”
“My opinion is that if we asked Oleander to determine Cassandra’s prison sentence, she’d give her several life terms combined with an inordinate amount of torture.”
“She deserves both,” Schön commented.
“Agreed. Anyway, what are your thoughts regarding that particular course of action?”
I looked at Schön.
“If you’re asking me, I have no problem with it. I’m not sure why anyone would think I would.”