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“Involving my mother,” I snap back. “And maybe a hostage?”
He scoffs. “There’s no hostage situation. Your mother may be dumb, but she’s not that dumb.”
Frowning, I glance at Vinny before looking back at him. “What do you mean?”
He groans, dragging a hand down his face. It doesn’t look like he’s shaved in a couple of days and his beard is starting to grow in thick. “If her rambling is to be believed, the slice across her throat is from Alastair. With an axe. She claims he thought she was an illusion.”
I narrow my eyes. “She could be making things up.”
“Don’t jump to Alastair’s defense,” he says, raising a brow. “I can’t go into the details with you two, but you absolutely cannot be here right now. We have Porscha in custody, not Alastair. When it’s safe to see your mother-”
“I’m not sure I want to see my mother-”
“We’ll call you,” he says, ignoring what I said. He glances between us before shaking his head. “Now go. You’re interrupting the case.”
Shaking my head, I step closer and jab a finger into his chest. “I thought, after everything, maybe you would be different.”
His eyebrows lift. “Like what, Jo? Like I’d let a killer escape?”
“Like you’d give him the chance,” I say quietly, and I don’t know why I bother. Porscha is here. Alastair isn’t. Maybe he’s already far away.
Sterling hesitates, his brows knitting with confusion before he shakes it off. “I can’t turn my back on the law for a killer, Jo. Even if you ask nicely. He has to pay for his crimes.”
“And if he’s not the only one who’s guilty?”
“Not here,” Sterling snaps. “I’m working! Like it or not, this is my job. Porscha will go in for questioning once the medics determine she’s stable enough.” He takes a breath and lowers his voice. “I can tell you she needs stitches but that’s all I can say.”
I shake my head, not caring about what my mother needs. I stare at Vinny, needing him to side with me. “I’m sorry, Sterling. You’re busy with Porscha. We could help you look for-”
“Jo,” he interrupts tiredly, holding up a hand. “I get that you want to have hope that this has a happy ending, that somehow Alastair ends up pardoned for his crimes and you can all start over or something. But that isn’t what’s happening here. Now let me work.”
Anger and betrayal rush through me, and I don’t know if it’s towards Alastair for getting tangled into all of this or for Sterling pointing out the facts. As he turns to head back, I point at him, opening my mouth to tell him just what I think when I’m interrupted by a peal of loud, unhinged laughter.
My mother. She sounds completely deranged and Sterling turns without another word towards her voice.
“I’m not going with you!” she screams, and I guess whatever happened to Mom didn’t affect her vocal chords. “Get off, get off! I’ll kill every last one of you!”
Vinny wraps an arm around my shoulders and tucks my head into his shoulder to muffle the sound of her voice but I can still make out the words, “They deserved it! They all deserved it and so do you!”
Is it Sterling she’s hurling these vile words at? Even if I’m angry with him, he doesn’t deserve her abuse. Vinny tugs on my shoulders, trying to get me to leave.
But I can’t.
“Get away, get away! You can’t hide me from my fans!”
Fans?Does she mean all the people who adored Alastair? I’m not sure his audience would be the same as hers.
“Jo,” Vinny urges. I try to pull away to get closer and he just shakes his head, tightening his hold on me. “Not now. If she’s acting like this they’ll need to subdue her.”
“I need to see,” I hiss.
“There’s no way in hell I’m letting you anywhere near her.”
“She’s my mother-”
“No. She’s the monster hiding behind the mask your mother wore. You think seeing Alastair in prison was bad? Seeing your parents stumble and disappoint you is worse.”
I hesitate, glancing up at him. Surely he’s talking about Massimo, since Gloria doesn’t actually do anything. Massimonever pretended to have any love for his sons, but at least my mother could fake her feelings towards me.