Page 19

19

O llie walked stiffly, overly aware of the thing still stuck in his neck. They passed behind the wire fence around the building and crossed creaky wooden boards. The windows and doors hadn’t been fitted, giving the place an abandoned, desolate feel despite being brand new. Ollie stepped inside, breath catching as a plastic sheet flapped in the wind.

“Easy,” the voice said. Ollie winced at the squeeze to his shoulder. “That way…”

He was pushed towards one of the stairwells.

“I won’t be able to see where I’m going,” Ollie said through gritted teeth.

“Then you’ll have to be extra careful.”

There were rectangles in the stairwell wall where windows would eventually be placed. Wind howled through them, sweeping down the stairs. A perimeter light outside shone through enough of a haze for Ollie to place his feet. The light got fainter the further they climbed.

“This one.”

Ollie didn’t take the next set of stairs. They’d stopped on the fourth floor. Only pillars and supporting walls had been put inside. Ollie had heard Sebastian grumbling about them having to stop building work due to some box he’d forgotten to tick or a document he’d forgotten to sign; Ollie wasn’t sure.

“All the way to the end.”

He didn’t argue, just did as he was told, until they were at the edge where the concrete stopped and the scaffolding started.

“Out.”

Ollie took a deep breath, then stepped through one of the wall-to-ceiling window slots onto the scaffolding. He knew it was safe; he’d seen men and women working on the building, but the wood beneath his feet shifted and the wind rushing by didn’t make it feel secure in the slightest. When he glanced down, all he saw was the ominous black between the planks. The whole structure creaked, and he instantly reached for the metal bar in front of him. It didn’t give him much comfort, though.

“Who are you?” Ollie asked.

Warm breath touched his ear again. “That’s not the question you should be asking.”

Ollie frowned, turning his head a fraction, but the scratch on his neck stopped him.

“You should be asking, who am I to Teddy?”

The hand on his shoulder squeezed, then let go to wrap around Ollie’s stomach again. He thought of Teddy, specifically of the moment when they’d sat side by side on the bed and Ollie had read out Teddy’s reasons for wanting him to appeal.

You slayed your demon, and that makes you stronger than I am.

This person was someone bad to Teddy.

He knew it.

“You’re Teddy’s demon,” Ollie whispered.

“I’ve never been described as that before.”

Ollie ignored the scratch on his neck and tilted his head down. The man who had him wore black leather gloves.

“Pichard…”

“Eight years of medical training, and you think you have a right to drop the doctor from my name?”

“It’s a needle, isn’t it? In my neck?”

“Yes,” Pichard replied. “And trust me when I say you don’t want me pushing the contents into you.”

“Why are you—”

“ Why couldn’t you just leave Hollybrook and move on with your life? I mean…Teddy never sent you anything back; I made sure of it, but still, letter after letter, then you show up outside the gate? What were you planning on doing, breaking in ?”

“What do you mean you stopped him from sending anything?”

“I told him not to. He listens to me. I thought you’d lose interest. I thought I wouldn’t need to intervene. It’s always messier when I have to.”

“Why is it any of your business if I write to Teddy?”

Pichard sighed. “I tried to relax on holiday. I tried to enjoy my time with my husband, but I kept thinking about you, your persistence. And I thought I could push it to the back of my mind, wait until I was home, but it kept niggling and scratching until I knew I had to do something. I had to leave early and deal with…this.”

“Deal with what?”

“You, Ollie, I have to deal with you. I’ve let this go on for too long.”

Ollie bit his lip. “I haven’t done anything—”

“You have. You’ve done something to Teddy.”

“How…how do you know him?”

Pichard shifted, pulling Ollie away from the bar. Ollie let go at the scratch in his neck, the warning that if he didn’t cooperate, Pichard would pump him full of something sinister.

“We go way back. We were friends. We were more than friends. Then we weren’t.”

Ollie closed his eyes. “I don’t understand.”

“Did you know when he was recovering from his operation, he couldn’t even walk?”

Ollie opened his eyes. “I did know that, actually.”

“Oh, he told you, did he? Paralysis down his right side. He had to be wheeled about. Guess who did the wheeling?”

Ollie widened his eyes. “You were at the hospital with him?”

“It was one of my placements when I was training. Hardly anyone bothered with him. He dribbled, and he growled, and he fell out of bed all the time.” Pichard chuckled. “But I bothered with him. I took the time to bother with him even though he wasn’t my responsibility. I got to know him. Even when he was well enough to go home, we kept seeing each other. We got to know each other very well.”

“You’re the boyfriend,” Ollie murmured.

“He told you about me?”

“He said jealousy ruined your relationship.”

Pichard chuckled. “Jealousy? It was Teddy remaining friends with Gary that killed our relationship. And Gary was so smug about it, so persistent.”

“That’s why you started the fire? To warn Gary off?”

“He deserved it. The others…they were unfortunate casualties. They weren’t supposed to die.”

“It was you. You made Teddy take the blame.”

“I didn’t make Teddy do anything. But it was his fault I got so angry. It was his fault I reacted. I was three years into my training. I was going to be someone. A doctor. I am a good doctor. What future did Teddy have? He had no education. He couldn’t talk or write. He couldn’t do anything. The fact was, my life was worth more than his.”

“That’s not true,” Ollie snapped.

“He took the blame because he knew it was his fault. He should’ve chosen me over his friendship with Gary. He took the blame because he knew my life had more value than his, and if I’d had been locked up behind bars, I never would’ve been able to help people—save them. My actions took the lives of four people, but I’ve saved countless, Ollie. That’s what you don’t understand. Teddy knows that. Teddy understands. He went to prison. I moved on with my life. I completed my training and became the doctor I was always meant to be—”

“Then why…” Ollie spat. “Why would you work at Hollybrook of all places?”

“I didn’t at first,” Pichard admitted softly. “But I met Callum. He’s the love of my life, and I’ll do anything to keep him. I couldn’t wait around for the day Teddy decided he wanted out of prison life. I had to make sure he stayed put, so I took the job at Hollybrook.”

“To keep an eye on him, to keep him under control?”

“Every time an inmate got too close to him, every time I thought they might awaken a desire in him to get out of there, to be more than an animal in a cage, I got rid of them.”

Ollie sucked in a breath.

“Oh please.” Pichard chuckled. “There are other ways to get rid of inmates. I’m a doctor, and being on the hospital wing, I hear rumours . Rumours like Teddy pressurising his cellmates for sex, rumours like them being scared and intimidated by him but too afraid to say anything in case he reacts. And being a doctor, it’s my responsibility to tell the governor of these rumours so he can intervene before something happens and an inmate ends up being sent to me.”

“You made it up. You got them moved wings?”

“Wings, sometimes even prisons.” Pichard blew out a breath at the back of Ollie’s neck. “I didn’t let him get close to anyone.”

“What about Ryan?”

Pichard hummed. “He was difficult. He told the governor the rumours were bullshit and the inmates in the hospital wing were having a laugh at my expense for being so gullible. He told the governor him and Teddy were friends, and the governor…he believed Ryan over me. He let him stay in Hollybrook, on that wing, in that cell. Ryan humiliated me. So I had to get rid of him another way. There was a virus going around the wing. Some inmates were too sick to even leave their cells, so I had to go to them. Ryan complained of a migraine, so I gave him something for the pain. Teddy was in the gym at the time. He had no idea I’d gone in to see Ryan on my way back from visiting one of the sicker inmates.”

“It was morphine?”

“Yes, I’d been carrying it around a while, waiting for a chance. It was too strong a dose for Ryan’s body to handle. He died in his sleep. Teddy got dragged to the segregation unit and beat himself up over Ryan’s death. He knew it was me. I told him it was his fault. He wasn’t allowed to get close to his cellmates. Every time he did, I’d find a way of getting rid of them, and if he ever tried to tell…no one would believe him. Grunting, growling, crazy Teddy Saul.” Pichard snorted. “He understood I was in control, and it was fine. For a year, I didn’t have to worry, and then you arrived.”

Pichard pushed Ollie towards the edge. Ollie grabbed the bar in case Pichard tried to force him over.

“I warned him.”

“What do you mean?” Ollie asked, clutching the bar with both hands.

“Did you really think you dropped that clipboard?”

Ollie blinked. “I don’t—”

“It was sweet of you to take the blame, but I made sure you didn’t get a grip of it before letting go. I made sure Keith woke up, and then I left you in a locked room with him while I waited around the corner. I know the kind of man Keith is. I know why he’s in Hollybrook. He can’t help himself.”

“You…you stopped him.”

“As I said. It was a warning. I could’ve let him rape you, but I didn’t. I got to play hero, and you went back to your wing shaken up and more battered than when you left it, and I’m guessing you told Teddy.”

Ollie bowed his head. “I told him you stopped it. You saved me.”

“Teddy would’ve known it for what it was. A threat. A promise.”

“He pushed me away afterwards. He put distance between us…”

Ollie thought back to the night in the cell when he’d first kissed Teddy.

Teddy had been distressed, cowering like a beaten dog against the cell door.

I can’t protect you.

“How can you do that to someone? Someone you once cared about?” Ollie asked. “How can you trap him like that? Take away every chance of happiness? Isolate him and make him believe he’s worthless?”

“I have a life, a good one, and the only way I’ll keep it is by making sure Teddy doesn’t get one of his own. It’s not pretty, but we do what we have to.”

“I love him.”

Pichard dug his fingers into Ollie’s abdomen.

“I know you do,” Pichard whispered. “My warning wasn’t enough. I still heard things on the hospital wing about you and Teddy. I thought I’d have to deal with you the same way I’d dealt with Ryan, but then I heard news of an appeal.”

“I didn’t want to appeal—”

“I bet Teddy pushed you into it.”

Ollie could hear the smile in Pichard’s voice.

“He knew he had to, or I would’ve taken you from him in a more permanent manner eventually.”

“He promised me I’d get to visit him. He said he’d ask Captain or someone else to help write letters. I even said he should call me despite not being able to speak. I believed him because he looked like he wanted to so badly whenever I brought it up. He looked like he wanted to keep me in his life, like he was desperate to, but he was holding back.”

“Now you know why he didn’t. Is it a comfort to know it was because of me, not you? That I put a muzzle on him?”

“It’s not a muzzle, it’s a gag.”

Pichard snorted. “Same difference.”

“It’s not. He’s not a rabid animal, and you’re wrong. He did write to me.”

Pichard stiffened.

“He asked me to visit him when you were away.”

“That sneaky bastard,” Pichard hissed. “What did he say?”

“He kissed me,” Ollie whispered. “He kissed me like I was everything, like he’d do anything for me. Even slay a demon…”

Teddy’s expression had said, Trust me.

“What does that even mean?” Pichard growled, changing the angle of the needle in Ollie’s neck.

Ollie hissed but didn’t answer.

“It doesn’t matter anyway. Plan A was the fire, this is plan B.” Pichard moved the needle. “It’s not uncommon for inmates to struggle after their release. You were probably just experimenting, right? Trying to feel something . That’s why you injected a shit load of heroin into yourself. You didn’t know what you were doing after all. You took yourself somewhere quiet, up here, close to where you’ve been living, and you experimented . It’s such a shame. You were so young. But you’ve had a troubled life, and it’s no real surprise you turned to drugs.”

Ollie tightened his grip on the bar and closed his eyes.

“And when Teddy hears the news, he’ll know. He’ll know it was me. He’ll know it was his fault. Because locked up in Hollybrook, he can’t slay any demons. He can’t do a goddamn thing.”

Ollie had been in Hollybrook for over two years, and during that time he regularly went to the gym with Captain, and Captain had taught him a few moves.

Just in case, Captain had said.

You’ll probably never need them, he’d said too.

Ollie took a slow breath in through his nose.

The key was to be quick .

Be quick, Ollie.

He used the bar to yank himself down as he dropped to his knees.

The needle slid from his skin, but Pichard was on him in a heartbeat, snarling curses as he dropped down on Ollie’s back. Ollie didn’t think about the needle; he jammed his elbow back, catching Pichard in the chest.

They were both wearing too many layers for any real damage.

Ollie rolled onto his back, and it was the first time he got a look at Pichard.

He looked crazed, face contorted with snarls and hair wild and windswept.

He landed a punch to Ollie’s face, and the gush of blood from his nose came a few seconds later.

He was a child again.

And Pichard on top of him was his dad.

He remembered it didn’t last as long if he took it, if he stayed still and kept quiet. His father had been three times his size. His dad used Leo, used Ollie’s biggest fear of Leo being hurt, to make sure he didn’t fight back.

It was better if he didn’t fight back.

So he never did.

But Leo had been hurt anyway.

Ollie had failed him.

And if he didn’t fight back now, he would fail Teddy too.

Pichard’s eyes were wide as he kept his fist raised in the air, wanting so badly to hit Ollie but knowing he shouldn’t. He’d fucked up with that one punch.

“You messed about with drugs,” Pichard panted. “Then you fell, landing face first and breaking your fucking nose.”

He shoved Ollie towards the edge of the scaffolding.

Pichard was using him to hurt Teddy, to torture him, and Teddy had been hurt enough.

Ollie couldn’t let that happen.

“When I get him alone, I will tell him how I pushed you. I’ll tell him that you begged me not to. I’ll tell him you were scared.”

“I’m not scared,” Ollie shouted, gripping Pichard’s coat. He yanked him down, and one of the buttons popped off, bouncing off the planks before dropping over the edge. Pichard floundered, his chin smeared across the blood coming from Ollie’s nose.

“What the fuck—” Pichard lifted himself off Ollie’s chest, but Ollie didn’t let him go.

He spat blood on Pichard’s face.

Pichard flinched, wiping his gloved hand over his cheek. “You disgusting little shit.”

Ollie shifted violently, turning onto his side, trapping Pichard’s leg beneath him. A low moan of pain escaped Pichard as he reached for his trapped thigh.

There was a darkness in Ollie, one that had grown because of his father. He only let it out once— that night . He’d done so to protect Leo, to make sure their dad couldn’t hurt him again.

Ollie found that darkness again.

It wasn’t even to save his own life; it was to save Teddy’s.

“You’ve got my blood on your face. It’s in your hair.”

“I’ll just wash it off.”

“It’s evidence, see, so when they find your body, it looks like self-defence.”

“Wha—”

“When really…it’s just plain murder,” Ollie whispered.

He shoved his forearms at Pichard’s chest, using the momentum to roll away and simultaneously release Pichard’s leg. Pichard’s eyes widened, and he clawed at the planks but couldn’t get a grip with his gloves.

He fell.

He dropped out of sight.

Ollie scrunched his eyes up tight as he heard Pichard’s body smack against jutting sections of the scaffolding on the way down.

The chime of metal rang through the air, followed by a thud as he hit the ground.

Ollie lay on his back, panting up at the night sky. He reached for his neck, patting around the jacket until he found the needle sticking out of the fabric. He pulled it out, held it up in front of his face and saw the needle was empty. Pichard had injected it, but he didn’t feel a scratch or a burn in his skin. The contents had been soaked up by Rory’s jacket.

“Rory,” he whispered.

The fire had been meant for him.

Pichard had thought it was him all alone in the house.

“Please be okay,” Ollie pleaded. “Please.”

“Ollie!”

He froze at Captain’s shout. It could only be him with the authority in his voice, the way it travelled through the air and made Ollie want to spring to his feet and stand to attention.

“Jesus,” Captain said just loud enough for Ollie to hear.

Ollie shifted closer to the edge and peeked a look.

Captain kneeled beside Pichard, not touching. He wasn’t alone. Another man stood by Captain, tilting his head up.

“There,” he said.

Captain sprang to his feet, looking up too. “Ollie!”

Ollie opened his mouth to speak, but all his words had dried up. He waved a weak hand over the edge, though, and Captain and his companion took off running.

Captain got to him first, cursing at the blood on Ollie’s face.

“That bastard,” Captain hissed, cradling Ollie’s face.

Ollie blinked up at him. He’d not even had a chance to explain what had happened, but Captain was furious over the altercation despite Pichard being dead on the ground.

“Can you hear me?”

Ollie nodded in Captain’s hands.

“Are you hurt…aside from the obvious?”

Ollie didn’t know what that meant, but his face ached in a way he’d never felt before.

He shook his head, then scrunched his eyes to fight the wave of dizziness.

“Hey,” Captain whispered. “I’m going to sit you up, okay?”

Ollie nodded again and let Captain wrap his arm around his back. He heaved Ollie upright and held him there. Captain’s companion stepped onto the scaffolding, grim-faced. Ollie recognised him, the glasses, the moustache, his kind brown eyes.

Jarvis crouched in front of Ollie. “The police are on the way.”

Ollie stiffened, and Jarvis reached for his shoulder. “It’s okay. They’re going to explain everything, and when you’re ready, they’ll ask you what happened.”

“Is that…is that a needle?” Captain asked. “Is that a goddamn needle?”

The anger in his voice made Ollie’s breath catch.

“Yes, it’s a needle,” Jarvis said calmly. He shot Captain a pointed look to keep it together. “We need to know if any of the stuff that was in that needle got into you?”

Ollie shook his head.

Jarvis gave him a warm smile. “You’re probably wondering why I’m here?”

Ollie nodded again, glancing between Jarvis and Captain.

“Teddy told me everything, Ollie. He wrote down everything .”

Ollie’s eyes stung. “What?”

“And I believed him.” Jarvis sighed. “It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. Pichard surprised everyone by flying home early. I knew he’d come after you. That was Teddy’s biggest fear. He was terrified Pichard would hurt you. That’s why he hadn’t said anything before. He made me promise you wouldn’t get hurt.” Jarvis’s eyes were watering. “I’m so sorry, Ollie.”

“It’s not your fault,” Ollie whispered.

Jarvis’s gaze roamed Ollie’s face, then he looked down.

“It’s not,” Captain said fiercely. He kept one arm behind Ollie’s back and reached for Jarvis with the other. Captain pulled him close enough to slip his hand behind Jarvis’s neck and squeezed. “Socks… You know it’s not.”

Jarvis lifted his head, and his eyes locked with Captain’s.

Ollie felt butterflies in his chest at the way Jarvis and Captain looked at each other.

It only lasted a few seconds, then Jarvis pulled back and took off his glasses to wipe his eyes.

Sirens pierced the air, and blue lights lit up the sky.

“Is Rory okay?” Ollie whispered.

“I don’t know,” Captain admitted. “But I think it’s about time we find out.”