Page 77 of Dead Love

He lifted his head at me, finally making eye contact. “What was that?”

“Your daughter,” I added with a sharpness to my tone. “You could have lost your daughter. Or were you too busy to remember that you have a family?”

He beat the baton into the bars, shaking the cell. His bloodshot eyes bulged out of his head.

“I am doing what’s right,” he howled. “My work protects my family.”

A smile crept onto my lips; there was no need for me to prove that he was lying to himself because heknewit. He didn’t care about his wife or his daughter, only that they made him look like a family man. And because he had been obsessing over the Echo Killer, he had been gone the night I had taken Kora. That should have been the wake-up call, but it wasn’t. He was more pathetic than ever.

“You haven’t got shit on me,” I said.

“There was Echo in your office, extra graves, and my daughter. You want me to spell it out for you?” He holstered his baton, then put his hands on his hips. “All right. Let’s pretend for a second that youdidn’tabduct my daughter, then yeah, you’re right. The graves and the Echo by themselves don’t prove anything besides the fact that you’re a drug addict necrophiliac, which,” he laughed, “we already knew.” A sneer crawled across his face. “But I’m still the sheriff of Acheron County. And if that means keeping a man locked up in order to ensure that the people of my county are safe, then I am positive that the citizens will support me.”

He found a place against the wall and leaned back. I kept my gaze fixed on him.

“It’s convenient that it came together right before the election, isn’t it?” I said. “Who knows what would have happened if you actually had to work when you needed last-minute campaigning?”

He snarled. “You want to say that louder?”

I stood up, grabbing the bars, and put my face between them.

“Your voters might be too dumb to notice what’s going on, but I see through you, Mike. You’re nothing but a con artist.”

“Are you accusing me of a crime?” He took heavy steps forward, broadening his shoulders. “Need I remind you that Kora is my only child? Myonlydaughter. And you took her from my home.” His eyes were cold, but I didn’t back down. I didn’t have anything to lose anymore. I knew the truth; he was never home.

“All hail Sheriff Mike, the savior of Acheron County,” I said.

“You took my daughter.”

“I did a lot more than take your daughter, you sorry fuck.”

He rammed a hand through the bars, punching me in the gut, the ache dull and penetrating. I clutched my stomach, the pain shooting to my head, and I laughed.

“Finally, the sheriff emotes like he actually cares.” I clapped as loudly as I could. “Here goes the award for best actor in Acheron County.”

A flat expression filled his face. He fixed the cuffs of his uniform, shoving down everything that he wanted to do to me.

“It’s a good thing you’re here, Erickson,” he snickered. “You might not make it through the night if you were out there. The Echo Killer is still out there, after all.”

I bared my teeth. He was flaunting it in my face. “You know who the real killer is, then.”

“Of course I do,” he said, patting my knuckles clutching the bars, “It’s you.”

“Erickson,” another officer called. “You’ve got a visitor.”

“I’m off,” Sheriff Mike said. He knocked his hand into the bars. “Good luck getting out.”

“Eat a dick,” I growled.

Catie walked in, running a hand through the barrel-curls at the top of her head. Sheriff Mike strutted down the hall. Catie flattened herself to the side of him.

“Good to see you, Sheriff,” she said, shaking his hand.

“Likewise. Are you here to talk business with your undertaker?”

“Gotta figure out what the boss wants.” She nodded in my direction. “I’ll see you around.”

Sheriff Mike strode down the hall with his head held high, and Catie sheepishly went around him, then dusted herself off. A gnawing sensation crawled in my stomach. I wanted to get out now, but I had this instinct that something was in my way. What was Catie coming to tell me?