Page 17 of Diamonds

I couldn’t help a macabre grin when we received her ashes, despite everything she put us through in the end.

Mum spent her whole life avoiding dust, just to become dust herself.

* * *

Maddox pumps the brakes hard,pulling me out of my thoughts.I jerk forward, and the seatbelt digs into my right shoulder.

“Maddox, what the fuck?”

He grips the steering wheel, his knuckles white as snow.“I think we just passed a cop.”

“Oh, Christ.You’re kidding.”

But he isn’t.Red and blue lights stream through the rear window of my car.

Maddox pounds a fist against my dash.“Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.”

“Itoldyou to stop driving so erratically.”

He glares at me as he pulls the car over.“Not the fucking time.”He puts the car into park.“We have to play this cool.I really don’t need to explain to this cop why we have a severed human head in the back seat.”

The cop pulls up behind us and exits his vehicle, slowly walking up to the driver-side window.He knocks gently on the glass.

Maddox rolls down the window.“Yes, Officer?”

The cop leans down, frowning at Maddox.“Do you have any idea how fast you were going, sir?”

Maddox doesn’t respond.

He doesn’t want to admit fault.But I’d much rather he admit fault to speeding so we can just get this bloody over with.If he gives this police officer a hard time, he might think we’re hiding something.

Which we very much are.

And if Rouge owns the chief of police, thenwe’llget saddled with May’s death.

My heart throbs, but I do my best to keep a cool head.

The cop narrows his eyes.“Did you hear me?”

“I did, Officer.”

He looks us up and down.He’s got a thick mustache and a round face, and I can see from his badge that his last name is Brillig.

Officer Brillig sighs.“License and registration, please.”

Maddox grabs his wallet and eyes me.

I reach into the glove compartment.“It’s my vehicle, Officer.I have the registration.”

I pull out the car’s registration and give it to Maddox, who hands it and his license to the cop.

Brillig’s eyebrows raise.“Maddox Hathaway?TheMaddox Hathaway?”

I purse my lips.This isn’t the first time someone has recognized Maddox’s name.My neighbor, Mrs.Tulgey, seemed to think she knew him from somewhere.He mentioned growing up in the spotlight.Was he a local celebrity or something in the past?

Maddox nods.“The one and only, I’m afraid.”

The cop furrows his brow, and he looks like he wants to say something more, but he returns to his vehicle.