Page 6 of The Devil’s Bargain (A Devil to Die for #3)

It was strange being back. Even though Calix didn’t have many positive memories of the station, standing in Bruce’s old office gave him a wave of nostalgia he hadn’t been expecting.

The sadness he’d anticipated. He wasn’t like Aodhan or Mercy.

Even though he often separated himself from those around him and didn’t develop attachments, there were exceptions.

Bruce had been the only person in Calix’s past who’d trusted and believed in him.

Even Mercy had known the truth about the incident with Nero, but Bruce had taken Cal at his word.

Maybe that made Calix an even worse person than he’d thought, because he’d fooled the only man who’d ever fully trusted him, but maybe it didn’t really matter one way or the other. Maybe the important thing was Bruce had been a father figure to him, and Cal had treated him as such.

Which was why he was hellbent on rooting out his killer and getting him justice.

Calix was a hypocrite after all. It didn’t matter that there were families and friends out there wishing for justice for their own slain loved ones, a justice that should be met against Aodhan, and probably Mercy.

The fact that Bruce’s wife and kids mourned for him as well also didn’t make a difference.

Cal cared about his own pain and his own debts. He owed this to Bruce, plain and simple.

“I’m a monster.” He sighed and perched on the edge of the desk just as a knock came at the door.

Reed, Saz, and Mitri entered the office, smiling and clearly happy to see him. The warm welcome dashed away some of the negative feelings he’d been experiencing, and he straightened and accepted their handshakes when they approached.

“I can’t believe you’re back,” Reed exclaimed. He and Saz were officers who’d helped out on the last case. They’d worked under Bruce for years, and were probably just as eager as Cal to find the real culprit. “Things have been a mess around here since…Well. You know.”

“We’ve cleared meeting room three,” Saz said. “We’re ready to start the briefing whenever you are.”

Calix noticed Mitri hanging back. “What about you? Are you all right with all of this?”

Mitri had been close with Amory. Close enough, in fact, Cal had even sort of suspected him a little. But then he’d discovered Mercy and Aodhan’s deception, and had been told by the doctor he’d already looked into the forensic scientist as a possible culprit.

On the night of Bruce’s murder, Mitri was at the hospital in the morgue.

There were enough witnesses to prove it, and even video footage.

Cal hadn’t wanted to rule out his involvement, figuring he didn’t have to be the one delivering the killing blow to still be a part of it, but Mercy had ruled that out as well.

They’d come prepared when they arrived on Alter. In his absence, they’d been collecting as much information as they could.

“I want to clear Amory’s name,” Mitri admitted. “There’s evidence she was involved with Rhett and they did horrible things together, but there’s no proof she hurt Bruce.”

“He still doesn’t believe she did it,” Saz told Cal.

“She was a cold-blooded killer,” Reed growled. “How can you still defend her?”

“She cared about Bruce,” Mitri argued. “She wasn’t close with any of the other victims. It just doesn’t make sense she’d want him dead.”

“Yes, it does. He was on to her.”

“We don’t know—”

“Okay,” Calix cut him off. “We’re here to find the truth. If Amory was responsible somehow, we’ll figure that out.”

“Thank you.” Mitri sighed, defeated. “Look, I know it won’t change anything. She’s still on the run, so clearly she was guilty of those things with Rhett. But this…I have to believe she wouldn’t do that to Bruce. Hell, she spent holiday dinners with his family. She used to babysit his kids…”

“I get it.” A part of him felt guilty for allowing Aodhan and Mercy to drag her into this.

But the other part still wasn’t sure she was entirely innocent.

They’d found her near the spot where he’d been killed. There’d been no reason for her to be around that area, and all of the evidence they did have, though it wasn’t much, pointed to her as the culprit.

She’d planned a late meeting with Bruce.

Bruce had told Calix he’d talk to her after Cal had presented his suspicions thanks to Aodhan.

On paper, it seemed pretty clear-cut, only no one else here knew what he knew. That Amory hadn’t actually been working with Rhett and therefore wouldn’t have a reason to kill Bruce to keep him quiet. She would have denied her involvement instead and insisted on clearing her name.

As much as he wanted to believe it was her to help justify seeing her shot at point-blank range and doing nothing to avenge her, Calix had to admit that it wasn’t adding up.

“We’ll get to the bottom of this together.

” Calix didn’t know if he’d really stick with this job afterward, but for now, his goal was to solve this.

It wasn’t lost on him that he had Mercy to thank for the chance to do so, or that it was the director’s quiet way of trying to make up for Amory, since he must know Cal had sort of liked her as a friend.

There was something wrong with him since that was enough to satisfy any lingering anger he’d felt about it. But Calix wasn’t going to turn away from the truths about himself, even if they were ugly. Maybe, on some level, Sister Grace had been right about him. He was broken and twisted.

But that was fine.

The universe wasn’t exactly heaven, and angels didn’t often survive.

Devils did.

* * *

“All of these are unsolved?” Calix flipped through the stack of open case files, a feeling of dread growing with each passing second.

What the hell had he gotten himself into?

“We lost a lot of contacts when Bruce passed,” Reed explained, dropping his gaze when Cal looked over at where he sat across the table. “Many of them had secret identities and only spoke with him. Many of the drug-related cases are getting out of hand now without them there to give us leads.”

“So, what you’re saying is this department has been relying on civilians to do their work for them for a while now?” He didn’t mean for it to sound as harsh as it did, but he couldn’t help calling a spade a spade. “This is a mess.”

“You see now why no one else stepped up to the position, despite the cushy paycheck,” Mitri said.

“Good health insurance, too,” Reed added.

Calix didn’t need either of those things. His boyfriends worked at the hospital and were richer than rich. He’d taken this job for two reasons, to find out what really happened to Bruce, and to get himself out of that massive house Aodhan and Mercy wanted to lock him up in.

They’d do it too. There was no questioning that.

Their motives had been clear from the start, and if Cal hadn’t insisted on working, they would have taken the job away just as easily as they’d gotten him the position.

It’d been an olive branch they’d both hoped not to use; Cal had seen right through them.

Being someone’s Third was one thing, but he would never be a pet. Never allow himself to be reduced to a ward that was forced to rely on the kindness, or lack thereof, of his owner. He’d already lived that kind of life before with Sister Grace. Never again.

Which meant gritting his teeth and putting up with this bullshit at the station. Pretending like he cared about…He picked up a file and almost rolled his eyes.

A twenty-three-year-old junky who’d lost her wallet in a restaurant downtown.

He shoved the pile to the center of the table and motioned to Saz. “Organize this, please. Half of these cases should never have come to us in the first place.” They were the severe crimes division, not lost and found.

“Even the drug-related ones should be going to—” Cal paused and sighed when Mitri held up a hand to stop him. “What?”

“They’ve merged our departments since Bruce was already popping into both.”

“Fantastic.” Should he change his mind?

Maybe living in a cage as large as Mercy’s house wouldn’t be so bad after all…?

No.

No, he couldn’t do that.

Couldn’t give up so easily.

How pathetic of him to even consider it.

There was a brush of something through the connection, and before he could place it, his multi-slate dinged.

Titus Mercer: Come to the hospital.

Calix: I’m busy.

“I’ll go through these and find the most pressing cases,” Saz was saying, taking the stack of files. “Should I reassign them as I see fit?”

Since Calix hadn’t had the chance to meet everyone yet, and didn’t know everyone’s position within the station, that seemed like the best plan. He nodded, but didn’t get a chance to verbally reply before his device chimed again, distracting him.

Titus Mercer: Already breaking the rules? You have fifteen minutes, little monster. Don’t make me wait for you.

He stood so fast, his chair whipped back and clanged loudly against the wall, startling the others in the room. “Sorry,” he rushed to say, gathering his things quickly. “I have to be somewhere important. Call me if anything comes up.”

“Okay,” Mitri frowned but agreed, not wasting time by asking where he was headed.

Which was good.

Because the hospital was fifteen minutes away.

Calix was never going to make it.