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The funeral was held a week later, just as they finished wrapping the case. Amory was still missing, but they’d linked her to Rhett through encrypted text messages found on the orderly’s home computer. The belief was she was on the run, but that wasn’t Calix’s problem; he’d done the job he’d been sent to do.

“Here.” Troya filled Cal’s empty glass and then took a drag straight from the liquor bottle. He turned and stared at the framed photo surrounded by purple flowers, Bruce’s smiling face appearing a little younger than he’d been when he’d lost his life.

They still didn’t know who’d made the final blow, but Mitri had been able to determine the cause of death as asphyxiation. The forensic scientist was currently seated at another table across the room, despite all the empty seats at the one Cal and Troya sat at.

“He’s taking this hard,” Calix observed, and Troya turned to see who he meant, snorting.

“That’ll happen when you find out your friend is secretly a psychopath.”

“We don’t know that.” Though the evidence against her wasn’t great. Along with the conversations they’d discovered, the forensics on the blaster Rhett had used at the hospital had come back as Amory’s.

“She helped cut off the heads of three people. If that’s not psychotic, I don’t know what is,” Troya insisted.

“Technically,” Titus’s clear voice rang out to them as he and Aodhan appeared, “a diagnosis for psychopathy is a bit more complex than that, and many of those who are diagnosed live perfectly fruitful lives that don’t include chopping the head off of unsuspecting victims, but I do agree, clearly there’s something wrong with Officer Paige.”

“Hey.” Aodhan dropped down in the spot next to Cal and placed his arm over the back of his chair. “How are you holding up?”

“That’s an insensitive thing to ask at a funeral,” Titus chided, easing in next to Troya.

“It’s fine,” Calix said. “I’m fine.”

“This bastard already quit his job and everything,” Troya told them, shaking his head. “He didn’t even wait until Bruce was in the ground to file the paperwork.”

“If you’re trying to make me feel guilty,” Cal snatched the bottle out of his hand and took a gulp, “mission accomplished.”

“Good.”

“I saw on the news that evidence has been collected against Rhett,” Titus brought the conversation back to the case. “So that’s it?”

“He was our guy,” Troya confirmed. “Him and Amory. She’s still loose, so if either of you hears from her—”

“She doesn’t like me much.” Titus gave a chilly smile.

“More of a reason to keep your guard up.”

“He’s right,” Cal said. “Both of you need to be careful until she’s caught. The local police will be taking over from here. Ideally, she’ll have hopped on a ship and jumped planet by now, but if not, she could still be a threat to you.”

“I don’t see why she’d want to harm either of us,” Titus disagreed. “All of her victims were people who’d harmed others.”

Aodhan snorted, but when Cal turned to him, he merely shrugged. “It’s just cute that you’re worried, that’s all. But he’s right. Amory couldn’t hurt us even if she wanted to. We don’t fit the serial killer's MO.”

“Killers break pattern all the time,” Troya warned, standing. “I’m going to go give my condolences to Bruce’s wife, I didn’t get to earlier when you were speaking with her, Cal.”

The funeral home had opened up an entire hall for Bruce and his family, with hundreds of people in attendance throughout the day. There’d been a lot at the actual service as well, proof that Bruce had touched many lives and done a lot of good in his decades on Emergence. The planet had lost a great cop.

They wouldn’t be missing out on much once Calix left.

“Don’t go,” Aodhan said suddenly, surprising him. “Stay.”

Cal shook his head. It was tempting, but…His gaze wandered over to Titus, who was watching him with that eerie, unblinking expression.

“Why not?” the doctor asked. “You’re a local hero. You caught the killer, made a daring rescue at the hospital, and your name has been cleared by that Quentin guy. With you no longer a part of the I.P.F., there’s no reason for you not to stick around.”

There was one. One single reason.

But it was a good one.

“I can’t,” he said apologetically.

“Where do you plan to go?” Titus questioned, seemingly only somewhat interested despite the way he was so closely watching him.

“Alter, ever heard of it?”

His brow winged up, a rare show of surprise. “The world ship?”

“The red light district world ship, yeah.”

“Why there?”

Cal shrugged. “The I.P.F. doesn’t have jurisdiction there. It’s a good a place as any to lay low and figure out my next move.”

“Which would be?” Aodhan asked.

“I’m not sure,” he replied. “That’s why I said I have to figure it out.”

“I’m not seeing why you can’t stay then.” Aodhan dropped his hand to Calix’s thigh beneath the table.

“I just…” Cal glanced away from Titus, “can’t.”

“Leave him alone, Aodhan,” the director said. “He’s allowed to want to go.”

It was weird, but the doctor listened, removing his hand from Calix’s thigh, putting distance between them.

And if Cal didn’t like that, so what?

It didn’t change anything.

It couldn’t.

* * *

It only took another two days for everything to be filed and completely wrapped up. Cal’s retirement was approved, and he’d packed his meager things in his hotel room. The lone suitcase was in the rental car he was planning on taking to the airport, but he was making one final stop first, as per the doctor’s request.

Admittedly, Calix had been more than a little disappointed by the thought of never getting to fuck the other guy again, so when Aodhan had sent him an invitation to stop by his house for lunch before his flight, he couldn’t resist and had accepted.

Even though this wasn’t going anywhere, he thought maybe he could still convince the doctor to carve a more permanent A into his flesh. Like a fucked-up memento to take with him. Once he was gone, there’d be no reason to ever return to Emergence, and as far as souvenirs went, Cal wouldn’t complain if he got that one.

Typically, this was where his brain whispered how disgusting he was for wanting something like that, but ever since their last time in the hotel room and his talk with Titus after shooting Rhett, those voices had gone quiet.

Ironic that all he’d had to do was face the things he’d always hated about himself to finally accept them. Though Aodhan and Titus had been a big part of that.

The doctor lived in a secluded area just on the outskirts of the city, only a twenty-minute drive from the hospital. It was a two-story brick home with an attached two-car garage, surrounded by lush trees and plenty of privacy.

Calix parked in the driveway and got out, sending a quick text to Aodhan to let him know he’d arrived before heading to the porch. He noticed the front door was slightly ajar by the time he reached it, and even though it was possible the doctor had left it open knowing he was coming, Cal couldn’t shake the bad feeling.

His hand instinctively reached for his gun, which he’d yet to return. Technically, he was still a registered detective for another forty-two hours.

“Aodhan?” he called out once he’d reached the door, pushing it lightly so it swung inward. “Are you here?”

For a moment, there was nothing but silence, but then a loud bang resounded from down the hallway, followed by a shout.

“Detective!” Aodhan called out to him, sounding panicked, and Cal burst into the house, racing down the long hallway that led straight from the entrance to the back of the home.

It was a fairly large house, too, with a back exit and two large openings on either side of the wall. He swiveled to the left when he made it to the end, certain that’s where he’d heard both noises.

He expected Aodhan, but instead, another familiar face greeted him.

Amory was standing in the center of the kitchen, and for a brief second, the two of them merely stared at one another. Then suddenly she snatched a large knife off the island and moved toward him with clear intent.

Calix reacted, dropping the blaster low and pulling the trigger.

The bullet ripped through the meat of her thigh, and she cried out and dropped to the ground.

“Oh dear,” a cool voice drawled from behind him, close enough to send a shiver racing down Calix’s spine. “It seems you missed.”

The barrel of a gun appeared next to Cal’s head, and before he could even think to do something, it went off.

He gasped when another bullet hit Amory clean in the center of her chest, killing her instantly.

The knife she’d been gripping clattered to the floor.

“What…” His mind reeling, Cal stumbled away from the man at his back, forced to enter the kitchen in order to do so. He gave Amory’s body a wide berth, glaring accusatorily at the other man with a gun. “Titus, what the hell did you just do?!”

Titus Mercer tipped his head. “You should tell the truth now.”

“What?” Calix shook his head. Did he mean about the incident in high school? “I thought you promised to stay quiet.”

“I wasn’t talking to you, little monster.”

Cal blinked at him, but then strong arms captured him from behind, pinning his hands down at his side so he couldn’t lift the blaster to defend himself.

Not that he’d been doing that anyway. Like an idiot, he realized too late that he should have been. That he should have been pointing it at Titus. But everything had happened so quickly, and Amory was a wanted criminal, so he’d just assumed—

“Hey, baby.” Warm breath fanned across his neck.

“Aodhan?” He shouldn’t be so surprised. This was the guy's house after all. But still. He looked at Titus. “What’s going on?”

Titus sighed and used the end of the blaster to adjust his glasses. “You really shouldn’t have mentioned leaving. There was no way I was going to be able to stop him after that.”

“Stop…him?” Was he talking about Aodhan? Cal wiggled his arms, but the doctor squeezed him tighter.

“Should we recreate it, Mercy?” Aodhan’s voice sounded…off, and it wasn’t just because he had his face buried against the crook of Calix’s neck.

“Shouldn’t we ask the detective for his opinion?” Titus moved closer, pulling a multi-slate from his pocket.

“No, we shouldn’t,” Aodhan stated. “He’ll like it better if we don’t let him have a say.”

“What’s going on?” Cal hated that he sounded uncertain but… “We need to call this in.”

“We need,” the doctor said, “to recreate it.”

“What the hell are you talking about? Let me go.”

Aodhan made a sound akin to a growl and Titus shushed him.

“You’ll want to refrain from saying things like that for now,” the director suggested, stopping in front of Cal. He clicked something on the screen of the multi-slate and then turned it around so he could watch the video that started playing. “This. This is what he’s referring to.”

Under the harsh lights of the school classroom, Calix writhed and sobbed on the dirty ground. His clothes had been torn away, and he was naked aside from the socks that had been left on. He was clearly slipping in and out of consciousness, sometimes mumbling before going silent, only to rouse and cry out again.

He hadn’t noticed there’d been a camera in the room the night of the reunion.

He hadn’t noticed his assailant had changed either.

Cal had passed out before Heathe had actually touched him, but he’d just assumed it’d been him since he’d had his cock out and everything.

But it wasn’t.

In that very moment, the man rutting between his thighs tossed his head back, looked directly at the camera, and grinned.

A hand reached past Cal, pausing the video so that he was left staring into that familiar pink gaze.

“Don’t we look pretty?” Aodhan purred. “Let’s do it again, shall we, baby?”

Calix stomped down on Aodhan’s right foot and then slipped an elbow free, swinging back into Aodhan’s side. He spun, attempting to lift the blaster, but Titus was faster than him.

The director wrapped an arm around his throat, cutting off his air supply while his other hand smacked the gun away. It hit the ground and slid across the floor. He tugged Cal back, putting some distance between him and Aodhan, but he didn’t let up, no matter how much Calix struggled and fought.

“Relax,” Titus told him in a tone that could almost be considered gentle. “I’m only putting you to sleep for a bit. Relax. We won’t hurt you.”

“Not yet, anyway.” Aodhan grinned in a mirror of the vicious and twisted image still paused on the multi-slate on the floor between them. “It’s not fun when you aren’t awake for it.”

The video had started to play again when it’d fallen, the sounds of Calix crying and begging, of Aodhan moaning and laughing that night echoing around them. All this time, Cal had gotten it wrong. It hadn’t been Heathe who’d hurt him, it’d been the doctor.

The same doctor he’d opened up to and allowed to touch him after the fact.

The one who’d played him.

Cal’s last thought before passing out was that everyone was a liar.

Which meant he was a monster after all.