Page 91 of The Final Vow (Washington Poe #7)

‘What does this man do, Sergeant Poe?’ Bethany asked.

‘He murders people.’

‘No! What does he do ?’

‘I was standing right next to Commander Mathers when he blew her head off, Bethany. He definitely murders people.’

Bethany shook her head, frustrated. The wire tether rattled. ‘But why did he kill her?’

‘Because she’d released his E-FIT to the press. Because she’d gone on television and named him. Because she was one step closer to catching him.’

‘Wrong,’ she said. ‘Commander Mathers wasn’t the target that day.’

‘He’s an exceptional marksman and he wasn’t shooting from distance. She was the target, Bethany.’

‘She might have been the person he killed, but Alastor Locke was the target that day, Sergeant Poe.’

Poe didn’t respond.

Bethany sighed. ‘The man you’ve described is vindictive and he’s sadistic, but from what you’ve told me, killing people is just a byproduct.’

‘A byproduct . . . ?’

‘A happy byproduct then!’ she snapped. She took a breath. ‘But make no mistake, Alastor Locke was his endgame. Commander Mathers was just the means to the end.’

‘But . . . but why?’

‘You said Ezekiel Puck worked for Alastor Locke?’

‘He did.’

‘Then I imagine Puck mistakenly believed it was Locke who fed his image to the press.’

‘What makes you so sure?’

‘Because someone with an ego like Puck’s won’t ever be able to imagine they’ve made a mistake. Therefore, the only explanation for his E-FIT being made public is that they’ve been betrayed.’

‘Isn’t this all a bit too . . . I don’t know, overcomplicated? Why not just shoot Alastor Locke?’

‘That’s because you’re thinking like a good person.’

‘You’re a good person too, Bethany.’

‘I stoned someone to death.’

‘Extenuating circumstances.’

‘There you go, flirting with me again, Sergeant Poe. What will Lady Doyle say?’

Poe shrugged. Even though it was hypothetical, he wasn’t feeling good about his decision to rescue Bradshaw ahead of his fiancée.

And he knew he wouldn’t keep it to himself.

He would tell Doyle and she’d pretend to be OK with it, but secretly she’d be upset.

Or maybe she wouldn’t. Poe thought that might be worse. Sophie’s Choice again.

‘He didn’t shoot Alastor Locke because he likes his victims to suffer.

It’s their despair he gets off on. And if you think I’m exaggerating, this is a man who killed twenty people just to damage his ex-wife’s wedding business.

It’s the same man Alastor Locke employed as a . . . what did you call them again?’

‘The mischief makers.’

‘That’s right. He was employed to cause mischief. Instead, he drove his targets to suicide. Remind me why Alastor Locke had to let him go?’

‘Because even after he’d achieved his goal, he kept torturing his targets. He did it for pleasure.’

‘Exactly. And he doesn’t always murder. He has a knack for identifying the one thing his target can’t live without.

Then he takes it from them. Sometimes it’s a daughter, like the woman his ex-wife told you about, the one who pranged his car.

He got to the mother by releasing her daughter’s sex tapes.

The daughter takes her own life then the mother follows suit.

And in Davy Newport’s case, the man who taught him to shoot and stalk deer, it was his honour.

All he had to do to push him over the cliff was frame him for stealing. ’

‘OK,’ Poe said. ‘You seem to have a grip on this man’s psyche that has so far eluded everyone else.

And that includes Tilly, and she’s the best I’ve ever seen at this.

But you wanted to know who I would save from a burning building.

You said if I answered honestly, I’d have everything I need to catch this prick. ’

‘I did. And you do. You’re locked in a battle with this man, Sergeant Poe.

It might not feel like it, but it’s a game of chess.

Of strategy and counterstrategy. Ezekiel Puck isn’t like the people you’ve hunted before.

Believing Alastor Locke betrayed him was a mistake; he won’t make another. Not unless you force him into one.’

‘How do I do that?’

‘You play his game, of course.’

‘That seems . . . counterintuitive.’

‘You play his game, but you do it better, Sergeant Poe,’ Bethany said.

‘You make a move so bold he’ll have no choice but to react.

You pick a fight with him. Do something so egregious, you become the only thing he can think about.

You make yourself his nemesis. And while he isn’t thinking clearly, you set a trap. ’

‘A trap? What trap?’

Bethany yawned. ‘Sleepy now,’ she said. Her eyes fluttered then shut. And when they opened again, Bethany was gone. Clara Lang stared back. She looked at her restraints and her brow furrowed in confusion. Clara thought she was a doctor at the hospital. It was her unwavering belief.

‘Hello, Doctor Lang,’ Poe said.

‘Washington, what are you doing tethered like that? Have you had another episode?’

‘Something like that. Shall we get ourselves out of these restraints, Doctor Lang?’

‘Yes, let’s. Then we can have a nice cup of tea and chat about your nightmares. It feels like a long time since we spoke.’

Poe raised his hand. The signal to end the session.

‘Oh, before you go, Bethany tells me she wants a quick word,’ Clara said. ‘She has something for you.’

The something was a pen. She stabbed Poe with it.

It bloody hurt. The pen broke in the flesh between his thumb and his index finger, so he had a new tattoo.

It would look like a jail dot, the blotchy prison tattoo that meant you’d served time.

Poe had served time, was still serving time, but only inside his own head.

On the flipside, Bethany had given Poe the means to catch Ezekiel Puck.

All things considered, it was probably a fair exchange.