Page 53 of The Twins

“We know that.” Finn touched my cheek with the back of his thumb. “But forgive us for being protective.”

“Yeah, we wanna kill him just for frightening you,” Cillian said.

I was about to state that I didn’t need protecting and I didn’t want anyone killed and then I remembered the fright of getting home and finding that rose and note on my bed. Yeah, maybe he did deserve to die.

“The kill wall, it’s stuff you don’t need to worry about,” Cillian added. “It’s our…”

I raised my eyebrows. “Your what?”

“Our way of making the world a better place.”

“Well now, I’m really intrigued.” I looked at Andrew and as I did so my phone tinged. So did Mitch’s.

I pulled it from my pocket. It was a local news alert on the screen.

Notorious Local Criminal Archie McDougal Found Murdered in His Bed

“What the fuck.” A strange hollow feeling grew in my chest. I read the line again. It was fresh news. This had not long since happened, and the police had just released the information to the press.

“What is it?” Finn asked.

“Archie McDougal, the guy I was telling you about only a few nights ago…he’s dead. Murdered.”

“He was an asshole,” Andrew said. “People had died because of him. More would have.”

“How do you know?” I asked.

“Because I make it my business to know what goes on in Oxford.” His dark eyes were narrowed and his body tense.

The guys were all studying me. Waiting for me to connect the dots.

I did.

“You…you killed him,” I directed at Andrew.

He glanced at Finn and Cillian. Classic shared knowledge communication.

“Youkilled him,” I said to the twins. “After I told you about him. About him robbing that old couple and them both dying and him getting off on the charges.”

“He was a murderer,” Finn said.

“He was an evil man, that’s true.” I suppressed a shudder. The menacing glint in Archie McDougal’s eyes had beendisconcerting. He hadn’t cared about anyone or anything other than himself.

“The justice system had had its chance to balance the scales,” Cillian said, his head tipped as he studied me.

“It failed,” Finn added. “On more than one occasion.”

I had no argument for that. “So you took the law into your own hands.”

Finn kind of shrugged, not apologetically, in a so-what kind of a way.

Cillian shoved his hands into his jeans pockets and held my eye contact.

Theyhadkilled him. And fast, too. They must have raced around there, guns at the ready, and taken him out.

I turned to Mitch. “And you’re okay with this? You’re a cop?”

“Maybe more than anyone else. I see the misery and devastation assholes who have no respect for life leave behind.”