Allison Brennan - Silenced

And it incensed Sean that he was getting away with it.

Not forever. He’d threatened Sean, but more egregious, he’d threatened Lucy. Sean didn’t care how long it took, but he would destroy Jonathon Paxton.

The door opened and Noah stepped in. He looked worried. “Kate said Lucy was here with Ivy.”

“They went to visit Detective Reid,” Sean said.

“What’s wrong?” Sara asked. She sat up. “Did something happen?”

“No,” Noah said. “Everything’s fine. You sit tight, I’m going to talk to Sean for a minute outside.”

She didn’t believe him, and neither did Sean. He followed Noah out.

“What?” he demanded.

“We thought Abernathy took a train to New York, but when it arrived at the station, he wasn’t on it. It’s just a precaution, but we should let Lucy know-”

Sean didn’t let him finish. “Reid’s room is across the courtyard,” he said as he bolted for the staircase.

Lucy and Ivy left Genie a few minutes later and went back across the courtyard to the pediatric wing.

They were just passing the fountain in the middle of the garden when the hair rose on the back of Lucy’s neck and she felt eyes on her.

“Ivy!” she said sharply, pulling her to her side. They were being watched.

A man in a hoodie walked briskly toward them. Lucy saw a flash of metal up his left sleeve.

“Brian,” Lucy said.

He stopped, whether startled because she knew his name or because she’d spotted him.

“Stay behind me,” Lucy told Ivy.

“I just want her,” Brian said. His voice was garbled and he sounded sick.

“No you don’t,” Lucy said. “You don’t want to kill anyone.”

“Get out of the way.”

He stepped toward her.

“Ivy, run,” Lucy said.

She didn’t, but took two steps away. “Stop!” Brian commanded and showed the knife. “I will kill your friend, Poison Ivy.”

“You won’t,” Lucy said. Her mind ran through Psycho 101, as her favorite professor called it. Then she remembered Brian wasn’t a psychopath. He had no remorse, but he got no pleasure from murder. It was a means to an end.

“I just want to leave,” Brian said. “I hate this city. These people. I never wanted to come back. She made me.”

Lucy took a gamble.

“Your mother.”

“To keep Ned out of trouble.” He barked out a laugh. “Ned! Dumb-ass brother of mine. And she thought he walked on water.”

“I’m sorry about your brother.”

“Yeah. Well.” He sniffed. “I loved him, you know? Really. He was so stupid sometimes, but we were buds.”

He was grieving, she realized. And he probably had never felt real grief before.

“My nephew was killed,” Lucy said, working on building a rapport. She didn’t dare look, but she sensed movement in her peripheral vision.

“Nephew?” he said with a sneer.

“We were the same age. My oldest sister and my mom were pregnant at the same time. And it was like losing my brother. Justin and I did everything together.”

“Yeah.” He paused, used the back of his hand to wipe his nose. “I always looked out for Ned.”

“This can all stop, right now. Put the knife down, Brian.”

“I can’t. I have to finish this.”

“Look around you. They’re not going to let you leave.”

He did, and Lucy hoped she was right. That there were cops along with the spectators.

“I just want to go home.”

“Where’s home?”

“Hawaii.”

Lucy gambled. “They’re not going to let you go, and if you throw that knife, you might kill me, but you’ll be dead when a dozen bullets hit you. And Ivy will still be alive because she’s behind me. I’m not moving. You don’t want to kill me because I’m not the problem, am I. It’s your mother who started this game.”

If one of those cops got an itchy finger, they’d lose their only witness to Devon Sullivan’s culpability in Wendy James’s death. Lucy had to talk Brian down.

“Dear God, I hate that woman.”

“I’m not a big fan myself.”

He coughed, then winced.

“Are you hurt?” Lucy asked, showing genuine concern. “I heard you fell on a sprinkler head.”

“It’s bad. Still bleeding a bit. Hurts like hell.”

“We’re at the hospital. There are a hundred doctors here who can take care of that. Give you something for the pain.”

He didn’t say anything.

Lucy sensed movement to her right. She put her hands up and to the side, hoping the security guards knew to stand down. Behind Brian she saw Noah and Sean approaching slowly. Noah was using hand signals to direct Sean, who nodded. They were splitting up, Noah going right, Sean to the left. Both outside of Brian’s peripheral vision.

She briefly caught Sean’s eye. His expression was focused. He gave her a half-smile while his attention was on Brian’s knife.

“Brian, let me help you.”

“Can you just step aside so I can finish this?” he said without heart.

“I can’t. But I can make you an offer I think you’ll like.”

“There’s nothing.”

He was in pain, sick, and depressed. Worse, he’d lost hope. He knew he wouldn’t leave the courtyard alive if he tried to kill Ivy. Suicide cocktail right there.

“Lower the knife.”

He dropped his hand an inch.

“Good. Your mother is going to prison on a multitude of crimes, but she’s telling us she had nothing to do with killing Wendy James and the others. She says that’s all you.”

He grimaced. “Bitch.”

Lucy knew he wasn’t talking about her, he was talking about his mother.

“If you help us prove her wrong, help us prove that she ordered the hit on Wendy, then I will do everything in my power to get you back to Hawaii.”

“You’re not going to let me go free. I’m not stupid. Not after what I’ve done.”

“No, you won’t be free, but there’s a federal penitentiary in Honolulu.”

Brian’s face brightened. His hand dropped another inch. “You can do that?”

“I know a lot of people high up in the FBI. And I will tell them, I swear to God, I will tell them that you voluntarily dropped that knife, that you showed remorse to me for your crimes. That you will help fill in the blanks in their case against Devon Sullivan.”

He looked at her quizzically. “What about Clark?”

Her heart raced. “Clark Jager?”

“Yeah. Can’t I testify against him? Do you know what he’s done?”

“No, I don’t.”

Brian laughed, and it ended in a cough. “This whole thing was his fucking idea.” He dropped the knife. “I’ll tell you everything, but please, I really need a doctor.” He fell to his knees.

Both Sean and Noah ran to Brian. Sean kicked away the knife while Noah cuffed him. “He needs a doctor, Noah.”

“I’ll get a guard on him and take him to the emergency room.”

Lucy turned to Ivy. “You’re okay, right?”

She said, “He killed them?”

“Yes. We think so.”

“And shot Mina?”

“Are you okay?”

“He’s so … pathetic.”

“Some of us get handed great parents, and life still turns bad. Others get bad parents, and they either overcome it-like you-or they become what they hate. Remember you are better than your father.”

“My mother tried to save us. That’s why she died.”

“Then remember her sacrifice and rise above what’s happened. I know you can do it, Ivy.”

“Can I go to Sara?”

“Of course.”

Lucy watched her leave.

“Lucy.” Sean came up behind her.

Without a word, Lucy wrapped her arms around him and closed her eyes. She didn’t realize until that moment that she was shaking.

Sean ran his hands up and down her back until her adrenaline dropped. “Let’s get Chip and go home. I have a hot tub that’s begging for us to enjoy it.”