Darling - K. Ancrum Page 0,69

that role once they figured out his motives, and quickly broke Peter of the illusion that they would be interested in anything other than a normal relationship with a normal person—thank God.” Detective Hook muttered that last part half to himself.

“What do you want from me?” Wendy asked.

“I want you to give him what he wants,” Detective Hook said, quietly tapping the agreement he’d placed in front of her. “You’re a descendant of a witness to his first victim. A killer’s only anniversary. You’d be more than he’d be able to resist, if he knew who you really were. We need a full confession, and we think that you’ll be able to get it out of him. We ran four different stings tonight, and he’s managed to slip out of every one of them. Running is Peter’s greatest strength, but he’s a narcissist and he’ll incriminate himself if given the slightest chance to brag about his accomplishments. He hasn’t had enough time to regroup and process the events of the night, and he’s on edge and low on resources; if we take one more shot tonight, he might be weak enough to buckle. Now, will you help us close the pages on this?”

Wendy pushed herself away from the table and stood up. This was her decision, but first, she had something to do. Tinkerbelle and Ominotago had been given this choice and took it. The rest of the boys had just made it their business to do what was right for justice’s sake. Wendy wasn’t any less brave than they were, and she had much less to lose. She cared about people, even if Detective Hook didn’t seem to. She had burned through her reserves of terror for the night and now felt only disgust and anger. Wendy knew she could use that pain for something good.

“I need twenty minutes to talk to the group,” she said.

Detective Hook looked furious for a second, but managed to suppress it. “You have ten.” He barked at the door. “WILSON!”

The officer who had brought Wendy to this room immediately unlocked the door.

“Bring her back in ten minutes,” Hook said, waving his hand in dismissal.

Wendy walked toward the doorway on shaking legs.

“Stop.”

She paused.

“If he gets away tonight … it’s on you,” Detective Hook said, breathing hard with anger.

Wendy didn’t turn to face him. “No. It’s not,” she said firmly. “I’m just a kid, asshole. And you should have called my parents.”

CHAPTER 15

Everyone looked up when the officer opened the door. Ominotago and Tinkerbelle had drifted to Fyodor’s side. Fyodor was white as a ghost from stress. Charles had managed to get his cuffed hands in front of him like Ominotago and had an arm around Minsu’s shoulders. Nibs and Curly were sitting on the floor between Fyodor and Minsu, Curly’s chin on Nibs’s shoulder. Curly looked like he’d been caught whispering in his brother’s ear.

Wendy stared at Tinkerbelle for a long moment, ages after the door had closed behind her. “You told me to stay home.”

Tinkerbelle’s eyes filled with tears, and she hid her face in the curve of Ominotago’s neck. Wendy crossed the room in three long strides and swept Tinkerbelle into a tight hug.

“I’m sorry!” Tinkerbelle cried, muffled into Wendy’s hair.

“No,” Wendy said resolutely. “Thank you for trying.”

“Did you sign the NDA?” Ominotago asked gently.

“Yes. We have ten minutes before I have to tell Detective Hook whether I’m going to join you all or not.”

“Okay, you need answers,” Ominotago said seriously. “And you need them fast.” She squeezed Wendy’s shoulder with her cuffed hand. Then she scooted over to create room on the couch for Wendy to sit between Tinkerbelle and Fyodor. Charles and Minsu joined the group, sitting on the floor in front of the others and completing the circle.

Ominotago nudged Tinkerbelle. “You go first.”

Tinkerbelle took a moment to get her breath under control and began. “Peter wasn’t looking for you specifically; it was a coincidence. The whole thing with his jacket threw the timing of the entire night off. So I was angry when we met because you were already ruining things before you knew it. We were supposed to get to the train station twenty minutes earlier, and the cops would have been able to grab Peter on the train platform, where there are limited places to run. They probably panicked once we didn’t arrive when they expected, so they started trying to make barricades, but it was too late. Peter watches where we go, so Curly, Slightly, Nibs,