Theodore (Xavier's Hatchlings #2) - Kathi S. Barton Page 0,25

older. They had planned this action since they found out their grandfather had died. One of them got ahold of the plans for the police station the night before they left, so they knew the layout of the building.” Cindi asked her if she was sure she wanted to hear more. Telling her to go on, Pem had a terrible feeling she wasn’t going to like what she said to her next. “They assumed—I don’t know why—but they assumed that your grandma would have her gun with her. Stanley was going to take her gun and kill MaryBeth. Then he was going to leave the rest of the murders in the room to David. Using the gun, he would get into the station house and was going to go down to the bullpen and kill every person he came in contact with. Neither of them figured they’d be killed as, they’ve told me, they were kids, and no one would want to hurt them.”

She looked in the direction Cindi did. Pem had no idea what kind of person it took to see the dead, but her respect for her had gone up a few notches. When she looked at her again, Pem got up and went to sit with her. Taking her hand into hers, she looked at the other woman.

“I want to hear it all. But I have a couple of questions. They just popped into my head.” Cindi said she’d answer them if she could. “Where are their bodies? Are they going to be buried here or back home where they lived? Also, I’d very much like to do something for the families of the victims. Something to help them along with this. I know that nothing will take the pain away, but I need to help them.”

“Each officer has had their funeral paid for. The families will also receive a one-time payment of two-hundred-and-fifty-thousand dollars. It will be funneled through the police department as an on-duty insurance policy. The houses they lived in are being paid off to help the families. The injured officers will not receive a bill from the hospital, and their families are given hotel rooms to be close to their loved ones while they stay in the hospital. They will get their full pay while they’re off, as well as a bonus. I’m not sure how much that is going to be. The details are still being worked out.” Pem asked her if they could afford that. “Yes. We’ve been around for a great many years, Pem. We’re also mated to dragons. The story behind them being able to cry gems is very true.”

She thought about the generosity of this family and wondered if they had had to do this before. Help a group of people out what had been devasted by someone with a chip on their shoulders. Looking in the direction she thought the boys were, Pem told Cindi she was ready for the rest.

“They’ve killed before. The two of them. Not with guns, but with knives. I’ve helped in finding the two little boys they killed, and I’ve also had Carson look into the four children that were bullied by them that had moved to another school. This wasn’t something they did on the spur of the moment. They planned everything. They were, as you might have guessed, monsters.” She asked Cindi if Austin or Caroline knew. “Not about the deaths, but they did about the other children being bullied. The entire family had been blocked from every restaurant and every other business in town before they left. It’s the reason they’re broke, paying off people their children have hurt. And there are a great many of them.”

She sat there, thinking of that when she told Cindi she was ready to see the boys. Ready or not, she supposed, Pem wanted to see what they had to say for themselves. Before she was able to see them, Theo came in and sat across from her. Cindi said he was there for support, not to take over.

As soon as they came into focus, she had to turn away for a second. They were dead, bloodied too. After taking a deep breath, she looked at the two of them. Both of them were smiling and looking like they were happy. The little fuckers were proud of themselves, she thought.

“You killed those men. Five men for no reason at all.” Theo said it was seven now. One of them died on the operating