Chapter Twenty-Two - James
Thirteen. I can almost hear the echo in her head.
She leans over to swallow down the bile before it comes up.
She knew. She knew she had to have killed some of them… but… thirteen. Yeah, that surprised everyone.
“What’d you use?” I ask as I put a hand on her shoulder and instead of shrugging me off, she lets it stay. Her body is hot and it feels like touching fire. “Because it certainly did the job.”
“Visine,” she says calmly. “Several bottles of Visine in the water pitchers at dinner. There were a lot of guests on the ship that night. Too many for me to pick out my new husband. So I poisoned them all.”
Clever. “Well, then you and I are more alike than you know. Because the poison you used is actually one of my calling cards.” I look over at Sasha. I think she’ll appreciate this little factoid. “The active ingredient in Visine is tetrahydrozoline.” I look back over to Harper. “I told you under the pier last week I had a little blue octopus in me. And the active poison in the blue-ringed octopus is tetrodotoxin.”
“Tet,” Sasha says with a smile. “That’s why you’re called Tet?”
I nod, but my eyes are still on Harper. “You used my calling card, Harper. Because when I want to kill someone for personal reasons and not get in trouble, that’s the way I have to do it. My assigned poison is tetrodotoxin, not Visine, but it’s got tet in the name and that’s too close.”
This changes everything. Everything I’ve been told over the past year is tainted with the view that they might think I killed all those people for Harper. How the fuck am I still alive?
The blackout, James, Tet whispers in my head. They know you’re confused. They know you’re missing time.
And that—that makes me laugh.
“What’s so funny?” Harper snaps at me. “I killed thirteen people and you’re laughing? Is my father even alive?”
“Do you care?”
“Of course I care!”
“As far as I know he is. I have not spoken with him for a very long time.” I’m the one who turns away now. Because this will require a lot of thinking on my part. The problem is suddenly a puzzle. Who is who? How does it all fit together? Who is calling the shots? Why was I really sent to the beach? What the fuck happened in those hours I lost?
“Is there a way to find out?” Sasha asks. “If the Admiral is dead?”
“I’m pretty sure there’d be some sort of global alert if the Admiral was dead.” I should push Sasha for her answers too. I really should. But she’s being very good, almost on my side, so now is not the time to shake things up.
“So now what, James?” Harper looks down at her feet. She’s facing the sun still, and it’s about to set, so the bright glow from earlier is gone. I wanted us to be together tonight so we could watch the sun go down again, get her back in her routine. But the rippling orange and yellow colors across the Pacific Ocean were magical. Beautiful and filled with promise of a new tomorrow.
The dissipating, diffracting light playing across the hot current of air in the desert has a hopeless feel to it.
This desert sunset feels like the end.
“You have to make a choice, Harper.” I take her hand and turn her around. “You trust me and let me lead the way.” I stop to search her for doubt. She holds her eyes steady, unlike mine. My eyes dart all over the place, waiting for lies, for pretenses and ulterior motives. But I don’t find any of that in Harper.
I find grief.
“Or you can go your own way. You’re not my contract, Harper.” I slip my hand behind her neck. She’s sweaty from the heat. Her shoulders are turning pink from the sun and when she looks up at me, her eyes are pink too. She’s had enough for one day. “You’re not my contract, and if you stay with me, I promise to take care of you. I promise I will keep you safe. I promise that the only way they will hurt you is if they kill me first.”
“Because I belong to you?”
“Yes.” God, that makes me so happy there’s no way in hell I can hide the smile. “You belong to me. You’re mine. So if you stay, you need to understand that. You’re mine.”
“And you want me now?”
I slide my fingers down her arm and tug on her hand until she takes a step toward. “I’ve always wanted you.”
She stares into my eyes, so intent on finding motive there. But she fails. Because I’m telling the truth.
“Sasha,” I say as I turn and lead Harper over to the porch. “Bedtime.”
‘”Bedtime!” Sasha snorts. “I don’t have a bedtime!”
“Whatever.” I ascend the stairs with Harper and take her back inside. “But we’re going to bed.”