“This guy had his medical records?” Avi asked. “How does that make any sense?”
“Maybe it was part of the initial investigation? Before they decided it was easier to just cover it up and pretend it never happened,” Asa supplied.
“Or maybe this guy was trying to ‘Sherlock Holmes’ his way through an investigation,” Aiden said, giving Lola a superior look that was completely lost on her.
Thomas met August’s gaze. “Can you?”
August scoffed like it was a stupid question then began to run his finger along the page, reading and absorbing faster than any human had a right to. He flipped page after page as they all watched.
“This is crazy. Is he reading those?” Lola asked before taking a sip of coffee.
“Yeah, he’s…unique,” Aiden said, fumbling to describe his brother, who loved his husband, his kids, pop divas, and murder.
Lola rested her hip against the wall. “They’re kind of a power couple, huh?”
“So, we know this guy has it out for Thomas and we know it has to do with Shane. That screams family,” Aiden said. “Like, it’s personal. Did Shane have siblings? Cousins, maybe? Anyone who might have the same fucked-up psychopathy as him?”
“Get Calliope on the phone,” Thomas said to Asa.
Asa took out his burner phone and hit a button, then set it on the center table.
“This is Cassandra, your all-seeing, all-knowing prophetess. How may I serve you?” Calliope chirped.
“Is she always like that?” Lola asked with a smile.
“Yes,” they all chorused.
“Calliope, dig deep. Is thereanybodyin Shane’s family tree who could somehow not have known about his mental illness? I can’t even imagine who, but step-siblings on his father’s side, maybe that came after his death? Someone who maybe romanticized what happened?” Thomas asked.
There was a slew of typing, and after about three minutes, Calliope said, “As I’m sure you know, his mother and your uncle both passed without having any children between them. Shane’s father remarried and he had three more children.” Once more, there was a long pause. “Two daughters and a son.”
“We know the blackmailer is a man, so focus on the son.”
“Roger Graves—Graves? Yikes,” Calliope said. “Married to a…Vanessa Slaughter—Jesus, imagine getting an invite to the Graves-Slaughter wedding? No, thank you, I’ll pass,” she muttered to herself.
“Calliope,” Thomas said sharply.
“Yeah, yeah. Roger and Vanessa have been happily married for nineteen years, have two children, and are currently living in Okinawa, Japan where he’s a lieutenant general. I don’t think he’d be able to pull off any major crimes from across several continents and this required planning. Years if the message boards are to be believed.”
Aiden’s heart sank. Fuck. The message boards. For a brief moment, he’d forgotten about them. The random strangers on the internet who believed Thomas Mulvaney was a serial killer like them. “Did you find out anything more?”
“Yeah, were there any more messages claiming Dad’s a serial killer?” Zane asked, still flipping through pages.
“A serial killer?” Lola said, taking a step back, not out of fear but more like she was assessing him. She gave him a thorough once-over and then snorted, dismissing the idea. “Hardly.”
Calliope chuckled. “I found another dead thread, but I can’t tell if these are the same players or different ones because their handles have changed. All but one. That AlwaysChristmas handle was still calling the shots. If this is tied to blackmail, I would bet money he’s our guy.”
“Why do you think that?” Asa asked.
Calliope sighed. “Because he’s still feeding the others tidbits of information, riling them up, telling them you’re like them but that you’re hunting your own kind. That you’re some kind of betrayer.”
Lucas slammed his hand down on the table. “What the fuck? So, is this about Shane or isn’t it? Why is this sick fuck going after my kids?”
August didn’t stop reading and flipping. “Relax, my love. We will find them and we will make sure you get your revenge.”
That seemed to placate Lucas slightly, but Lola was now leaning against the wall, watching them in a way that made the hairs on the back of Aiden’s neck stand on end. It was only a matter of time before she realized the real Mulvaney secret. And then what?
Felix jumped up with a Sharpie he’d found on the table in hand. “Okay, let’s just take a second. Right now, we have two issues, right?” He drew a line down the wall. “On the one hand, we’ve got this random Christmas guy, who is claiming that Thomas is a killer killing killers. Right? On the other hand, we have someone who knows the truth about Thomas and Shane and still blames Thomas.”
