“It’s the area behind the life-size hedges in the back garden,” Safiya says.
Aras takes half a step forward and sneers at her. “You–”
Solo puts a hand on his chest to keep him in place. “Aras, please; this is not the time, and you know that.”
Aras grits his teeth as he glances at him, then relents and runs a hand over his hair. “We should get there before Fred…” he trails off and looks at me. “He’s a ruthless man, Ledger.”
My throat tightens, so much so that I can barely swallow my dread.
“If he takes her away from me, then I swear to you, Aras, I will unleashhellon this city,” I tell him. “Fredrick Byron is about to learn that he messed with the wrong man, and before the night is over, he’ll have paid the price for each scar he’s left on her, physical or otherwise.” Because I know she can cope with bodily wounds; it’s the thought of the mental scars this incident will leave her with that’s tearing me apart.
God, she kept telling me she wasn’t feeling good about tonight, and still, I didn’t listen to her. In my haze of wanting to get back to my old ways, I pulled her down with me.
There’s a knot in my stomach that keeps stretching at my core, and my shoulders feel paralyzed as the weight of the situation fully sinks in. Cignette is in trouble, and I have not onlythe rest of my crew to handle, but also the problem itself. And I’ve gotta keep my head in check. I can’t lose focus; I can’t get distracted.
Fuck… How will I ever be able to forgive myself for what I let happen to her,knowingI could have stopped it? Knowing I could have gone to her when she asked me to instead of making her wait?
I just…Ican’t.
Please be okay, Cigs, I pray.Fucking please.
24.
“Ledge, look!” Alex runs over to a long bench in the back gardens, crouches in front of it to grab something from the ground, then brings it over to me. “It’s her phone,” he says, turning around a smashed, all but annihilated iPhone in his hands. “It’s beat pretty bad, though.”
“Wait, what’s that?” Magner jogs over to a patch of blood-stained grass, just steps away from the bench.
I can feel my heartbeat crashing against my chest as I watch him pick up Cigs’ Glock from next to it, and as he walks back to the rest of us, I notice that the gun, just like the grass, is painted in blood.
“It’s got fingerprints on it,” Safiya observes, silently asking Magner to hand her the Glock.
He glances at Aras, who gives him a subtle nod. Sending an unsure look Safiya’s way, Magner places the gun in her waiting hand, then resumes his place next to Aras.
She rolls her eyes at him while pulling back her hand, then studies the Glock for a long moment before looking at me. “It’s not her blood,” she tells me.
“And suddenly she’s a one-woman forensics team,” Aras mutters with disdain.
She glares at him. “Say that again, and I’ll show you what else I’m capable of, youasshole.”
Magner sneers at her. “Watch it, Gaddafi.”
She cocks her head at him, completely unafraid of his overpowering frame. “Or what,köpek?”
Aras moves towards her. “What did you just call h–”
“Shut the fuck up, youidiots!” Solo’s voice cuts through their argument, silencing them. He points a finger at Magner and Aras, then at Safiya. “Have some shame, will you? We’ve lost a member of our family to ananimal, and you three can’t seem to find common ground with each other foronefucking night?”
Guilt takes over their faces as they realize their error. Magner is the first to relent; he takes a step back and raises his hands. “Sorry,” he mutters. “I’ll behave, I promise.”
Aras clenches his jaw as he glances sideways at Safiya. “Fine; I’ll step back too, but only because I care about Cignette.”
Safiya scoffs, but when I give her a hard look, she sighs and nods apologetically at me.
“So, how do you know the blood on the gun isn’t Cignette’s?” Solo asks her.
With the Glock still in her hands, she runs her fingers through the now-drying blood on its body. “The quantity of blood on the weapon is high. And, the blood itself is starting to turn lumpy, which means it was lost in great amount, most definitely after close-ranged gunshots. Fredrick confirmed that it was Cignette who killed his son, so I’ll say this is Timothy’s blood. Besides, in the video, she didn’t seem to have taken a hit that warranted for too much blood loss. She’s bruised, yes, but definitely not bleeding heavily.” She hands me the gun, and with a swallow, I take it from her before gazing down at it. The swan embossed on the Glock’s magazine is stained red, and I’m not a superstitious guy, but seeing that…it makes my chest hurt.
I sniff and use my thumb to clean the blood off the swan, then scratch the rest of it off with my nail before facing everyone. “The fingerprints on the gun are hers, so Safiya is right.”
