I do hope you’re being careful, Bryn.There are so many predators in the world, and not all of them wear their nature as openly as I do, or as your detective does with his charming canine attributes.
Until next time,Everard
P.S.Give my regards to Detective Ericson.I trust he’s shared my previous correspondence.”
Bryn glanced up from the letter, which he was crumpling in his fist.Warden’s expression was thunderous, Giles looked thoughtful, and Emmett was already making notes on his tablet.
“Previous correspondence?What’s he talking about, Gunnar?”Bryn asked.
Gunnar shifted in his seat.“There was another letter a while back.”
“And you didn’t see fit to share?”Bryn’s tone could have frozen fire.“What the hell, Gunnar?”
It was Warden who spoke.“You’d just come out of dealing with the Walmart killer, Drake Romano.I made a judgment call.”
“A judgment call?”Bryn could feel his temper rising.“It wasn’t your call to make!”
“I disagree,” Warden said.
“Where’s this letter now?”
“In my desk drawer.”
“Get it.Now.”Bryn was at boiling point.He felt sick.
After a nod from Warden, Emmett left the room.The tension in his wake was palpable.
“The doctor appears to have sources of information he shouldn’t,” Giles observed, breaking the silence.“The specifics about the Thanacrine drug and its effects are particularly concerning.”
“And how does he know about Russo’s interest in Bryn?”Gunnar added.
Bryn’s headache was intensifying by the second.“That’s what I’d like to know.”
Emmett returned a moment later, envelope in hand.“Here,” he said, placing it on the table.
Warden opened the envelope and extracted another single sheet of paper.He pushed it across to Bryn.“It’s a lot more succinct.”
“I haven’t forgotten you.See you soon, Everard.”Bryn swallowed.
“It was mailed from Dallas, Texas.”
Bryn examined the envelope from the latest letter.“This one was sent from Tulsa, Oklahoma.”He stared at the two envelopes side by side, his vision tunneling until they were all he could see.The room around him faded away, the others’ voices becoming distant and muffled as if underwater.The pounding in his head kept time with his heartbeat.“And you all decided I was too fragile to handle it?”He looked around the table, taking in each face.“A committee decision on my mental health, was it?”
“It wasn’t like that,” Gunnar started.
“Really?Because from where I’m sitting, it looks exactly like that.”Bryn pushed back from the table.“You kept information from me about a psychopath who’s been messing with my head.Who’s clearly been tracking my movements.”
Warden leaned forward.“The decision was mine, Bryn.I stand by it.”
“Of course you do.”Bryn laughed, a hollow sound devoid of humor.“Because you always know best, right?The omniscient Warden, chess master extraordinaire, moving his pieces around the board.”
Gunnar reached out, his hand hovering near Bryn’s arm but not quite touching.“You had a lot going on—”
“So what?”Bryn snapped, jerking away from Gunnar’s attempted touch.“That’s my problem to deal with.My trauma, my choice.”
“Your trauma affects the team,” Warden countered.“It affects our operations.”
“So I’m a liability now?”
