"I would never…" He started to say before he realized. I'd baited him and he'd taken it hook, line and proverbial sinker.
"I meant information about these…People." His voice was tight.
The people we were after had taken his younger brother from him. Augustus Titmus was the youngest of three after Jules and Cass. He took his own life after Granger Fairfield abused him.
Pain still lingered in Cass' eyes when he thought about Auggie. Chances were it always would, the same way mine undoubtedly looked when I thought about my sister, Lottie. She was also abused and murdered by these men.
Most, I hunted down and killed. Two remained, men who called themselves Hypnos and Zeus.
Fancy names for pieces of shit.
Once I found out who they were, they'd be dead. After I gave them the chance to experience the kind of suffering she'd gone through before she died.
I put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed lightly.
"I've tried," I told him. "Early on I sent information about what happened to my sister and they did nothing. If she was rich, powerful and male, maybe then…"
That's what these men were: rich and powerful. They thought they were invincible. Untouchable. The police wouldn't dare to go after them. So I had to.
Ironically, the police wouldn't hesitate to come after me for doing it. Who said there was no justice in this world? Sometimes it seemed there wasn't, not unless you went out and found it yourself. It wasn't for nothing Boner jokingly referred to us as Vigilante University. The name was fitting.
"Getzoff might be more receptive," Cass said. He didn't look convinced.
"I'd still like to know why he turned up at Boner's gallery that night," I said thoughtfully.
"He might have been on to Solomon Danforth," Cass suggested.
"I prefer that explanation than thinking he had an inkling to what I was up to," I said. "He might have been about to arrest Solomon, but we got to him first."
Technically, he got to us, pinning us down in Archer's apartment. We got the last laugh there. He and Gina got the last breath.
"Would it hurt to send him some information and see if he acts on it?" Cass said.
"What information do we have?" I asked. Nothing, as far as I knew, we hadn't acted on ourselves up until now. "Boner said he had someone he wanted to deal with tonight." I rubbed my temples thoughtfully.
Cass swallowed hard. He'd seen the things I did and he'd still stuck around, mostly observing rather than taking part. He was getting used to the bloodshed, but his stomach wasn't up to it the way mine was. Maybe I was more cold-hearted than him.
"If we tell Getzoff anything, we can't go after them," I reasoned. "It might be the thing he's waiting for. We tell him where to go and he uses it to pin us down. Either tracking the information back to us or waiting for us to act and catching us red-handed. Literally."
"What do we do then?" Cass asked. "If this guy comes after you…"
"I can deal with a cop," I assured him.
During the brief conversation at the gallery party, he'd given me no indication he knew who I was. Not what I did in my spare time anyway. There was no suspicion in his gaze. No attempt to follow me or ask me questions.
He seemed like nothing more than a guy who thought I was the right person to hit on. Or a distraction while he was waiting for Solomon to make a misstep.
Getzoff was either clueless or a really good actor. I won't lie, the latter was slightly terrifying.
"You're not going to…" Cass adjusted his glasses and winced, his gaze toward the kitchen.
"I'll do whatever I have to do to keep us safe," I told him. If that meant making Hans Getzoff into spaghetti Bolognese, so be it.
Hopefully it wouldn't come to that. I didn't like messing with the police, not unless they were corrupt. As far as I could tell, this guy was just doing his job. Trying to keep the public safe from harm. I wanted the same thing, we just came at it from different angles. Mine slightly less legal than his. A lot messier too, most likely. Although, mine resulted in less paperwork.
"So we don't tell him anything," Cass said, slowly closing the laptop.
"I don't know what we'd tell him anyway," I admitted. "Boner didn't give me any details."
