“You’re a criminal. Your entire family is dirty.”
“I suppose most people would agree, but Lenora and I are in the process of mourning. We would appreciate you not harassing us every morning with half-baked accusations. Now, please leave before Lenora sees you. I will not be kind if you upset her.”
I hear only one chair push back. The one on wheels. Marcus’s.
“Where are Augustus and Bernard Duval? Both are missing.”
“Do you think I’ve upgraded from eyes to full bodies?” Marcus mutters.
The chair legs scrape across marbles, and I know Reuben has pushed to his feet.
“I think you’ve taken them.”
“That is a pretty serious accusation, Reuben. Can you prove it? I’m guessing not or I would be in cuffs. You’re assuming all these things about me and I can assure you, I have nothing to do with any of this.”
There’s a tense silence that lasts much too long. Long enough that I can no longer stand it.
I step into the doorway.
As I pictured it, both men are standing, divided only by the wide desk between them. Reuben is grinding steel with his molars. Aggressively flexing his jaw. His fists. He’s a man on a mission for justice and he has no idea he’s looking in the wrong places.
The Duvals killed my parents.
They killed my boys.
They are the villains.
But he’s in the Usher House, accusing us of being evil.
“Bonjour, mon petit.”Marcus motions me to him.“Venez ici.”
I go without question, eyes never leaving Reuben’s scrutinizing ones.
“Back again, officer?” I murmur. “What have we done now?”
To his credit, he shifts uncomfortably once before steeling himself. “Pardon the institution, Miss Usher. There has been another unfortunate death.”
“Since Marcus is still here and alive, I doubt it’s anyone I will care about.”
“Sarai Duval.”
I allow myself a moment to take in a slow breath before answering, “Another Duval. They certainly are dropping like flies.”
The warm heat of Marcus’s palm burns through the soft fabric of my top to scorch flesh, but I don’t glance at him. Never break eye contact with the man studying our every move.
“Where were you last night, Miss Usher —?”
“That is enough.” Marcus is a wall between me and Reuben before I can even open my mouth. “You will not interrogate her. It’s time to leave.”
“I was here,” I answer anyway. “Mourning the loss of my family. Tell me, Reuben,” I touch Marcus’s arm and gently nudge him aside so I can look into the officer’s face. “You know the Duvals killed Ames and Eliah in cold blood. Are you this driven to bring their killer to justice or do you see the Usher name and think you can use it to push yourself higher on the official ladder? Because it’s been two weeks since my boys were gunned down and left on the cold streets in puddles of their own blood and you have not made a single arrest. Yet, you have been heretwice now for a crime we couldn’t possibly have committed. How is that justice?”
“We’re looking at everything—” he begins.
“It seems to me like you’re only looking at us, forgetting that we didn’t start this, nor do I intend to lose sleep should every last one of them wind up in the ground.”
Wisely, he makes no further attempt to persuade me. He follows Marcus from the room. I hear their combined clips deep into the distance. I move to the windows and peer out into the courtyard just as Reuben steps down the steps. His tiny silhouette moves to his car and he drops inside.
“He will be back.”
