Charles regarded him for a moment, his expression giving nothing away. “Call me when she’s ready to talk.”
He turned and walked out of the room, closely followed by the twins. He stepped out onto the porch and into the cold night air. Fortuitously, it had begun snowing again, which would cover a lot of the evidence in the clearing.
He turned to Mac who was watching him with sharp eyes. “Thomas’s body?”
“I’ll take care of it,” Mac replied after a moment. “You know, I should be arresting you.”
“But you won’t, will you?” Charles’s mouth curved in amusement.
“No.” Mac scowled. “Not this time, but I can’t make any promises about next time.”
Charles nodded and jogged comfortably down the steps.
“What are you going to do now?” Mac called after him.
Charles paused and turned back briefly. “I’m going to find my wife.”
“And then?”
“And then…” His smile was cold and dangerous. “I’m going to kill her.”
“And I thought my family was messed up,” Mac murmured under his breath as he watched Charles and the twins disappear into the darkness, amid the wild, swirling snow.
“Are you going to stick around?” Jake asked. “Looks like we need a new chief.”
Mac took a long drag on his cigarette. “I suppose there are worse jobs, and I have a feeling I’ll never be bored around here.”
Louisa opened the door and stepped out, pulling her coat tighter against the cold air.
“I’m going to leave the medical supplies here,” she sighed. “Something tells me we’ll be needing them again.”
“That’s probably a safe bet,” Jake replied. “You alright driving back in this?”
“Oh please,” she replied indignantly. “I’ll be fine.”
He held his hands up in mock surrender.
“What about you, Mac?” Jake asked.
“I’m parked about half a mile down the road.”
“Want me to drop you at your car?” Jake offered.
“I’d appreciate it.” He flicked the butt of his cigarette into the darkness. The three of them stepped down the porch and set off companionably into the snow flurry.
Theo slowly opened the door to the bedroom and found Olivia sitting on the side of the bed staring blankly at the rapid fall of snowflakes outside the window while Beau lay curled up sleeping peacefully. He rounded the bed as she looked up at him, and everything inside him churned at the absolute devastation in her eyes. He handed her a glass of water and dropped a couple of pills in her hand.
“Louisa says to take these. They will help the pain in your shoulder.”
She did as she was told, too numb to do anything else. Theo leaned down, unlaced her boots, and tugged them off, helping her to lie down without putting too much pressure on her wound. When she was finally settled, he kicked his boots off and climbed onto the bed, spooning in behind her and wrapping his arm around her gently.
“Theo?” she whispered.
“Yes?”
“We let a demon loose and it’s my fault.” She swallowed hard.
“It’s not your fault,” he tried to soothe her.
