Page 92 of Killing Me Softly

And there was the tell.

Dr Pryce never said things withoutintention.

“Yes, I can imagine.”

Success meant changing people’s mindset. Influencing their behaviour. Curing them. Allowing them back into society. All those things that were almost impossible when dealing with the minds of deeply disturbed and deranged individuals. Especially children.

Kenny shuffled forward. “And tell me, Laura… is it just a coincidence that you’ve found yourself here, at Ryston? The same place where one of your former patients has also resurfaced? A patient you personally signed off for release?”

He let the question hang in the air. An open invitation for her to slip up.

Because Kenny already knew the answer. He’d known it long before he stepped foot in this office. The moment Dr Pryce had arrived in Ryston, he’d started pulling threads, unravelling the carefully constructed web she’d spun. Every record, every psychiatric evaluation, every signature leading back to her. And if Aaron hadn’t coaxed him away from that rabbit hole yesterday afternoon, he would have asked these questions sooner. Maybe Taylor wouldn’t be dead.

Or maybe those wheels had been in motion long before.

But Kenny didn’t waste time on what-ifs. He didn’t blame Aaron. Not for a single second. The blame belonged elsewhere. And he was going to make damn sure it landed exactly where it should.

“I’ve released many patients, Dr Lyons. You’ll have to be more specific.”

Kenny let out a breath, steady and measured. She wanted him to react. Wanted emotion to betray him. It was a tactic. One she had likely honed on the stand, in case reviews, in psychiatric hearings where the power of perception meant everything.

So he didn’t bite.

“You signed off on Child A. The Howell daughter. You approved her release despite the obvious psychopathy indicators, the callous-unemotional traits, the complete lack of rehabilitative progress.”

Pryce leaned back, expression placid. “I signed off on her based on the official psychiatric evaluations.”

“And I suppose you had no hand in shaping those evaluations?”

“Are you accusing me of malpractice, Dr Lyons?”

“There would be no other word for it if you knowingly released a dangerous individual back into society. What I’m more interested in iswhyyou would do that?”

“Youdolike to know the why.”

“Isn’t that something we both seek?”

Pryce folded her hands neatly. “And what, exactly, do you think my motives were? You obviously already have a theory.”

“This isn’t about the Howells,” he said. “This isn’t about rehabilitation, or justice, or the system’s failings. This is about me.”

A pause.

Then Pryce leaned forward. “Well, look at that. Youaregood. You don’talwaysget things wrong.”

Kenny’s stomach clenched, but he didn’t react.

She wanted him to react.

“What did I get wrong for you?” Kenny asked carefully.

She inhaled sharply, then opened a drawer of her desk.Hisdesk. Retrieving something that, okay yes,hehad put in there, but he’d never opened it. The bottle of Glenlivet single malt had been a gift from the faculty for his fortieth a couple of years back, and he’d tucked it away, having forgotten about it. And here she was helping herself to it.Thisearly in the morning. Kenny let her peruse the label. A quiet, insidious trespass. Still, if it got her talking, Kenny would allow it.

“The same system that allowedyouto build your career failed my sister.” Pryce twisted the cap off the whisky bottle, pouring a measure into a mug.Hismug. The one also gifted by the faculty, emblazoned with the words:Keep talking, I’m diagnosing you.

Kenny kept his breath even, though a creeping unease itched at the base of his skull. “How did I fail your sister?”

“Youlet her killer walk out of Ravenholm.” Pryce picked up her bag, rifling through it. “Ryan Fisher stabbed a young boy when he was twelve. Was sent to Ravenholm for his sentence where you worked at the time.Youthought therapy and medication would be enough. At eighteen,youlet him leave. And do you know what happened?” Her lips curled. “Two years later, he murdered his pregnant girlfriend. My sister. My nephew. My parents’ youngest daughter and their first grandchild.”

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