Page 129 of Rat

“I was clever about it; I spent money, set up small experiments, faked video footage. Had meetings, I wined and dined and looked legit. I pushed people’s buttons, found out their weaknesses, their desires, convinced them I had the answer to all their problems.” Sebastian pointed at the pier. “The skills I learned here only got better. I seduce, I manipulate, I convince, I play people, but I don’t fund terrorists. I know that’s what Hamish told you.”

“How do you know Hamish told me that?”

“Not yet, Rory,” Sebastian continued. “I play people. I’m good at it, and I played you.”

Rory shook his head. “I don’t understand.”

“I knew you were a police officer the second I saw you. Some young, attractive guy who thought he could con me, seduce me, manipulate me for Hamish, and at first I was angry, and I wanted you gone. I wanted you scared and thought I could get you to leave.”

Rory’s side prickled, and his breath caught in his chest. “You got someone to stab me?”

“Yes. And I didn’t know whether you were suicidal or just stupid, but you came back onto the wing the next morning like it was nothing. I thought I’d have fun with you, mess you about, and mess with Hamish’s head in the process, but the lines started to blur. I stopped pretending to like you and did like you. I stopped pretending to want you and did, and then I wondered whether you were actually playing me, whether you’d found my weak spots and you were just good at exploiting parts of me.” Sebastian shook his head. “And it all got so messy.”

Rory heard pebbles crunching behind him, someone walking up the beach, but he didn’t turn to them. Sebastian had a sad smile on his face, but he didn’t greet the stranger.

“How did you know about me?” Rory whispered.

Sebastian gestured to the person behind Rory. “Rory the Rat meet Morris the Mole.”

Rory turned, linked eyes with Morris, then leapt off the bench. Sebastian caught him around the middle, pinned his arms to his sides and hauled him back. Rory struggled, gaping in disbelief.

“Sorry,” Morris said, glancing down at her watch. “I’m fifteen minutes early…”

Sebastian snorted. “As long as you’re here.”

“Let go of me!” Rory thrashed, digging his heels into the stones.

“Wait,” Sebastian said, “hear us out.”

Morris stopped beside the bench. She took a deep breath, then looked at Rory. “Hi.”

“Don’t hi me! Who are you? Are you even a police officer?” Rory blurted, struggling with Sebastian.

“Yes, have been for twenty years, but I don’t say no to some extra money, especially when me and Sebastian go way back.”

Sebastian hushed in Rory’s ear. “Calm down, okay. Morris and I are friends. She used to warn me when the police were looking into me, getting too close. She told me about Lester, but I didn’t believe her. I didn’t believe that he’d do that, but then I saw him in William Hamish’s car.”

Morris raised her eyebrows. “And after that, you killed him.”

“It was in the heat of the moment, I didn’t… I didn’t plan to—”

“And I wanted nothing more to do with you,” Morris continued, “but you kept writing to me, phoning me, and all you wanted to know was why Lester betrayed you. One day I gave in, I did some digging, got close to Hamish, got him to open up to me. He was targeting Lester, using his power to make his life hell, and giving him only one way out. He thought he’d only put Sebastian away for a few years for the scam, but his anger gifted him sixteen.”

Sebastian rested his chin on Rory’s head and murmured, “I couldn’t take back what I did, but I could punish the guy that made Lester’s life crumble around him. On my last year, I wrote to Hamish. I said I’d make his life hell, the same way he made Lester’s. It was supposed to be an empty threat, stir him up, unsettle him.”

Morris nodded. “The letter got him paranoid, worried, and he asked me to work with him. He wanted to knowwhat Sebastian was planning. That’s when he decided to send someone into the prison.” She directed a pained smile at Rory. “I didn’t know he was blackmailing you. I thought you were just some cocky new police officer who wanted to make a name for himself.”

“I didn’t want to be in there,” Rory whispered. “I never wanted to do undercover work.”

“I know that now, and after you stuck it out for a few weeks, Sebastian and I thought we could use you to get to Hamish, have some fun tormenting him.”

Sebastian clutched Rory tighter. “I tried to justify it, tell myself the end result would be worth it. I’d get revenge on Hamish, and you’d leave the prison, go back to being a police officer, put it behind you, but then it wasn’t a game anymore. We were…us. Then I got that call in the middle of the night from Morris. She told me about your sister, and I didn’t know what to do.”

“You knew?” Rory’s knees weakened. “You knew the whole time.”

“I avoided you, blocked you out, tried to go back to being indifferent, and waited for the governor to get you, to call you into his office, but he never did.”

Morris stepped closer. “I thought Hamish would tell you, I really did, but he sat there and kept saying how proud your dad would be, and I felt sick. I wanted to tell you—”

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