Page 83 of Butterfly

“Sit down,” Howard hissed through his teeth.

“He bought us takeaway pizza that night. He was smiling. Leo was smiling. He’d been sober for five days, and he kept saying this time was for good. He believed it. Leo did too. I didn’t. I didn’t believe anything he said to us anymore. I daydreamed of killing my father hundreds of times. Iplannedto do it while he was sleeping.”

“What are you doing!” Leo shouted.

Ollie flinched but didn’t turn to him.

“Silence in the gallery,” one of the judges snapped.

“He was snoring. I stabbed him in the heart.”

“Christ, Ollie,” Seinfeld whispered. He tugged at the hem of Ollie’s shirt, trying to make him sit down.

“Once I started stabbing him, I couldn’t stop. I needed him to be dead.”

“Why did you need him to be dead?” Howard asked.

Ollie frowned at him. “Because there’s something wrong in my head. I’m a monster.”

“What you did, some might call monstrous, but that doesn’t make you a monster. You kept stabbing and stabbing because you knew if you didn’t kill him, if he somehow survived the attack, you’d be taken away, leaving him with Leo.”

Ollie lowered his head. Yes, it was true. It had to be brutal. He had to leave no doubt. He dropped back into his chair.

“That’s why you did it when he was sleeping. You needed to be sure. You didn’t want to give him the opportunity to defend himself. You couldn’t risk it. You couldn’t risk Leo.”

Ollie closed his eyes, sinking down in his seat.

One of the judges cleared her throat and took over.

“We accept the request for a suspended sentence. You’re free to leave the courtroom today and reconcile with your brother. Break the conditions of your suspension, and you’ll return to Hollybrook for the remainder of your sentence.”

Ollie stared down at his shoes.

“You’re free to go,” Seinfeld mumbled, giving him a nudge. “At least look happy about it.”

“What are the conditions?” Ollie asked.

“Don’t worry about that now.” Seinfeld snorted. “Stand up.”

Ollie got to his feet.

The judges left the room, then Howard spun around to face him.

“You went a bit rogue at the end there, but a result is a result.”

He directed Ollie towards the door.

Ollie lifted his wrists on instinct, but Seinfeld shook his head. “None of that, unless handcuffs are your thing if you know what I mean.”

He came into the courtroom from one door and left from another one, stepping into a corridor where people rushed by, oblivious to him. Howard vanished, and Seinfeld said he was going to the holding cell below to get Ollie’s things.

Leo skidded into him, hugging him tight.

Ollie managed to grip him back.

“What the hell was that?” Leo demanded when he pulled back. “What were you playing at?”

“Not the time,” Maggie said, squeezing Leo’s shoulder.

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