Page 92 of Good Half Gone

“Where is Dr. Grayson?”

He backs down the stairs until he’s standing beyond the roof of the gazebo and directly in the rain, blocking off any path of escape. He closes his eyes, tilting his face to the sky and lifting his hands as if he’s in the throes of worship. He fooled everyone…every time. I guess we did have something in common. Except I’d been too lovestruck to see the truth…just like Piper.

“Dr. Grayson helped me…” He sounds so genuine. “I owe him everything. We were a lot alike, same parents, same trauma…”

I find myself nodding.

“We got to know each other, like friends. None of that shrink shit. He treated me like a son.”

Another one of his delusions. I swallow.

“Is he dead?”

“What do you think, Iris?”

My heart lugs and strains and somehow carries on, but a cold sliver of fear enters my bloodstream. He comes back up the stairs and leans on the side.

“For how long?”

“How long has he been dead?” He looks at the broken ceiling of the gazebo while he calculates. “A year.”

“Oh my god.” It slips out.

“You’re wondering how you didn’t see it,” he says. “Our desires affect how we see things. And I had a little help from my friends.” He uses his middle finger to pull his lower eyelid down until the pink interior is exposed. I watch as he uses his pointer finger and thumb to pinch out a contact, which he produces for me on the tip of his finger.

“Heterochromia,” I say. “I remember Piper talking about it. She thought it was really cool.”

Outside the rain has slowed to a light drizzle. I wish I could see even a few feet past the gazebo. I have no doubt Marshal is within shouting distance, and where are the others?

“You never came to church, and when you were there, you definitely were not looking at my eyes.” His flirty tone makes me want to vomit.

“Ha! True.” I make ayou caught meface. “I came some Sundays and sat in the service with Gran. It was one of the few times I had her to myself.”

“You have her all to yourself all the time now.” He smiles a broad, harmless grin. I don’t answer, only look down at my feet.

“Tell me how you did this. You can’t drop all of this on me and not explain.” I fix him with my most glittery gaze, like I’m really impressed.

“Before Bouncer came to…what do they call it—?” he snaps his fingers while he thinks. “HOTI?”

I nod.

“Right, before Bouncer came to HOTI, she worked for a plastic surgeon.”

“How did that help you?” I frown.

“I broke my nose on my cell wall, fucked it up so bad they were forced to send me to a surgeon. She blackmailed her old boss to volunteer his time.I got a new nose, just like Dr. Grayson’s.”

Just like that.

Was he right? Had I seen what I wanted to see? Leo Grayson and Jude were the same height; Jude’s jaw was softer than Leo Grayson’s, but he’d hidden it behind a beard. He’d been a different weight back then, a dad body, plus some.

“I studied him. Spent every day with him. He was an egomaniac. All I needed to do to gain his trust was play the good student. In his mind, he was fixing me.”

“It wasn’t just Grayson, though. You got an entire hospital to believe you.”

He shrugs.

“I killed the ones who got in the way. I didn’t always have to do the killing—someone was always willing to do it for me. If they didn’t want to work with me, I replaced them.”

---