Page 63 of The Devil's Embrace

“I don’t know why I’m doing this!” he hissed. “I don’t know what’s going on, I just feel so…”

“You’re anxious, Rhett,” Titus supplied.

“Yes!” He nodded vehemently. “I’m anxious and scared! I didn’t do anything wrong, so why are you looking at me?! I haven’t killed anyone!”

“Let’s keep it that way,” Calix suggested. “Put the gun down, and we can talk.”

“You’ll shoot me if I do that.”

“No, I won’t. I’m an I.P.F. agent, remember? I’m not allowed to go around shooting people for no reason. This, this is pretty bad, but so far you haven’t actually hurt the director, sothere’s still a chance for you. Put the weapon on the desk and step away, Rhett. I promise, I’ll hear you out.”

“No, no, that’s what she said too! She said she was an officer of the law, so I didn’t have to worry about a thing. That she’d keep my secret. Lying bitch!”

“Are you talking about Officer Paige?” Were they working together after all? “Do you know where she currently is?”

“Ask him!” Rhett shoved the blaster against Titus’s temple so hard he ended up losing his footing.

The director caught himself on the edge of the table, but Rhett was still annoyed that he’d moved, whacking the gun against his head.

“Hey!” Calix took a step closer, then froze when Rhett righted himself and pointed the gun back at Titus.

“Don’t you like the blood?” Rhett asked, and his mood seemed to shift dramatically from paranoid to bubbly in the blink of an eye. He even giggled. “That’s what I heard. Isn’t it? You like blood, too. How many people have you hurt, Detective? How much blood have you spilled to satisfy your monstrous cravings?”

“Where the hell did you hear that?” There was that word again. Monstrous. What the fuck was going on here?

“He told me,” Rhett pointed at Titus.

“I did no such thing,” the director instantly denied.

“Well, not directly. Not really. Sort of,” Rhett rambled. “They were talking about you, though, I’m sure of it. Hard to miss. Hard not to realize. There’s only one guy who’s famous for breaking the spine of a famous sports protégé, isn’t that right, Detective? Isn’t thatyou?”

“He’s not in his right mind,” Titus said. “Rhett, you need mental help. You’re having a break. That’s all this is. Let us get you—”

“I won’t take the fall for something I didn’t do,” Rhett snarled. “I’ve seen you and the doctor. I’ve seen—”

“Were you accosted in the woods four weeks ago, Calix?” Titus asked suddenly, noting the way Cal bristled. “It was Rhett.”

“What?! No! Liar!”

“It was different than it was at the reunion, wasn’t it?” Titus kept going. “You had a feeling it wasn’t the same man.”

Yes, that’s why Cal hadn’t referred to him as Heathe in his mind during the act. He’d wanted to believe it was Heathe because that made the most logical sense. There’d been differences in their demeanor, of course, but he’d chalked that up to the version he’d met at the reunion being an act. Heathe had been trying to lure him from the party. Of course he’d been charming up to that point.

But then again…

He frowned at Rhett, taking in his stature. While he hadn’t gotten a good look at the man who’d fucked him in the woods, he was certain he’d been taller and broader than the orderly. Their syntax had been similar, but that wasn’t enough to convince him.

“Oh, I get it, I understand.” Rhett waved the gun between them, too fast for Cal to risk firing his own weapon. “You’re in it together, aren’t you? Same as you were back then. When he cleared your name.”

Calix struggled to maintain control of his own emotions, but a zap of insecurity and suspicion rocked through him. “Excuse me?”

“He got you off the hook, so now you’re here to ensure he walks away as well, that it?” Rhett laughed, the sound off, manic. The bubbly mood was slipping as well, and the paranoia was returning.

“You ran a fellow classmate over with your car. He,” he jabbed Titus with the gun, “cuts off a few heads. They’re not really equal, Detective.”

“He’s lying,” Titus told Cal, holding his gaze steadily. “I’ve never cut off anyone’s head. You have my word.”

“It wasn’t an accident,” Rhett said. “You both know. We all do. You hit that kid on purpose, and the director let you get away with it. You’re working together. Which means this was a mistake, and I should just shoot you both.”

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