Page 100 of Once a Hero

However, right now there was a more pressing matter.

Beatrice wanted to be found alive. Would Benjamin and Jake know that she was here?

Ten minutes later, Beatrice realized it didn’t matter. Molyneux was never in the castle. Tea time wasn’t happening.

Miss Pistol had lied by omission. Never once did she deny what Beatrice had asked or assumed.

Chapter Forty

Molyneux was shorter than Beatrice remembered, but her eyes were more intense than Beatrice had seen over the live chat the week before. Her mannerism was aggressive and combative, and frankly, she scared Beatrice every time she opened her mouth.

But she wanted tea.

Did Beatrice dare to say she had changed her mind and preferred coffee these days?

Did she want to die?

Never in her life had Beatrice expected to die in an old unused church somewhere in Poland, but here she was.

Standing there at the old wooden door leading to the small room where a wooden table filled up half the space, Beatrice waited for Molyneux to make the next move.

It felt like chess.

Except that no matter what Beatrice did, the guards around her wouldn’t let her get away with anything.

She felt like a pawn.

Then again, a pawn could take the queen.

Molyneux turned away from her and looked at a painting hung on the wall. It probably didn’t come with the place because it showed a wedding scene with the couple kneeling at an altar, facing away from the audience.

“You’d think that if we made our wedding vows before Almighty God, that he would at least keep it.” Molyneux’s voice was British with a faint accent.

It sounded less intimidating when Molyneux spoke calmly instead of yelling all the time.

Beatrice tried to recall the first five years of her life, but her mind drew a blank. All she could remember was that, back when she had been sweet Imogen Wright, Molyneux was gone a lot. Dad had been left to raise the two kids alone.

One could say that being lonely might have driven Dad to adultery, perhaps?

“We were a beautiful couple,” Molyneux added. “Thirty-five years ago.”

Beatrice had nothing to say. She was no counselor. And Molyneux needed help. She had been divorced for twenty-five years—just before she tried to kill Dad for the first time—and she still talked about her wedding day today.

Molyneux turned back toward Beatrice and smiled. “I have him back now, though, for one final time.”

Perfect teeth and all. She could have been beautiful, Beatrice thought. Instead, that woman had turned into one of the ugliest terrorists the world had ever known.

Beatrice wondered how many people Molyneux had killed.

And yet, was salvation possible for such an evil person?

Or was she beyond saving?

Wait. Beatrice’s eyebrows rose. “What did you just say?”

“It’s the way the world goes, sometimes.” Molyneux walked toward Beatrice. “I tried to kill him twice. Each time he’d sent a decoy.”

“A decoy?” Beatrice’s jaw dropped. “Is Dad…”

---