Page 37 of Brush with Death
“You probably won’t.We know there were three men at the lake with Sam.One of them was the Master, but he didn’t know the other two.”
“Doweknow the other two?”Cyril asked.
“We know one of them.I’m still looking into the Master.The man is smarter than I expected but not smarter than me.I’ll find his real name.In the meantime, I dug through social media, and I found someone you’ll probably be interested in.His name is Albert, and he’s been freaking out over private messages.”
Cyril knew that none of what Rachel did was legal, and he worried.He doubted anyone would find out that she was doing this, and she’d been doing it for years, but what was happening had hit close to home.He’d already lost Sam.He didn’t want to lose more people he cared about.
“Apparently, killing people wasn’t part of the plan for that night,” Rachel continued.“I found Albert’s messages with the Master, and it was clear they were planning something.There’s a list of supplies they needed to bring to the lake, and the Master mentioned that he’d bring the most important thing.Albert didn’t seem to think anything of it.The day after, Albert texted the Master.He was worried that someone would find out they were involved with Sam’s death.”
Cyril sucked in a breath and loosened his hold on his pen.He was angry, but he couldn’t go out there and find this Albert guy on his own.Luckily for him, he was dating a professional assassin.Vale was retired, but Cyril doubted he’d say no if he asked him to kill Albert.
Cyril wasn’t sure it was something he could do.He believed that Albert deserved to pay after what he and his friends had done to Sam, but he’d never be able to kill him.Vale could, though.It had been his job for a long time.He adhered to a code of ethics, but Albert wasn’t innocent.He’d killed a man or had helped the person who’d killed Sam.Either way, he needed to pay, and Cyril found that he didn’t care if it was with his life.
“Someone did find out,” Russell said.He sounded serious, which wasn’t how Cyril usually saw him.There had been no teasing when he’d arrived today.He was focused on what they were doing.
“We did,” Rachel confirmed.“Just like I found out that Sam isn’t the only person they killed.”
Cyril dropped his pen.He wasn’t sure why, but he hadn’t expected that.He hadn’t thought that there would be more victims.He’d been naïve enough to think that Sam had been the only victim.
He’d been wrong.
“This is the first time Albert has been involved in a death, but the Master mentions that no one has ever found out before,” Rachel continued.“I started digging into it, and I found a few names that could belong to the people the Master has killed.I’ll dig deeper into it, but I thought you’d want to know what I’d already found.”
What were they supposed to do now?The Master wasn’t only responsible for one death but for several.Cyril was completely out of his depth.Should they call the police?But the police didn’t think that Sam had been killed.They thought it had been an accident, and while Cyril could tell them he’d reanimated Sam, he wasn’t sure they’d believe him.They never hesitated to use him when they needed him, but they wanted nothing to do with him outside of that.They thought he was a freak, and maybe he was, but he didn’t care about their opinion.
He just wanted to help people, and after what Rachel had said, it was clear there were more of them to help than he’d realized.
“Thank you,” Vale said.
As if he knew what Cyril was thinking, he slid his hand over the table to grab Cyril’s.He linked her fingers together and squeezed.When Cyril looked up, Vale was still focused on the phone, but Cyril couldn’t ignore their hands touching.
“We have to take care of this,” Russell said.
“We don’t have to do anything,” Vale said.“We’re not police officers or detectives.”
“We can’t just stand by and let this guy continue killing people,” Cyril argued.
“I know.We won’t, but I wanted Russell to realize what he was saying.We’re not vigilantes.We’re professional assassins, and no one is paying us to do this.”
“I’ll pay you if that’s what you need.”
“Of course not.”Vale raised Cyril’s hand and kissed its back.“Russell and I will take care of this.”
“I want to be involved.”Cyril might not be of any use in a fight, but he wouldn’t have to fight.Vale wouldn’t allow anyone anywhere near him.
“Of course you do.But how am I supposed to kill this guy if I’m focused on keeping you safe?”
“Russell can keep an eye on Albert while you keep an eye on me.I’ll be fine.I just need to see this through.”
“Are you sure?Because thinking about killing someone and actually doing it is very different.I don’t want you to do or see something you’ll regret.”
“The Master needs to pay.Maybe I won’t watch while you do what you have to do, but I want to be there anyway.I want to watch him when he realizes why it’s happening.”
Death didn’t scare Cyril, but it scared most people, and he couldn’t wait to see the Master meet it.
* * * *
VALE UNDERSTOOD WHYCyril wanted to be part of this, but he was worried.Cyril was used to death, but he’d never been involved in killing someone.Vale didn’t want him to freak out.He also didn’t want his boyfriend to think less of him.
