Page 14 of Worse Than Wicked
I stare down at him a long moment, wanting to turn it back on him, to deny what he said. But I can’t. Not without lying, and we promised we wouldn’t do that, no matter how easy it is.
So instead, I do something I only ever do for Duke.
“You’re right,” I say. “I’m sorry.”
Then I turn my attention to Mabel. “But I’m going to need a straight answer here. Are you the Black Widow Killer?”
four
Baron Dolce
“Really?” Mabel asks. “He gets an apology, and I get an interrogation? Where’s my apology?”
“Maybe you can get one when you stop fucking lying,” I say.
“I’m not lying,” she says. “I already told you, I’m not. All I ever did was set the men up. I thoughtyouwere killing them.”
“Pretty convenient, isn’t it?” I ask. “Every man you went out with ended up dead, and as soon as someone’s watching you, the killing stops.”
“I told you all this last summer,” she says. “Why are you bringing it up again?”
“It was always a little too convenient,” I say. “But it wasn’t putting us in danger once you stopped, so I left it alone and focused on our new life together.”
“I don’t believe that for a minute,” she says, crossing her arms. “You’d never have just taken my word for it. You know it’s not me.”
Her face is still splotchy, and angry red handprints ring her neck, already starting to turn purple. Still, she manages to look fierce, regal somehow, like the queen she is.
“Fine,” I say. “I knew you weren’t with the men when they died. At least some of them.”
“How?”
“I know where your phone is,” I say. “I have a trace in it.”
Her brow arches. “Just my phone?”
“I don’t have one in your body, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“And that’s supposed to make me trust you?”
“I respected your autonomy,” I point out.
“Maybe I left my phone at home.”
“I had cameras in your apartment too.”
She nods, no trace of surprise discernible in her features. At least not to me. Duke is expert on reading people.
“I didn’t kill them,” she says again. “And, if I believe you didn’t, then neither of us are the killer. I guess we can move on and focus on our new life together after all.”
I narrow my eyes at her, trying to puzzle what she’s not telling me. “You’re just going to ignore the fact that someone has been following you around, killing every man you fuck?”
“Why would that bother me?” she asks, cocking her head. “They deserved to die.”
“Uh, maybe becausewe’refucking you?” Duke asks.
“And you’re still alive,” Mabel points out. “Which would lead anyone to believe one of you is the killer.”
“But we’re not,” he says, then looks up at me. “Right?”
