Page 63 of Explode
I met her eye once more. I didn’t know what it was about her, butthere was something that said I could trust this woman. My instinct hadn’t done me wrong so far, so once again, I put my trust in my gut.
“No, I’m not. My name is Riley, and I’m trying to find out someinformation about the man who was involved in the plot to murder my husband.”
She flinched momentarily but composed herself. “I see. Well, thankyou for your candor. Who do you believe is responsible, and what do they have to do with Michael?”
“I’m hoping you might be able to answer that. Does the name MaxThorne mean anything to you?” I asked, waiting for any sign of recognition.
“No, I can’t say I’ve heard the name before. Is he the man youbelieve was responsible for murdering your husband?”
I didn’t correct her by telling her Kai was very much alive and still thepain in my ass he’d been since the day I met him, quite literally in this case thanks to how hard he fucked my ass last night. “Yes. But we believe he used to be called Simon Evans.”
At the mention of her foster brother’s name, her face darkened, andher entire body tensed. She pulled her glasses off her nose, squeezing her eyes closed as she took a breath.
“I always knew he’d kill again,” she muttered quietly, more to herself.
I looked at Ash to make sure I heard right, his brows too were raisedin surprise.
“Again?” he asked.
“Yes, again. There was never any evidence, but I always suspectedSimon was responsible for the fire that killed our family.”
Oh, holy shit.
“What makes you think that?” Ash asked when I sat there with mymouth open, unable to form any kind of comprehensible response.
“Because that man is a psychopath,” she said, hatred evident in hertone. “From the minute Simon came to live with us, I always knew there was something off with him. He was manipulative, always lying but charming his way out if he got caught. He was impulsive and lacked empathy. I’d become interested in the world of psychology by the time he arrived, and I’d already done some studies on psychopaths, and Simon, well, he hit all the traits.”
I couldn’t get my mouth to shut. The more she spoke, the more myjaw dropped. She stood from her chair and took several steps over to look out the window. “Within days of coming to live with us, Simon had Michael and John,the other foster boy living with us, eating out of the palm of his hands. They lapped up everything he had to say, convinced them he was going to be something spectacular one day, and it would be in their best interest to stick by his side, and they did,” Stephanie said, her gaze fixed outside the window as she disappeared into her childhood memories.
“He tried to charm me, but I kept my distance. He didn’t like that, sohe tried to bully me. It started off with him doing things like destroying my books or burning my homework. When I didn’t retaliate, he resorted to hurting me physically, be that pinching me under the table at dinner, or pulling my hair when no one was looking. It put a strain on the family, they thought I was being difficult, but the truth was, I saw Simon for what he was, and I feared he’d hurt me. That’s why I moved to Europe to study. I changed my last name as soon as I graduated and settled in England.”
Ash cursed under his breath and I turned to look at him to find he wasfixated on Stephanie.
“I caught him once, he killed a cat. I told Carol and Anthony butSimon convinced them the cat was already dead when he found it. I knew then he would kill again. To their faces, Simon pretended he loved Carol and Anthony, but I often caught him looking at them like he wanted to hurt them, and that’s why I believe he killed my foster parents.”
She turned to look at us then, a deep scowl set on her flushed face,and her eyes filled with hatred. If I had any worry that she would squeal to Max, or Simon, or whatever fucking name he wanted to go by, the look in her eyes said it all.
She’d rather slit her own wrists than spend a second talking to thatman.
Silence descended as my brain went into overdrive trying to makesense of what she had told us. I knew a little about psychopaths, I’d seen the odd documentary about notorious ones,Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer.But I didn’t know enough about the traits of someone to know what made them a psychopath. But given Stephanie was a professor in psychology, if she believed Simon was a psychopath, then I’d take her word for it.
“Do you know anything about Michael’s biological parents by anychance?” Ash asked, breaking the silence.
“A little,” Stephanie said, her face softening. “Out of all three of theboys, Michael was my favorite. On the rare occasion when he wasn’t following Simon around like a lost little puppy, he would come and talk to me. I often wondered if Michael was scared of Simon, but if he was, he never said. Anyway, he came to me one day to tell me he had found his father. I don’t know how he had tracked him down, but Michael was devastated because he’d reached out to tell his father of his existence, but his father didn’t want anything to do with him. Told him to never contact him again or he wouldn’t live to see another day.”
Yep, that sounded like Christopher Wolfe alright, he was acold-hearted bastard.
“I remember that clearly,” Stephanie continued. “After the dayMichael confided in me about his father, Simon changed. He became obsessed with finding out as much as he could about Michael’s family. Michael wasn’t interested after a while, he’d made peace with the fact his biological father didn’t want anything to do with him, and he just wanted to get on with his own life.
“But Simon was like a dog with a bone, he wouldn’t let the subjectdrop. I remember he’d spendhourson the internet with Michael, trying to find out whatever he could about Michael’s family, even though Michael told him time and time again he didn’t care. By the time I moved out, Simon’s behavior had become extreme, to the point where it seemed like Simon wanted tobecomeMichael and take over his life.”
Yet again, my jaw dropped open as the pieces slotted together. HadSimon killed Michael and the Browns so that he could take Michael’s identity? He wanted what Michael could have had if Christopher hadn’t rejected him. It was Simon’s fault Michael had died, never getting the chance to meet his brothers.
“Do you know anything about Simon’s childhood?” Ash asked.
“Simon told us his parents had been killed in a car crash,” Stephaniesaid, returning to her seat. “But I overheard Carol and Anthony talking one evening a few weeks after Simon arrived. Apparently, his mother was a prostitute, and no one knew who his father was. I don’t know the full details, but the reports Carol and Anthony received before Simon came to us was that he was abused as a child by one of his mother’s boyfriends.”
Silence once again descended, and everything Stephanie had told uschurned in my head. The one and only time I’d met Max was at the warehouse on the night Kai was shot, and memories popped into my head. The way he bragged about everything he had accomplished. How he wanted Kai to be present before he revealed everything. How he shot John without any hesitation, a man who had been by his side since they were kids. How he started losing the plot when his big reveal was spoiled by gunfire.
