Page 25 of The Raven
“Bullshit,Roberts. We know you’ve been at the crime scenes,”Butchhissed, his voice low and menacing.“And we all know howtenaciousyou are atinvestigatingcrimes.”
The three of them smirked as a wave of fear rolled through me, but Ipushed it away,refusingto let them intimidate me.
“I was. But Brenner has taken the case over. You know, high priority and all that. Boogie and Ziggy deserve only the best detective for the job, and that’s not me.”
From behind me, Pyro growled. Grim’s eyes narrowed on me as he took a step forward, still keeping enough distance that I couldn’t strike him with the wheel brace.
“Where’s Raven?”
I raised a brow. “Raven? As intheRaven you raped and murdered last year? I imagine she’s rotting in her coffin.”
Lies.
Grimdidn’t reply for a few seconds, his eyes darting between mine as if hewas trying tofigureout if I wastellingthe truth.“Bucksaid he saw you and her talking, so I’m going to ask you one more time. Where. Is.Raven?”he said,loweringthegunas he took anothersteptoward me.
Trying not to show any hint that he’d just surprised me with the news that Buck had seen Raven, I dropped the wheel brace and took a step forward, meeting Grim toe-to-toe.
If he, or the other two morons, wanted to hurt me, they would have done itby now. Thiswasn’tmy first showdown with theVipers. I knew how they worked. They fed off people’s terror.
“Ravenis dead. You made sure of that. But if by some miracle, she’srisen from the dead, then yououghtto watch your back, because she’s coming for you. For all of you,”I said,refusingto tear my gaze away fromGrim.“And Ihopeshe does. Ihopeshe ends every single one of you in the mostpainfulway imaginable for what you did to her, and Ihopeshe does it with agoddamnsmile on her face.”
Grim’s response was to glower at me, hatred filling his eyes.
From behind, footsteps shuffled before Pyro spoke. “You know what I think, Detective?”
Finally pulling my gaze away fromGrim, I twisted to look atPyro.“Enlighten me.”
His lips pulled into a lopsided smile.“I think your obsession with the deadgirl has sent you loopy. I think you’ve found yourself aRavenlook-alike, and you’ve somehow managed to convince her to do your dirty work.”
I snorted.“Is that so?”
“Yeah,”Butchsaid from the other side of me, closing the gap.“I thinkPyrohashitthe nail on the head. After all, you couldn’t convict us of anything, and you can’t do the dirty work yourself, can you? Not when you’resupposedto be a law-abidingcop.”
A humorless chuckle left my lips.“It’s a goodtheory, but that’s all it is.Atheory.”
“I guess we could put ourtheoryto the test,”Grimsaid, cocking mygunthathe’d been holding down by his side.“Wekillyou now, and when the three of us go on to live happy and prosperous lives, we’ll know youwereinvolved.” Heraisedthegun, pressing the nozzle against my forehead.“And as for theRaven-wannabe-bitch, she’ll get the same treatment as her doppelganger. It’s been a while since we had that kinda fun.”
Grimstaredat me for what seemed like an eternity, his fingerhovering over the trigger. My knees threatened to buckle as fear gripped me hard, and I was certainmy heart was going to beat straight out of mychest from where it was pounding so hard.
Time slowed as I watched in horror asGrimsqueezed the trigger.
Click.
“Fuck.” My body sagged when Grim pulled the gun away, the three of them laughing.
They must have taken the bullets out while I was locked in thetrunk.
Fuck my life.
“Consider this a warning, Detective,” Grim said, throwing my gun onto the muddy ground. “If anything happens to the rest of us, we’re coming for you, and the chamber won’t be empty next time.”
Grim’sparting gift was a solid blow to my stomach, knocking the windright out of my lungs and leaving me gasping for air as the three of them disappeared into the night.
It took several minutes to regain my breath and get to my feet,my body shaking from the encounter. I’d had run-ins with theVipersbefore, but I’d never thought my life was about to end.
Grabbing mygunand my carkeysfrom whereButchhad thrown them, Isearched thedesertedpark looking for my phone before reluctantly acceptingthat they’d probably kept it so they could interrogate it for clues as to the identity of the mystery woman I was allegedly working with.
For the drive home, my mind replayed the meeting, hoping Raven was back at my apartment so I could talk to her abouteverythingthat was going on.
