Page 146 of Reinventing Cato
“So what else happened?”
“You didn’t miss much.”
“You recall how good I am at knowing when people are lying? And you’ve clearly done something to your wrist. Why is it bandaged?”
“Fine. Pedro pushed me off the roof of the car park. Obviously, I didn’t die. The cavalry arrived in time to haul me up again, but I’d wrapped the rope around my wrist and…” He rubbed it. “The good news is I still have a hand attached. Just. So I can still wank with either hand!”
“Jesus, Cato!”
“Hey, all’s well… But I might have a bit of a phobia about multi-storey car parks now.”
“How did he manage to push you off?”
Cato squeezed Vigge’s fingers. “Well… he’d stabbed you.”
Vigge gaped at him. “Where?”
“Your back. It partially collapsed your lung but they drained the fluid and they said you’d be okay.”
Now Cato had told him, Vigge could feel an ache just below his shoulder blade, discomfort when he breathed. “Fill in the bits you’ve not told me.”
“You were on the ground, unconscious. He had my letter opener in his hand. He said he was going to stab the rest of the Lepus constellation into your back if I didn’t kill myself. Jump before he’d counted to ten.”
Vigge swallowed hard.
“He said he wouldn’t kill you if I jumped. I’m not stupid. I didn’t believe him. I had a plan of my own. I was standing on the ledge and edging closer to him. I intended to run and throw myself at him.”
“Cato!”
“But Max called for help and then followed me. He’d been listening. He heard Pedro counting down and worried he was going to hurt me so he came across the car park pretending not to know what was going on. Pedro took advantage of my distraction and pushed me off the roof.”
Vigge let out a shaky breath. “Christ.”
“Anyway. Everything’s fine or soon will be. Pedro was arrested and apparently everyone reckoned it was the most exciting party they’d ever been to. Success!”
Vigge gave a choked laugh and winced.
“You were right about Marcie being the key. The police don’t know whether she was ever really his girlfriend, but he used to hang around Devolution when he went to visit his mother. He says they became friends, then lovers. Pedro clearly thought she was his. He was obsessed with her; he’d installed a tracking app on her phone?that’s how he knew she’d been with me that weekend. He was incensed I’d had sex with her. He said I’d killed her. I don’t know whether he was thinking what I’d done had ended up with him having to kill her, or whether he’d twisted it in his mind and convinced himself I’d actually done it.
“I’d been trying to talk him down before he pushed me, but he was becoming more and more unhinged. He was the image of calm when the police had him in handcuffs on the roof, but they said he was raving at the station when they questioned him about killing Marcie and the others. I mean, I hardly ever saw him lose his temper. I can’t believe I lived with the guy and never saw that side of him.”
“You were distracted by the housemate you didn’t like.”
“Maybe.” Cato kissed Vigge’s fingers. “Once Pedro started screaming, he didn’t stop. The police had to get a doctor to sedate him. Turns out his game plan started with small stuff, but escalated when he got no reaction from me. He admitted keying my car and that he was behind the anonymous tip that said I’d plagiarised.”
Cato gritted his teeth. “So fucking annoying, but it was easy to disprove. I think the NASA job was a gift to him. A way to really get at me. It’s hard to take in how much he hated me and how I could be so oblivious. If I’d realised sooner…”
“He’s obviously sick. He probably has something like antisocial personality disorder. He could manipulate and charm without having any empathy for the damage he was doing.”
“Everything’s my fault. Her, then the two guys. Pedro killed them out of pure bloody spite. When I didn’t get arrested over the death of one, he just moved to another. I feel…” Cato chewed his lip. “I feel terrible. The guilt…” He sighed. “I know I keep making jokes, but that’s just to keep myself sane.”
“You’re not to blame yourself. He’s the one who did this. If anyone’s to blame, it’s the police for not recognising sooner what he was.”
“I lived with him for over four months and didn’t see anything. He probably charmed the police too. When I gave my statement, I tried not to say much about you.”
“Right.”
“I didn’t think they needed to know about your enormous dick. I wasn’t sure it was relevant.”
