Page 27 of Dangerous Silence
“Not a priority,” he said.
The money, or the suits? I lifted a brow, but then shrugged. I should have stopped trying to understand him after I saw him murder the first victim, but I couldn’t help it. I was curious.
We walked to the work van, and I caught a glimpse of his gun, tucked away in the holster. That morning, when he brought me inside the house, putting a full plate of food in front of me, he had held his gun, to threaten me into eating. But he didn’t need to do that at all. This time, I couldn’t stop myself. I needed the calories. He had already won with the soup. What was the point in giving up food now?
In the car, I turned toward him. “You said this is a wedding?” He nodded once, keeping focused on the road. I thought about the funeral, how I hated being in a group of people I didn’t know, especially when they all seemed to know me. Now it would be the opposite; I would be the only one who was an outsider. “I don’t know anyone,” I said.
“You know me.”
“Do I, though?”
A few minutes passed. We merged onto the freeway, and I glanced at the ocean passing to the side. We had gone to the beach as a family a few times, but never again after Mom died.
“My old therapist will be there,” Axe said. “You can ask her about my behavior and the law. All of the trauma that made me so screwed in the head.”
My gut sank at those words. It hadn’t hit me at the time, but I knew now that it was presumptuous of me to assume that I knew his life better than he did. I grit my teeth, the annoyance aimed at myself rather than him, then settled back into the chair. His therapist would be there. Someone he knew from before. A person who had tried to help Axe, to make him a better person. Who had done more for him than I had.
A woman.
Did I feel threatened by his therapist?
“Old?” I asked. “You said,oldtherapist?”
“I don’t see her anymore.”
I leaned on the door, sighing to myself. Either way, it shouldn’t have bothered me.
Axe parked, then got out of the car, opening the door for me. He offered me his arm, but I stormed ahead. Maddie was waiting by the path ahead of us.
“Hey! You survived,” she said, then she laughed. “Kidding, of course. How’ve you been?”
“You know he’s a psycho killer, right?” I said. She turned over her shoulder to look at Axe. “Don’t look! He’ll know I’m talking about him.”
She smirked. “I think he knows.”
My stomach dropped. I don’t know why that shocked me.
“You knew,” I said. “You knew this whole time.”
“Oh, come on,” she said, pushing my shoulder playfully. “If you clean someone’s house for a year, you can kind of figure out if they’re a psycho killer.”
“But Axe doesn’t have anything in his apartment.”
“Exactly! What’s he hiding?”
“I’m not joking,” I said.
“And I’m not either. But let’s check the facts.” She leaned into my ear, taking my arm and leading me down the dirt road. “Axe has been keeping you locked up in his workroom.” My eyes widened; so she did know! “And when it comes to the family, you knowwaytoo many secrets for them to let you go now. So if I were you,” she poked me in the arm, “I’d shut up, smile, and enjoy the wedding.” My jaw dropped, and she saw another woman with light brown hair waiting in the trees. Maddie squealed. “You look gorgeous!” she shouted, running over to her. The two of them disappeared into the brush.
I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to take that. He came from anentire familyfull of secrets? If they were anything like Axe, his family had dangerous secrets. And I was supposed to be okay with that like Maddie was?
How much did Dad know?
“All right, she’s ready!”
We all sat at a picnic table, big enough to fit the six of us. Maddie joined Axe and me in the back. On the front side, with their backs to the table, sat two men and a woman.
Axe leaned down, whispering in my ear, “Brother, father, mother.”
