Page 18 of Carved in Ice (Made of Steel 3)

“Yes.”

I grabbed the folder and pulled it toward myself. “How is that bad news? He’s alive! Maybe that means Julie is too.” We had thought that it was most likely that my old babysitter was dead. I pointed to the picture. “Is it possible that this is her and her fiancé?” The woman was wearing snow boots. Although I doubted Julie still owned her old converses. And if she did, she wouldn’t wear them in the snow.

“I don’t think that’s Julie.”

“But it could be. They could all be alive.” I breathed a little easier at the thought.

He shook his head. “There’s been buzz on the streets for weeks about a meeting of the Helspet Mafia. Known criminals have been flooding the streets. Mr. Crawford came back just a few days before it’s going to take place.”

“That’s a coincidence. He was definitely trying to help me. He…”

“He’s working for Don,” V said, cutting me off. “I’m sorry, Sadie.”

I looked back down at the picture. I remembered his kind smile. And his eyes. There was no death in his eyes. “You’re wrong. He wanted me to have a fresh start. He kept saying that he hoped it would be the last time he ever spoke to me or saw me…”

“Exactly, Sadie. He expected you to die.”

“That’s not what he meant.” God, what if that’s what he meant?

“Regardless, it’s about time we did that blood sample. We’ll need to know how to engage with him if we come into contact.”

V had been trying to get a blood sample from me for months. But I had no desire to know if I was related to Mr. Crawford. “You want to know if you’re allowed to kill him if you see him?”

V didn’t respond.

“You’re not allowed to kill him. I don’t care if we’re related or not. He’s a good man.”

“He’s working for Don. You remember Don, right? You tried to put a bullet in his skull last night. This is no different.”

“But Mr. Crawford didn’t rape me!” My words bounced off the walls and echoed oddly.

All three of them stared at me. The silence stretched around us, making it hard for me to breathe.

“I do not need a blood test,” I said as calmly as I could. “No matter what, Mr. Crawford isn’t my father.”

“But what if he is, Sadie?”

“Like I said, I wouldn’t want you to kill him either way. You’re wrong about him. He’s not working for Don.”

“Summer’s right,” Liza said. “This is circumstantial evidence at best. He could have come to the city for a variety of reasons.”

Thank you, Liza.

“And why didn’t you talk to me about this on our walk earlier? This was clearly taken last night, V.”

For some reason I wanted to take back my silent thank you. Maybe it was the way she had said V. It made me nauseous.

“He’s recruiting,” V said and tapped on the image. “I’m sure of it.”

I looked back at the two people. V couldn’t possibly know that from a picture. It did appear that they were all walking together, that had been my first thought too. But looking at it again? The other two people were walking much closer together. There was a gap between them and Mr. Crawford. “It looks like those two are together,” I said. “They probably don’t even know Mr. Crawford.”

“They were speaking to him right before I snapped the picture.”

“Oh, okay. In that case you should have just shot them all on sight then.” You maniac.

“I needed to talk to you first…”

“I was joking, V! You’re not allowed to go around killing people you don’t even know. Have you completely lost it?”

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