Page 67 of No Small Sin

I sat in wonder at myself, at my own abilities.

The sudden overpressure of the air inside the home caused a window to shatter. The blaze flared out the fresh opening and licked up the side of the outer structure.

The unsteady flames made me feel in control again, just as they always had growing up.

The heat was familiar. Comforting.

Before long, sirens blared in the distance. That was my cue to move on.

I had only one thing left to do before my soul could finally be at peace — finally lead me back to her.

Lead mehome.

CHAPTERTWENTY-NINE

Beck

My car shuddered across the parking lot, gravel crunching beneath my tires as I rolled to a gradual stop in front of the old abandoned warehouse. I stepped out into the silence of the night.

Stepping onto the curb, I trudged over the weeds that pushed up through the cracks in the pavement of the sidewalk.

A gift awaited me inside — one that Law and Alec had so graciously delivered while I attended to more delicate matters.

There was nothing delicate about what I would do to Detective Carson once inside.

His naked, abused body hung from the rafters, his shoulders dislocated from the way I knew Alec preferred to tie a victim’s hands behind their back before suspending them by a rope attached to their wrists.

He was unconscious from the hours of torment I knew he’d endured, but I would wake him.

I flipped on my electric kettle, the water simmering to life as it heated.

I rounded the raised surface that held my tools, admiring the knives my friends had laid out for me. I ran my hand along the line of them, allowing my fingers to linger on each of the smooth handles. I picked one up, feeling a thrill at the gleam of the blade under the dull fluorescent lighting. The weight of it in my hand gave me a rush of satisfaction.

I would start at his ankles and work my way up to his neck, blistering every square inch of his ruddy flesh so that it peeled easily away from the connective tissue surrounding his weak muscles and flimsy bones.

I shifted my eyes in his direction, curious as to how long I could draw this out being that he was already in rough shape. His thick body swayed from the sheer weight of it tugging at the ropes. The beams creaked, the lights flickering and buzzing in time with the motion.

I reached for the smelling salts, cracking the capsule between my thumb and forefinger while sauntering toward him.

The noxious scent stung my eyes, causing them to water slightly.

I delighted in the way I knew it must feel burning along his nasal passages when I shoved the capsule directly into his left nostril, leaving it there as he sputtered and gagged.

Once he managed to dislodge it, I grabbed my favorite pair of extraction forceps. He held his mouth open as he wailed, likely due to the pain in his arms. This granted me easy access to clamp down on the first available tooth I could reach.

Holding his face still with one hand, I pried the molar free of its home near the back of his mouth, then tucked it into my pocket with the mouthful I already held there. His screams echoed off the walls of the empty room.

“You thought you could get my girl,Detective?Put her away for something she was merely present for?” I questioned him.

“Please! God!” He screamed, begging.

“Shutthefuckup.” I slapped him hard across the face. “No one,” I said, jabbing him in the forehead with my index finger for emphasis, “has ever prayed to any god who’s been capable of saving them from me.”

He sobbed at my words.

Good.

“You thought I would allow you to take her freedom?” I stared down at him, unflinching. The devil incarnate. “You may have set the wheels in motion before I could get to you, but there’s one thing you failed to realize.Freedomcomes in many forms. Unfortunately for you, I’m not quite ready to grant you the ultimate form of yours just yet.”

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