Judge Stone fell in step with Dean Banks, saying nothing of the blatant crime before her. Nearest Jonah’s post, Mayor Creed blankly watched the spectacle. And across the flames, Arsenio, Legend, Jacques, and Cairo pushed through the crowd—lining up as a silent, dark force.
Bedlam’s protectors.
“Please, help! Get us down from here.” Jeremy was near tears. “The Bedlam Boys did this t-to us. They’re insane! Monsters!”
His sobs did not move me, nor anyone else.
The video spread through town. Roan’s hold on our bodies, minds, and souls held. Paris’s innocence tugged at our hearts.
No one would help these men. Their pleas fell on uncaring ears.
The Crows chose the wrong town to terrorize. Didn’t they know the blood of revolters ran in our veins?
I gave them my back, facing Paris in time to see Nora look across the flames and meet Cairo’s gaze.
Expression hard, fire danced in her eyes and for a second, I saw the barren, frozen wasteland that defied their brilliant pools of green.
Nora looked at her son, and nodded in approval.
She.
“Come on, sweetie,” Nora said, rubbing Paris’s back. “This is too much. Let’s get those profiteroles and sorbet to go. Rainey, are you coming?”
“Yes,” I said as sirens sounded in the distance. “I’m right behind you.”
I cast one last look at my guys.
“Bedlam now,” they bellowed.
“Bedlam forever!”
“YEAH. YEAH, OKAY,” Cairo said into the phone. “Got it. I understand.”
He hung up and set his phone on the porch steps between us.
The night before, the Crows suffered in a ring of fire. This morning, the sun rose on a cloudless day, a magpie hopped across our lawn, and a stillness settled in my bones as I watched him.
It was just the two of us on the porch.
Legend left for the hospital early. Arsenio and Jacques were out dealing with the aftermath. I was at Paris’s house until an hour before. Cairo brought me home and we made it this far.
“That was my dad,” Cairo said. “The Crows are handcuffed to hospital beds in HC. They’re keeping them in to treat the burns and injuries, but Steven Ellis and the lawyers Jeremy kept boasting about are all over Dad. They’re demanding our arrest though we have a dozen witnesses swearing we were with them when the Crows disappeared, and when they reappeared in the square.”
“Witnesses,” I said, smile tugging at my lips. “I take back what I said. Bedlam is a family. We look out for our own.”
“Ellis should’ve listened to you.” He tsked. “Stupid sap is going to regret that for a long time.”
“How long? Will they see jail time for what they did to Roan?”
Cairo dropped his head back on the post. “Jeremy is saying they have witnesses too. They were at the Roadhouse when Roan was taken. As for Jonah, Dean Banks confirmed he was the one who came to her office that morning, but they didn’t find her phone on him and he’s not saying anything. Hasn’t spoken a damn word since they cut him down.”
“Traumatized?”
“Better be,” Cairo hissed.
“All of this is sounding like they might get away with it.”
He shook his head. “Roan will wake up and identify his attackers. Jonah snatched him when he got out to put in the gate code. The Crows met up with them in Buller’s Den and beat him. What happens after is courtroom drama, but even if there’s someone left with the slightest doubt the Crows got what they deserved last night, they won’t after he speaks up.”
Cairo inclined his head. “Though I won’t lie to you. From what my dad’s saying, they’re setting this up to look like we’re two groups with a long-standing beef, lying to get the other in trouble. Basically, the police can’t believe the accusations we make against each other.”
I scoffed. “As long as his lawyer includes Jeremy and Micah among the liars. I still can’t believe how far these guys are willing to go. They’re already rich.”
“I’ve never met a rich man who had enough.”
I left the beautiful bird to his hunt for breakfast, and gazed at my beautiful wolf. The nod between mother and son played in a loop in my mind. Try as I might, I couldn’t see it as innocent.
“Cairo,” I began.
“Rain.”
I was done asking to ask. The question came easily.
“Is your mother the one who gave you this job?”
He stilled.
“Did she tell the Bedlam Boys to kill Axel Verlice?”
Cairo slowly dropped his head and peered into my eyes. As the silence stretched, I accepted he wouldn’t answer.
“The job wasn’t mine,” Cairo said. “It was my father’s.”
I frowned, but otherwise did not say a thing or make a move.
“Jack Sharpe was elected sheriff for a reason. She needed someone in law enforcement that could make certain cases... go away. But my father, deep down, is a good man. A moral one. He couldn’t bring himself to play judge, jury, and executioner on the streets. So for a long time, he found other ways to handle the problem without pulling the trigger.