Chapter 294
Finn instinctively shielded his face. Hey, ever heard of ‘don’t hit a man in the face?”
“Listen, Finn, you’re the lead on this case, man. You’ve got the authority to get the order to see Caleb. Right now, the mental hospital’s giving us the cold shoulder, but you? You’ve got a way in. I grabbed Robin’s wrist, my eyes pleading with Finn.
You want me to go begging to him? Finn seemed irked.
No begging needed, I said, slipping off my wedding band and pressing it into Finn’s palm. The ring Colin had sneakily put on my finger while I was asleep, declaring me his wife. “Once he sees this ring, hell know it’s me asking. He’ll answer your questions.”
Colin’s proposal had come as an afterthought, like popping popcom long after the rice had boiled over, not caring a whit about consent. Finn fell silent for a moment.
“Still hesitating? If you can’t find the answers, the victims could end up dead,” Robin said, his irritation palpable.
Finn nodded. “I get it. I’ll go now”
Finn. My voice trembled with nervousness. “Just… check on him for me, will ya? If those hospital goons are roughing him up…”
My palms were sweaty with worry.
Finn seemed to relish needling me. “A mental institution, where do you think you are? No sane person walks out of there the same. And the crazies? Well…”
“Finn!” I shouted his name, a wave of panic rushing over me.
I know, I know. It’s his own fault for throwing punches. I warned him to keep his cool, but he went and hit someone anyway. For such a smart guy, it’s almost like he did it on purpose like he wanted to get locked up…” Finn muttered under his breath as he turned to leave.
I exchanged a glance with Robin.
Yeah, Caleb was too smart not to see Henry baiting him, too smart not to know about Henry’s and Damian’s plan to get him in the mental hospital. He must have known everything. Yet he still chose to lash out, as if he deliberately jumped into a trap he knew was
there.
What was he really up to?
The higher–ups want to downplay the serial killings, close the case with Dorian’s death… But there are too many pieces of the puzzle still missing.” Robin whispered, leaning against a lamppost with a cigarette dangling from his lips. “Take the first victim, Fanny… She was adopted by a wealthy pharmaceutical magnate. After the orphanage fire, she left Sea City for Harbor City. Now she’s dead back in Sea City, supposedly here on family business. I found out she had ties to the black market.”
Every victim had a shady past. The police just hadn’t made their findings public.
“As of now, none of the victims were innocent, except for Phoebe… Phoebe was an enigma. What she went through, what happened to her, I can’t find a single trace. Her life after she turned eighteen was a blank as if someone intentionally erased it.” Robin’s voice was tense, he needed the cigarette, even if he didn’t smoke it.
I stared at Robin, lost in thought
Even my own memories of Phoebe before she was eighteen were a blank.
Robin was right, it was as though someone had deliberately tampered with them. But could someone really alter my own memories?
A buzz cut through my thoughts. On our way back to the villa, Finn called Robin.
“Meet me at the gates of the old abandoned mental hospital.”
Robin glanced at me and swung the car around, heading for the long–closed mental institution.
“Did you see Caleb? I jumped out of the car as soon as we pulled up, scanning Finn’s face for answers.
#
Finn leaned against the car door, looking like he was piecing together a puzzle.
“Saw him. His shrink was there the whole time, wouldn’t leave his side. He only gave me this.” Finn’s annoyance was clear as he scratched his head. “Always with the cryptic games.”
What Colin had given Finn was a math problem.
“This equation has no solution. Caleb’s saying that someone’s mixing lies with the truth. The Tangle Lane murder is unrelated to the serial killings. Someone’s using the serial case to throw us off the scent.”
Finn’s words were like a knot tightening.
