Cataclysm (Four Horsemen #4)(34)

West clenched his fist on the table. Francis nudged him. I needed West to keep his fucking temper in check. We couldn’t have Garrett suspecting a damn thing. Nor would violence solve this problem. If he remained calm, we could get through this unscathed.

“If you tell us why you’re here, perhaps we can help you.”

I knew my nonplussed attitude was pissing him right the fuck off. If we riled the man up, that was fine with me. We had the upper hand.

“I know it was you who sent Stuart my… my… my son.”

“Your son?”

“Don’t play dumb. This is not a game. You sent his decapitated head to Mr Carver along with pictures of his wife’s affair.”

I raised my eyebrows.

“Did we?”

He threw his hands up.

“Look, you can sit here and deny your involvement all you want. We know what you’ve done whether or not there is proof.”

I sat back and tapped my fingers on the table.

“Is that why you came alone? You don’t have evidence we were involved in any of the things you and Stuart have accused us of. We’re innocent until proven guilty, Commissioner. You, of all people, should know that. So tell me, are you here to arrest us for a crime you have evidence for or did you just want a little chinwag?”

He slammed his hand down on the table, making Prescott jump.

“You killed my son. I can’t prove it, but I know you did.”

There we had it. The real reason he’d come in person. He wanted to look us in the eye and see if we’d admit or deny it. The thing was, we didn’t kill Mason, we’d just covered it up for our girl. Just like we’d made sure Penn covered up the man we’d made her kill. There was no fucking way we would ever allow our girl to be arrested for any of this shit. We’d always been thorough when it came to killing and knew exactly how to get away with it.

“I’d bet you’d love to pin it on us,” Francis said, giving Garrett a cold, hard stare. “Just like you tried to pin Stuart’s kids disappearing on four sixteen-year-olds who witnessed their best friend almost die.”

Garrett didn’t look cowed at all by Francis’ statement, but his expression turned grim.

“What happened to that girl was a tragedy. It doesn’t change the fact you had it out for the twins and are the only ones with motive.”

“That girl, huh?” Prescott interjected. “She has a name. I’m pretty sure you’re fully aware of it.”

I gave him a look, but Prescott ignored me, continuing to stare at Garrett with disgust written all over his features

“Scarlett.”

Prescott gave him a sweet smile and his gaze fell on Francis, who picked up a photo from the pile of documents in front of him and slid it across the table towards Garrett. It took a minute for him to pull it closer and stare down at it. His eyes narrowed. It was the photo of him standing over her bedside with Stuart.

“You remember when that was taken, don’t you?” Francis asked with a hint of reproach in his voice.

Garrett said nothing.

“Well, let me enlighten you.” Francis slid another photo across the table, showing Garrett and Stuart in low conversation near Scarlett’s bed. “You being there shouldn’t raise any eyebrows, but him? Well, he should never have been anywhere near her.”

Garrett looked up at us then, after eyeing the second photograph.

“This proves nothing.”

“Are you going to deny you knew he took her?”

We’d always planned to turn this around on him, but they were meant to let me lead the conversation. Clearly, Francis and Prescott weren’t in the mood for placating the Police Commissioner. No, they wanted to go on the offensive.

“Because if you are, we have plenty more proving you not only knew he took Scarlett, but you also aided him in stealing her from the hospital and made sure no one ever found out where she went.”

Francis slid more of the pages he held across the table. Garrett made no move to take them. Mason had quite the damning evidence against Stuart and his father. We weren’t going to show our full hand, but we had enough here to get him to back off. At least, that was the aim, anyway.

“What do you want?”

I smiled and leant forward.

“We all know Stuart will never stop coming after us. He wants us dead and no doubt if he does succeed, you’ll make sure he’s never prosecuted for it.”

Garrett didn’t acknowledge my statement, but it was the truth. He wouldn’t allow his best friend to go to prison after all the shit he’d done. He was just as embroiled in the sordid affair as Stuart. They were as bad as each other. Too many fucking skeletons in their cupboards.

“You have as much to lose as he does if any of this becomes public knowledge.” I waved at the pages in front of us. “We’ll keep this from coming out provided you turn a blind eye to what happens next.”

He looked down at the pages. Then he pulled out a chair and took a seat, steepling his fingers together.

“This is blackmail.”

I shrugged.

“You didn’t come here today as the Commissioner. If you had, it would have raised a lot of eyebrows. This is personal for you, just as it is for us.”

He pulled the rest of the documents towards him and rifled through them. The more he read, the more incensed he looked. We had pages upon pages proving he’d helped Stuart kidnap Scarlett. How he’d covered up everything Stuart had done. How he’d made sure the site where Scarlett’s accident happened was kept cordoned off until the developers went bankrupt. We knew who owned the land and the surrounding buildings now, after doing a little research. No doubt that was a deal Garrett made in exchange for turning a blind eye to money laundering.