The Becoming of Noah Shaw (The Shaw Confessions #1)(46)

He straightens. “What do you have to hide?” He glances at Mara. “Something to do with her?”

I do laugh then. “I don’t have to hide Mara. She’s quite comfortable with her homicidal tendencies.”

She nods slowly. “Quite.”

Daniel rouses at the mere suggestion of Mara’s involvement. “Stella was in the archives with us, yeah. But you didn’t find out about David Shaw until she must’ve heard that rattling around one of our minds. So riddle me this: How have you guys been working to find your missing friends since the first one of them disappeared?”

Well done, mate.

“You must have done some kind of research,” he goes on. “You wouldn’t just wait for someone else to appear and rescue you or them?”

He’s hit on something; Leo visibly shifts his approach to all this. To me.

“No, we didn’t just wait for our friends to die. We actually tried to do something about it.”

“What did you try?” Daniel asks, proving to be exactly the sort of chap I need right now. Daniel’s the one who could change the world. If anyone were ever destined for greatness, it’s him.

“I’ll show you ours if you show me yours,” Leo says to me.

“Let me think about that for a moment,” I say. “No.”

Daniel shoots me an unsubtle look this time.

“Look, we’re here,” I say. “Presumably, so is the shit you’ve collected. The archives—I don’t even have the paperwork from the solicitors yet—”

“That didn’t stop Stella,” Leo says to me. “Or you,” to Daniel.

“What they found there was meant to be found,” I say. “They were left virtual instructions as to how to find it.”

“That’s not what Stella—”

“As was pointed out,” I say, trying ever so hard not to kick anyone’s teeth in, “my father orchestrated what happened to us.” I gather up my ammunition, however bullshit it might be. “He was many things, including evil, but he wasn’t stupid or careless. Codes would’ve been changed—the building might even be empty now, for all I know. I haven’t been there myself.” As I say it, I realise it might even be true. Surely I could find whatever I might want to, if I want to, but who knows what hoops I might have to jump through to do it? I try not to let my satisfaction show.

“It kind of feels like you don’t give a shit about finding Stella at all.”

Jamie twists a dreadlock around his finger, pretending to examine it. “Actually, I’m not sure I buy that you care about finding Stella all that much.”

Leo casts a dark look at Jamie. “Fuck you. I love her.”

Jamie’s right, though. There is something between Leo and Stella, I do believe that; but I’m not at all sure it’s love. Not on Leo’s end. The urgency I would feel if something like this were happening to Mara?

“If Mara were missing,” I say, “and someone told me that cutting off my limbs might help me find her? I’d be fucking limbless, mate.”

“I thought you actually wanted to stop this,” Leo says to Daniel, changing strategy. He’s frustrated and annoyed, but not panicked. Not desperate. “I texted you because you seemed like you’d care about people besides yourselves.”

“You know,” Jamie says, “when you’re trying to persuade someone to do something, you usually have a better shot when you don’t repeatedly insult them.”

Leo takes a deep breath. Dramatic. “I’m sorry, I’m just—scared for her.”

“How about this,” I say, an idea forming. “Share what you’ve got, and I’ll make arrangements for you, Daniel, and Mara to go to the archives together.”

Daniel’s mouth falls open a bit. Then he tries to hide it.

“That sounds like it’ll end well for me.” Leo sneers. “Going to an abandoned building with a Non and a murderer.”

Mara throws her head back against the sofa, rolls her eyes. “Why would I be killing random strangers?”

“Eliminating the competition?”

She snorts.

“Mara has no competition.” Jamie pats her head, and she closes her eyes and smiles, cat-like.

“Why would you even think that?” Daniel asks.

“The fewer of us there are, the less you have to worry about anyone getting in your way.”

“Getting in her way of what?” Daniel asks.

“She’s your sister,” Leo says. “I don’t expect you to understand.”

It doesn’t escape my notice that Leo hasn’t answered the question.

Daniel shakes his head. “If you don’t trust me, why text me? Why waste our time?”

Leo hesitates. “Because your friends trust you, and if you told them to come, I knew they would.”

He was right about that. But, confession: I’m not here for information about Stella. Leo’s basically admitted he doesn’t have any, and I’m not entirely convinced she’s even truly missing. I realise that I’d have likely left already if it weren’t for Sam and Beth.

This—whatever this is—started with them. Hearing their thoughts, which, in hindsight, I’ve got Goose to blame for, but they gave me an insight I’d never have had, otherwise.