Into the Night(61)

But he didn’t. The weapon kept shaking in his hand as it swung between Macey and Jonah.

“I l-loved her.” Peter took a stumbling step back. “That’s why I couldn’t let her go!” His words tumbled out too fast. He took another step back. The strobe kept flashing. “I wanted to keep her close, that’s all. But when you took her...I knew I had to leave.”

“You aren’t leaving,” Jonah snarled. “You aren’t getting away. You killed too many people. You hurt too many—”

“No, no!” Peter yelled. The gun in his hand locked on Jonah. “I didn’t! Trying to frame me! That’s what’s happening! I checked the computer—I saw! I saw what happened!”

“Did you destroy those computers?” Macey asked quietly. She edged closer to the museum manager. “Are you the reason they’re smashed into bits?”

Peter nodded.

Bowen stalked up behind Macey.

Peter’s frantic gaze immediately jerked to him—and so did his gun. Peter stared straight at Bowen. “I didn’t do it... Just her. Just her... An accident.”

The guy was making zero fucking sense. “Put down the gun,” Bowen ordered him. “And you can tell us your story.”

But Peter didn’t. He shook his head. The gun kept trembling. “You’ll lock me up. I’ll never get out. I can’t...I can’t live that way.”

“Then maybe,” Jonah growled at him, his voice hard and cold, “you should have thought about that shit before you killed the police captain. Before you went after Daniel Haddox and Patrick Remus and—”

“I didn’t! I never did that!” Peter’s voice was a screech.

A scared screech.

Peter’s hand jerked. “Who else is here?” he called out. “Who is here?” Now he was almost yelling.

“Calm down, Peter.” Macey’s voice was calm. Soothing. She took another step toward him. “We all need to be calm. I want you to lower your weapon, and when you do, we’ll lower ours, too. No one has to get hurt today.”

But Peter looked down at his shoulder. “I’m already hurt.” The gun flew toward Jonah. “He shot me.”

“Because you ran out at me in the freaking dark,” Jonah snapped back. His grip on his weapon had never wavered.

Peter’s body sagged. “I loved her,” he said again. “That’s why... I was just... I was so mad at first. She said she loved me, too, you know? But she was cheating on me. Screwing around with him. I couldn’t stand it. I couldn’t let her go, not to him.”

“Who?” Macey blasted.

“The cop,” Peter said. “She was screwing around with him.”

“With Henry Harwell?” Bowen pushed as a puzzle piece slid into place.

Peter’s gun rose. “Couldn’t let her leave... It was an accident but... So mad...” His eyes squeezed shut.

The strobe light flashed.

“Sorry...so fucking s-sorry.”

And he whipped up the gun. Bowen knew what the guy was going to do. Peter had already told them he wouldn’t go to jail.

So he’ll go to the grave.

“No!” Jonah yelled.

A gun blasted.

Peter’s body jerked, like a marionette who’d just had his string yanked hard, and he stumbled back. The gun was still in his hand.

But only for a moment...

The gun fell to the floor. Then Peter fell.

Bowen ran toward him. Jonah rushed to the left. Jonah kicked the gun away, and Bowen tried to find the wound as the strobe light flashed.

“Left side,” Macey said quietly. “That’s where I aimed because I didn’t want to kill him.”

And Bowen found the wound. He put pressure on it, and Peter screamed, “No! No! I won’t go to jail!”

“Yes,” Bowen told him grimly. “You fucking will.”

*

THE POWER WAS back on at the museum—back on everywhere. Apparently, the power had been shut down to all the rooms, every room except the one that had been home to the skull and its hate nails.

Peter Carter had been taken away in an ambulance—one complete with an armed police guard. Macey and Jonah had been grilled about the shooting—and she knew the FBI brass would want official statements from her soon. Another officer-involved shooting. Only this time, the perp wasn’t dead.

Because she’d made sure of it.

Lights flooded the area, and Macey stared at the destruction that had been left in the business office on the second floor. “Think you can save anything from those computers?” she asked as she motioned toward the wreckage.

“You’d be surprised by just how much damage one of the machines can take,” Jonah muttered back. “But I can’t make any promises, not yet.”

“Do your best.” She turned away and headed for the door. But Jonah placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

“Who was he talking about?” Jonah asked her. “Who is the mystery woman?”

Macey glanced back at him. “I don’t know yet, but I do know how to find out.”

Jonah’s brows furrowed.

“I’m pretty sure we have her skull,” Macey said softly.

His eyes widened.

“That’s why he panicked. That’s why Peter was trying to get away. We have him dead to rights, and he knew it.” She gave a bitter laugh. “That’s why he wanted death. Because we’re going to have enough proof to lock the guy away for a very long time.”