Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 117510 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 588(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 392(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117510 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 588(@200wpm)___ 470(@250wpm)___ 392(@300wpm)
“I’m looking for clues that might help identify who this person was and just where Alethea was killed,” said Knox.
Harper turned to him. “Any ideas?”
“At this point, I’m quite sure that the Horseman is, in fact, a man. Caucasian. Confident. He knew Alethea well, and she’d trusted him to some extent. You can see the hint of betrayal in her eyes if you look beneath the terror.”
Harper leaned closer to the screen. “You’re right. What’s she trying to say?”
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out.” He rewound the clip slightly. “Here, it seems like she’s saying, ‘Please.’ Then she pauses, licks her lips, and mouths, ‘Don’t do this.’ The Horseman chats about how the US Primes must fall, and then—just before he sets her alight—she tries to say something else, but I can’t quite work out what.”
“Play it for me.” Harper leaned toward the screen again and concentrated on the movement of Alethea’s mouth. “You’re. Dead. She’s saying, ‘You’re dead.’”
Knox nodded, able to see it clearly now. “She says the next part so fast I can’t understand it, but it seems like she’s trying to tell him, ‘He’ll get through.’ Get through what? And who’s ‘he’?”
Harper watched that part of the clip and then shook her head. “No, not ‘get’. She’s not mouthing a ‘g’ sound, she’s mouthing a ‘k’ sound. He’ll … kill … you. She practically spits the words, that’s why it’s hard to make it out, but I’m leaning towards, ‘He’ll kill you.’ By ‘he’ I think she meant you.”
It would make sense, since the Horseman had just been chatting about getting rid of Knox. “I think you may be right.”
“Why couldn’t she have mouthed something helpful like his name or something?”
Knox was thinking the very same thing. “I was hoping she might have tried to communicate something that would give us a clue.”
“Have you tried calling Jonas yet?”
“Yes. He’s not answering, which doesn’t surprise me. If he’s grieving, it’s unlikely that he’ll be interested in speaking with anyone.”
Harper narrowed her eyes. “You said ‘if’ he’s grieving. Why wouldn’t he be? You think he could be the one who killed her?”
“You don’t?”
She thought on it for a moment. “He seemed pretty close to Alethea, so it’s hard to imagine him ever hurting her. I was actually thinking that the Horseman could have killed Alethea because he knew that Jonas would never stop looking for her. That made her a problem, didn’t it? Because if Jonas had found Alethea, he’d have also found the Horseman.”
Inclining his head, Knox said, “Yes, she was a liability.”
“You know, I didn’t figure Alethea for the kind of person who’d beg anyone for anything—not even for her life. She must have been truly terrified.”
Knox hadn’t thought of that. He nodded. “Alethea would never let anyone see her cry, let alone the entire world via a YouTube video. As you say, she must have been terrified.” But of who?
As Jonas didn’t answer any of his calls, Knox went to the Prime’s home the following day. But when Levi spoke their names into the built-in intercom of the keypad near the front gates, the butler claimed that Jonas wasn’t fit to receive visitors. In other words, he was drowning his sorrows.
“His control over his gifts isn’t at its best,” the butler told Levi. It was no surprise, since grief had a way of shaking a demon’s control. “Perhaps Mr. Thorne could return in a week or so.”
Knox lowered his window and spoke into the intercom. “It’s essential that I speak with your Prime. If I could afford to give him time, I’d do so. But this is much too important.”
There was a short silence, and then the butler sighed. “If you insist, Mr. Thorne.” There was a loud beep, and then the iron gates opened.
As Levi drove toward the large mansion and Knox took in the expansive lawn, statues, fountain, and thick white columns, he recalled how Harper had once branded the place so showy that it was soulless. Knox could agree with her. He’d like to think his own estate possessed some character and personality. Jonas seemed too intent on being flashy to give this place a homey feel.
Levi accompanied Knox up the slate steps to the front door, where the butler waited, looking anxious. Their shoes clicked on the stone flooring as the butler led them through the open entryway, down a long hall, and into a large parlor that smelled of polish, wood smoke, and brandy.
The thick velvet drapes were closed, and the lights were off, but Knox spotted Jonas in the plush armchair near the fireplace. The flicker of the flames illuminated his vacant expression and red-rimmed eyes. He looked both dazed and devastated.
“I was clear that I wanted to be left alone, Rodger,” Jonas slurred. He looked to the doorway and froze at the sight of Knox and Levi, who slowly crossed to him. The door closed quietly behind them as Rodger quickly scampered away.