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‘They’re so young,’ Cora said next to me, her voice sounding far off. ‘Who are they?’
‘Recruits. Newer members of the organisation.’
‘Barely even adults.’ Her voice broke, and I wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her in tight against me.
A lump formed in my throat as I saw the scene through her eyes, instead of with the years’ worth of hardening the job had caused inside me.
She was right. They were likely no more than twenty years old. Probably kids who’d come from bad upbringings and turned to crime to make ends meet. Fuck.
‘Edwards?’ I said to Mac.
‘Yeah.’
‘We need to find him.’
‘He was here. He didn’t swing the cleaver, but he watched every second. Listened to the boys scream and beg. Shut them in to bleed out or freeze, whatever came first. I’ve got him on the CCTV.’
Cora let out a sob that broke me.
‘Get someone scouring every fucking camera in this part of the city. Find him.’
Mac nodded. His security firm had enough hackers that he’d have them on the footage within the hour.
‘Did he even take anything?’ I asked.
Mac shook his head. ‘It was a taunt.’
Cora shivered next to me while she stared at the grisly scene, wide-eyed. ‘If you don’t call the police, what will happen to them?’
‘They’ll be incinerated. We have access to a crematorium if it’s a death that has to be hidden.’
‘So why didn’t you do that with Seth?’
‘He was a message.’
‘What about their families? They can’t just disappear without a trace.’
Mac gave me a look that said, I told you so.
‘They likely don’t have strong family connections.’
Cora’s nostrils flared as she looked up at me. ‘Someone will be waiting for them. Like I was waiting for Ruby. You can’t let them just disappear. What if they have siblings? Partners? Children? Make it right, Ewen. I can deal with death, but I won’t stick around if you’ll treat them like they don’t matter. What if one of them was your brother?’
Mac had the decency to look kowtowed, and I followed suit.
‘I’ll find a way to inform them.’
‘And pay them an insurance fee, which helps care for who they left behind? Like the military. I’ve seen your house. I know you can afford it.’ Cora’s fists clenched at the side of her pretty evening dress.
‘You’re right. I’ll make amends.’ How she reached inside me and twisted me to want to be a better person with barely a look was unfathomable to me.
‘I like her,’ Mac said. ‘She’s got a bite.’
THIRTY-ONE
CORA
Waking up alone in my bed, I started up at the ceiling.
