Page 233 of Good Boys Don’t Bite

“Is there a white porcelain mask in that room?”

“Yes.”

“Cracked?”

“Yes.”

“Black eyes?”

“Yes.”

“Stitched mouth?”

A pause.

“Yes.”

Ronan breathed through his nose. Slowly. His hands had started shaking. He curled them into fists.

“Where did you get it?”

“Online.”

“When?”

“Last year.”

“Why?”

Elliot looked away. Ronan’s stomach dropped.

“Why?”

“I liked it.”

“Bullshit.”

“I did.”

“You bought the exact fucking mask worn by the person who murdered Mason because you liked it?”

Elliot’s jaw tightened.

“No.”

Ronan stared. There. The sentence. The correction. Not exactly what Ronan had said.

“Then explain.”

Elliot closed his eyes. For one second, he looked twenty-one again. Young. Beautiful. Exhausted. Then he opened them.

“I bought the mask before Mason died.”

Ronan stopped breathing. The words entered his head slowly. He understood each one. Together they meant something else.

“Before.”

“Yes.”