Page 61 of The Art of Being a Psychopath

“You fired her,” I said, stating the obvious. “After thirty-eight years, you just fired her.”

“She failed in her care. She’s lucky that’s all I did. I should call the police.”

“But you don’t know for sure it was her.” My throat went dry, and my stomach rolled as I replied, “You poured the tea. You had your back to me. How do I know it wasn’t you who drugged me?”

He let out an exasperated breath. “For fuck’s sake, Emma. I wouldn’t do that. And I know my word means fuck all right now, but Jesus, I’m not a fucking monster.”

“I don’t know anything anymore,” I said, holding the stair rail to keep me steady. “For all I know you could be S.K.A.M., sending me threatening emails and... other stuff.”

“I saw the article in the newspaper about you being harassed.” His face screwed up in disbelief. “But I thought that was just paper talk. Gold exaggerating to make a bigger story.” He glanced up at me in confusion as he took a step closer. “Has he really threatened you?”

“Yes. I’ve been threatened and I’m truly scared of him. I’m scared for my life. I’m scared right now, too, if you really want to know.”

Alex blew out a breath and walked forward, sitting down on the last step of the stairs in what seemed like defeat.

“I had no idea it was that bad.” He ran his fingers through his hair and then threw his head back. “Fuck! No wonder you don’t trust me. You don’t trust anyone. And why should you?”

“I just want to go home.” I remained still, frozen to the step I was standing on, hoping he’d move to let me pass and let me go.

“I hate to think of you being scared. The last thing I’d ever want is to hurt you or make you feel like you weren’t safe with me. I know actions speak louder than words, but trust me, I intend to show you through every fucking action I can that I’d never harm you. I might like his art, but that doesn’t mean I have to like everything he does, especially not this.”

“And what about Sirius Bell?” I asked, and Alex’s head shot up in surprise.

“What about him?”

“I’m not stupid. I know S.K.A.M. was involved in that. I know... details about the killing. But I also know, he had to have an accomplice to do what he did.”

“And let me guess, you think that was me?” Alex looked shocked, then distraught. “That murder happened on Sunday night, maybe the early hours of Monday morning. Sunday night, I was at charity event to raise money for the homeless. I spent the night in the hotel where the event took place. There are witnesses that can attest to that and CCTV that can prove I didn’t leave the hotel until nine thirty the next morning. The same morning that I got a message from you to tell me you’d left the newspaper. If it makes you feel better, I can drive us to the hotel right now to watch the CCTV. I know the owner; he’ll give me access.”

He was so adamant, so convincing in his words, that I wanted to believe him. And he said he had proof that he was willing to show me.

Why would he go to those lengths to lie?

It had to be the truth.

“You’ve been threatened,” he went on, “And now you’ve been drugged. I feel ashamed for what’s happened under my roof while you were in my care. But I wasn’t the one to do this. I invited you here because...” He paused and stared up at me, his eyes penetrating like he wanted to break through my walls and soothe my fracturing soul. “I like you, Emma. I enjoyed meeting you at the gallery, and I wanted to get to know you better. So, I asked you here with the intention of helping your career, but I can’t deny, I had an ulterior motive. Maybe I was selfish, but I wanted to get you alone so I could be with you. Talk to you.”

“Drug me?”

“No! I’d rather drug myself than you. Honestly, I would.”

I didn’t know what to think, but I knew one thing, I really wanted to leave.

“Please let me go,” I said quietly, starting to make my way down the stairs.

He sighed, his jaw clenched, and then slowly, he stood up.

“I’ll drive you.”

“I’ll walk.”

“The next house is miles away. It’ll take you all day to walk back to Merivale.”

I was stubborn, but I was also weak. My legs wouldn’t make it to the end of his driveway with how unsteady they felt.

“Fine. I’ll get in the car with you on one condition.”

“Which is?”