•
After Bria finished her conversation, she slid her phone into her pocket and came back over to Xavier and me. “Cassie is in the lab. It took some convincing, but she agreed to stay and analyze the pill tonight.”
Bria’s convincing had sounded more like badgering, but I decided not to mention that. Xavier nodded, and my sister turned her gaze to me.
“And I’m going to need you to come downtown and make a statement about what you saw. About Benson killing that dealer.”
My eyebrows zoomed up into my forehead. “You want me to what?”
“Make a formal statement,” Bria replied, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “To be a witness and help me build my case against Benson.”
My mouth dropped open. Between it and my eyebrows, no doubt I looked like some cartoon character whose face was stretched out to comical proportions. The next thing you knew, my eyes would pop out of my head and roll away in surprise. “You can’t be serious.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m an assassin, Bria,” I snapped. “I kill people. The only testifying I do is with my knives.”
She waved her hand, as though my dark occupation and all the blood on my hands were of no concern. “We can work around that.”
I stared at Bria. Normally, she tried to keep our professional lives, so to speak, as separate as possible, although I knew that she would always have my back if I ever really needed her. But right now, she seemed perfectly willing to shine the uncomfortably bright spotlight of law and order squarely on me. It wasn’t like her at all.
Xavier shrugged his broad, muscled shoulders at me, as if to say I told you so. Max’s death must have hit Bria harder than even she realized, if she was willing to shove me in front of everyone just to get Benson. Surprise sparked in my chest, along with a little hurt that she wanted to use me this way. But she was hurting too, so I tried to reason with her.
“Really?” I asked. “And how are you going to work around the fact that I’ve killed just as many people as Benson has? Maybe more?”
Bria’s hands dropped to her hips, and she tapped her fingers against her gold detective’s badge. “I’ll think of something.”
“And what do you think will happen if you arrest Benson and your case actually goes to court?” I snapped. “Any halfway-decent lawyer has heard more than enough rumors and innuendos to totally discredit me. Assassins don’t exactly make the best witnesses. I bet Jonah McAllister would pay Benson to be his attorney just for the pleasure of cross-examining me.”
McAllister had been Mab’s lawyer before I’d killed her, and he’d tried to have me murdered multiple times since her death. Back in the summer, I’d finally taken a bit of revenge on McAllister, putting him on the hot seat with the underworld bosses by revealing his involvement in a plot to rob them at the Briartop art museum. Ever since then, he had been staying out of sight and stewing in his Northtown mansion, but I had no doubt that he’d spent many long hours trying to figure out how to turn things back around on me. And something like this would be a golden opportunity.
Bria’s hand slid from her badge over to her gun, her fingers instinctively curling around the weapon. “You don’t understand, Gin. I have to get Benson. I have to. And you’re my best shot at that.”
For the first time, I noticed how tired my sister looked, the purple smudges under her eyes, the rigid set of her slender shoulders, the harsh slant of her mouth, as though she were disgusted with herself. Her blue eyes locked with mine, and I could see the pain shimmering in her gaze—along with the guilt.
“Look, if you want Benson taken out, just say the word, and I’ll start working on it,” I said, trying to find some way to help her and still keep what was left of my anonymity intact.
I knew that Bria wanted to do this herself, in her own way, within the black-and-white confines of the law, but Xavier was right. I’d do anything to protect the people I loved, and if I could help Bria by killing Benson, then I was more than happy to do it for her.
Especially since the vamp might decide to turn his attention to my sister if she kept pursuing him.
I drew in a breath. “It won’t be easy, and it may take me a few weeks, but I’ll figure out a way to get to him—”
“No.” She shook her head, her blond hair snapping around her shoulders before settling back down into place. “No. I’m not going to ask you to do that. I’m not going to stoop to Benson’s level.”
“We’re talking about my level right now.” My voice was as cold as hers was hot. “And I can tell exactly what you think of that.”
Bria ground her teeth together, but she didn’t deny or contradict my words. Her silence shouldn’t have hurt me, but it did. I might not have a badge, but I fought for justice in my own way, and I helped people when I could. I thought that Bria understood that—that she realized that we were the same that way.
Apparently not.
“I’ll do it.”
We all turned to stare at Catalina. She’d been so quiet since Bria and Xavier had arrived that I’d largely forgotten about her. Catalina let go of Troy’s hand, got to her feet, and slowly walked over to us.
“I’ll do it,” she repeated in a stronger voice. “I’ll be your witness. I’ll tell everyone who will listen exactly what Benson did to Troy.”
8
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “No. You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into.”
Catalina’s gaze cut to Troy’s body again. Her face hardened, and her hazel eyes sparked with anger. “I know what I’m doing, and I know what I saw.”
I moved closer to her. “You don’t owe Troy anything. No sort of loyalty whatsoever. Not after what he did to you last night. Not after what he was most likely going to do to you here tonight.”
Her fierce expression melted into a more melancholy one. “You’re wrong. I do owe him. He took care of me all those years ago. This is the last way that I can take care of him. I want to do this, Gin. I want to testify. I have to do it. So please don’t make this any harder than it already is. Okay?”
I could tell by the grim set of her lips that nothing I could say would change her mind, but I still felt compelled to try—
“If you want, we can take your statement right now,” Bria said, and stepped up beside us before I could protest. “Save you the hassle of going down to the station.”