Adeline startled, and the others seemed surprised too, as though they’d forgotten he could speak.
“Isn’t it more likely that the Blight wished everyone to know who had murdered Adam and that’s why it covered the walls with its name?” Salt said. “The Hierophant has, again, I remind you, shown no inclination toward bloodshed.”
“The fuck he hasn’t,” Charlie said.
Salt’s hooded gaze was on her, unrelenting. “Now, how close to where Red was living was Paul Ecco murdered?”
“A few blocks, but I don’t see what that has to do with—”
“And how close to where Red was living was Adam Lokken murdered?”
Charlie sighed, frustrated. “He lived in the house where the murder happened, but he’d left. He wasn’t there. He hadn’t been there in days.”
“And who had he lived with in that house, prior to leaving?”
“Me,” Charlie admitted.
“And isn’t it likely that you got the book from Red, since you’ve been living with him—rather than that you broke through my extensive security.”
“I could show everyone how I did it,” Charlie offered sweetly.
“Yes,” said Salt. “That brings us to one other thing. Do you think there’s a reason he insinuated himself into your life, something about you he might have wanted?”
Charlie folded her arms over her chest, looking Salt in the face. “I don’t know. My tits? Maybe my ass?”
It broke some of the tension in the room. Vicereine snorted. Bellamy smiled. But Salt was undeterred. “You don’t suppose it’s because you’re a well-known thief? The Charlatan, who stopped taking freelance gigs, coincidentally of course, right around the time she met Red.”
Charlie took a stuttering breath. It had been one thing for them to know she was a thief, but it was a little different for them to know she was someone they all had some experience with. Although she’d done a job or two for Vicereine, the others had only experienced her as a cause of misfortune.
You’ve lost them, Charlie Hall. They’re never going to believe you now. You should have figured that a billionaire would make a pretty good con artist.
“Tell us, did it inform you it was a living shadow?” Salt asked. “Or did it give you a false name and a false history, along with its false face?”
Charlie couldn’t help thinking of the fairy tale of the scholar’s shadow, playing at love. Of Vince’s hungry mouth on hers. Of him cooking her eggs.
“I know who Vince is,” said Charlie. “And I know who you are. You poisoned me when I was fifteen. Your people chased me through the woods. Don’t talk to me about false faces.”
Bellamy raised his eyebrows. Adeline looked over at Vince, as though for confirmation. But it wasn’t like Charlie thought any of the Cabal would care all that much about something that had happened over a decade ago, to someone who wasn’t a gloom, even if they believed her.
But she wanted Salt to know.
“So you have a grudge against me,” he said smoothly, which was ballsy but clever. Put your worst foot forward, admit to one bad thing so they think you’re honest when you deny another.
His attempt to cast the blame on Vince was unnervingly convincing. Salt had strung together enough parts for it to make sense, especially since the proof could cut both ways. And he was rich, which always helped, while Vince was a terrifying monster, even without the question of the murders.
The knowledge that she might not be able to turn this thing around ramped her nerves up even higher.
“Well?” Malik asked Vince. “Did you kill those people? We know you can talk.”
Vince looked at him expressionlessly. Charlie thought his assessment of the situation might be even more grim than hers. “I was Remy’s shadow. I would never have hurt him. And I didn’t touch Knight Singh.”
“Do you have anything else to add, Stephen?” Vicereine asked. “You have been acting strangely lately.”
“I haven’t been sleeping well,” Stephen said, looking at them. “I have a lot of nightmares.”
Bellamy touched his shoulder and he flinched.
“I understand my punishment,” Stephen told them. “All I want is to be done serving out my sentence.”
“Did you murder a gloamist?”
He shook his head. “No. I hunt Blights. Which is why I’ve been seeking Red. Just Red.” Halfway through that second sentence, Charlie thought she could tell that something else seemed to be speaking. It was a smooth transition, easy to miss if you hadn’t been looking for it.