“Do you need me?”
“Get the rest of them into the meeting room before I bring him in, then make yourself scarce. We don’t need him to suspect you.”
She nodded, moving away to Prescott’s office as I continued down the hallway.
I knew exactly why Garrett was here. It might have taken him a few days to turn up at our offices, but we’d known he would come. There was no way he would let what we’d sent Stuart go unanswered. I smiled to myself as I waited by the desk in the lobby. Quite the present we had delivered on his doorstep by Penn’s men. It wasn’t as if they could trace it back to us, but they would know we’d done it all the same. No two fucking ways about it.
My features were schooled when the lift doors opened and out stepped Garrett Jones, his light brown hair slicked back, blue eyes dark with irritation. He wore a pinstripe suit with a trench coat over the top of it.
“Good afternoon, Commissioner,” I said, giving him a nod.
He came to a standstill near me. I didn’t offer my hand since I knew he wouldn’t take it.
“I’m not here for niceties nor do I offer them in return.”
“No, of course not. Please come this way.”
I put my hand out towards the hallway before leading him towards the meeting room. If he didn’t want niceties, I would endeavour not to give him any. He would probably hate us even more by the end of his time here, but who gave a fuck.
As I entered the meeting room, I found the other three sat at the table. Francis had a pile of documents in front of him. I waved at a chair as I crossed the room to sit next to Prescott, but the Commissioner remained standing. He looked over at the four of us with narrowed eyes.
“I expect you are aware of why I’m here.”
“Why don’t you enlighten us… Commissioner?”
He’d asked to see the four of us directly. It meant he had no idea of Scarlett’s involvement. I was counting on that.
“Let’s not play games,” he ground out, leaning on the table with one hand flat on the wood. “I should have you all arrested.”
“On what grounds?”
“You dare ask me that? I shouldn’t be surprised.” He straightened and glared. “You were never ones for telling the truth, even when you were boys.”
West clenched his fist on the table. Francis nudged him. I needed West to keep his fucking temper in check. We couldn’t have Garrett suspecting a damn thing. Nor would violence solve this problem. If he remained calm, we could get through this unscathed.
“If you tell us why you’re here, perhaps we can help you.”
I knew my nonplussed attitude was pissing him right the fuck off. If we riled the man up, that was fine with me. We had the upper hand.
“I know it was you who sent Stuart my… my… my son.”
“Your son?”
“Don’t play dumb. This is not a game. You sent his decapitated head to Mr Carver along with pictures of his wife’s affair.”
I raised my eyebrows.
“Did we?”
He threw his hands up.
“Look, you can sit here and deny your involvement all you want. We know what you’ve done whether or not there is proof.”
I sat back and tapped my fingers on the table.
“Is that why you came alone? You don’t have evidence we were involved in any of the things you and Stuart have accused us of. We’re innocent until proven guilty, Commissioner. You, of all people, should know that. So tell me, are you here to arrest us for a crime you have evidence for or did you just want a little chinwag?”
He slammed his hand down on the table, making Prescott jump.
“You killed my son. I can’t prove it, but I know you did.”
There we had it. The real reason he’d come in person. He wanted to look us in the eye and see if we’d admit or deny it. The thing was, we didn’t kill Mason, we’d just covered it up for our girl. Just like we’d made sure Penn covered up the man we’d made her kill. There was no fucking way we would ever allow our girl to be arrested for any of this shit. We’d always been thorough when it came to killing and knew exactly how to get away with it.
“I’d bet you’d love to pin it on us,” Francis said, giving Garrett a cold, hard stare. “Just like you tried to pin Stuart’s kids disappearing on four sixteen-year-olds who witnessed their best friend almost die.”
Garrett didn’t look cowed at all by Francis’ statement, but his expression turned grim.
“What happened to that girl was a tragedy. It doesn’t change the fact you had it out for the twins and are the only ones with motive.”