Chapter Twelve

CHAPTER TWELVE

Later that day, Devon stood in the newly vacated apartment that Knox had offered for her to use as a temporary base. Just as Tanner suspected, it had a similar blueprint to that of his own but didn’t include a spare bedroom. The latter didn’t bother Devon. She didn’t need a spare bedroom. Hell, she didn’t need half the space, but she had no complaints about its size. She had no complaints about it at all.

The apartment was stylish and chic. It also had a very welcoming feel with the warm paint colors, soft rugs, cozy fireplace, and maple hardwood flooring. Better still, it came partly furnished, and the kitchen had every appliance she’d need. And the bathroom was to die for.

She’d sure enjoy her temporary stay there. It would be kind of like spending a few days at a luxury condo while on a city break.

Her demon had examined the place carefully. It found the apartment aesthetically pleasing and much safer than their home, so it approved of their new temporary territory.

Having taken a full turn around the place, she rejoined Tanner in the hallway. He was leaning back against the wall, his hands stuffed in his pockets, his mouth downturned … making her think of a sulking toddler. Though he’d been glued to her side since picking her and Harper up from work, he hadn’t insisted on accompanying Devon as she wandered around the apartment—mostly because he was too busy brooding.

He raised a brow. “Well?”

Devon inhaled deeply, drinking in the scents of citrus cleaner and wood polish. “It’ll do.”

Any other time, the pooch might have snorted at her effort to downplay her excitement. Not this time.

Thanks to the whole Eleanor-turning-up-at-Urban-Ink thing, he’d already been in a foul mood when he arrived to take Devon home. It had only made him more pissed that she’d vetoed his suggestion to stay with him until Asa’s friend was found.

Snarly and surly, he’d claimed it made sense for her to stay at his place as they’d be sharing a bed every night anyway. She’d quite rightly pointed out that their demons could protest to their fling at any given moment, so it would be better for her to have a separate living space. He hadn’t been able to argue that—hence the brooding.

“Larkin telepathed me while you were looking around,” said Tanner. “She was able to identify the men who were involved in the attempt to kidnap you.” He rattled off a bunch of names. “Recognize any of them?”

“Other than when the driver mentioned a guy called Mike and referred to Slade by his name—who in turn called the driver Len—I’d never heard of them before.” Devon slanted her head. “What lair do they belong to?”

“They’re strays.” He let his gaze wander around. “It makes more sense for you to stay with me.”

And here they were again. “You’re not getting bored of this conversation? Not even a little?” Devon sighed. “Look, I agreed to stay at your building, let that be enough.”

Tanner pushed away from the wall and crossed to her. When it came to this female, “enough” was something he never seemed to get. He wanted everything from her, even as he knew he wouldn’t get to enjoy it for long. He curled an arm around her waist and drew her to him. “Is it really such a bad thing that I want you close?”

She rolled her eyes. “Stop being a spoiled brat, Tanner. You can’t always have your way. I’m on the floor above you—that’s a damn fine concession and you know it. Learn to love it, because it’s the best you’re gonna get.”

As amused as he was frustrated, he snapped his teeth at her. His demon wasn’t quite so annoyed with her for sticking to her guns; it respected how ballsy and independent she was. It would still rather that she was staying at their domain, though. “Things would be a lot simpler if you just did what I said at all times.”

She snickered. “Like that would ever happen. And if it did, you’d be bored.”

He had to concede—if only to himself—that she had that right. Pulling her closer, he nuzzled her neck. “I thought about you a lot today.”

“Did you?”

“Hmm.” He kissed the hollow beneath her ear. “It’s not a good thing. I’m supposed to be focused. You keep creeping into my thoughts and distracting me.”

Devon huffed at his accusatory tone. “I don’t see how that’s my fault.”

“I didn’t say it was your fault. I’m just blaming you.” He nipped her lip. “I wouldn’t be so distracted by worry for you if you were staying with me.”

“Not dropping this, huh?” She gave him a raised brow and fuck if it didn’t go straight to his cock. “Listen here, pooch, I won’t be guilted into doing something I don’t want to do. I agreed to temporarily live here because it was smart. There’d be nothing smart in staying with you, considering we don’t know how long it’ll be before our demons—”

“I know.” Tanner sighed, hating that he couldn’t argue her point. He’d had a sick feeling in his gut since the day she was first kidnapped, and that feeling hadn’t gone away. Wouldn’t.

He’d checked in regularly throughout the day with the demons he had stationed outside her studio. Other than Eleanor turning up, nothing untoward had happened, but he hadn’t been able to relax. Even now, when he had her right there in his arms, he couldn’t fucking relax.

It didn’t help that he was quite sure that it was Eleanor who vandalized her apartment. Tanner had paid it a short visit while Devon was at work. Some of her lair members had been there, clearing away the destroyed furniture. He hadn’t picked up Eleanor’s scent, but that meant nothing, since enough time had gone by for it to fade. He thought it significant that the one room that was ransacked was the very room in which he’d taken Devon against the wall.

He’d heard that Eleanor could pick up echoes of events by touching objects—a similar gift to Levi’s ability to pick up echoes of events at death scenes. If that were true, it was possible she’d touched something in the living room that showed her what had happened there. Eleanor would have had one hell of a damn tantrum … which was exactly what the scene of destruction had looked like to him when he’d viewed it on Ciaran’s cell phone.

The only thing that brought Tanner any comfort was the mark on Devon’s palm. As he looked down at it, he got a glimpse of his fingerprints on her wrists. And he couldn’t help but smile.

“You can stop looking so smug about the brands,” she muttered.

“I could. But I won’t.”

“Yeah, I figured you’d say that,” Devon grumbled. “They sure raised some eyebrows. All day I had to field off nosy-ass questions from clients. I need to buy some wristbands or something to cover—ow, that hurt!”

He licked over the delectable lip he’d bitten, soothing the sting. “No covering the brands. I like to look at them. I like that other people can see them. And if you try hiding them, there’s a high chance my demon will decide to just brand you again.”

She stilled, and her gaze turned thoughtful. “That point sadly holds merit.”

He hummed, satisfied that she wouldn’t conceal them. Cocking his head, he stroked his hand over her hair. “You going to tell me what’s bothering you now?” He tapped her temple, adding, “I know something’s going on up here. What is it?”

She bit her lip, so he used his thumb to pull it free from her teeth.

“Is it something Eleanor said to you? You were very vague about her little visit.” He could ask Harper about it, but he’d rather Devon told him. He wanted her to trust him. To trust that she could be open with him. He caught her face with his hands. “Talk to me. You know you can.”

Devon sighed. “She said some things that annoyed me, yeah. She also made me realize something I’m not whatsoever happy about.”

He tucked her hair behind her ear. “What?”

“My demon’s becoming possessive of you.”

Tanner fought a smile, knowing she wouldn’t appreciate his smugness. Especially since this was clearly hard for her to admit. “Possessive?”

She nodded. “It was exponentially pissed when Eleanor made it clear just how much she’d like you to impregnate her.”

He snorted. “That’s not going to happen.”

“Would it really be so bad to start your own line?”

“Some time in the future, no. Right now? It’s not what I want.”

God, it made her such a bitch that that relieved her, didn’t it? But the thought of him fathering a kid to another woman was just a little too much for Devon to bear right then. In the future, long after they’d gone their separate ways and she’d licked her wounds, it wouldn’t be so hard to handle. Hopefully.

“Parenthood has been known to center people who don’t have an anchor. Eleanor said—” Devon clamped her mouth shut and averted her gaze, thinking how unfair it was that she was fishing for information on a subject that could be a sore one.

He gently cupped her chin. “Eleanor said what? Tell me, kitten. What did she say?”

Knowing he wouldn’t drop it, she said, “That you’ll never have your anchor. I didn’t get what she meant. But you don’t have to tell me; it’s fine. Really.” It wasn’t as if she didn’t have secrets of her own.

Scraping his jaw with his hand, Tanner looked away. “Eleanor must have done a real thorough check on me.” He sighed, sliding his gaze back to Devon’s. “I found my anchor shortly after I became a sentinel. We didn’t form the bond, because her mate was jealous. He didn’t want her having such a close tie to another man. He made her choose—me or him. She chose him, which was understandable.”

“But you’ve kept watch over her, haven’t you?” Devon guessed, because she knew him too well.

“I did until she and her mate died in a plane crash.”

Devon winced, wishing she hadn’t brought it up. “Shit, I’m sorry. Maybe it was a blessing, then, that you hadn’t formed the bond. I’ve heard the breaking of it is painful.” She gave his shoulder a squeeze. “Thank you for telling me.” One large hand spanned the back of her head, fingers sifting through her hair to dig into her scalp—God, that felt good.

“Eleanor only told you about it because she’s trying to make you feel that I keep shit from you. She wants you to feel unsure of me.” He briefly brushed his mouth over hers. “Forget about her. Ignore the crap she says. She’s not important. Okay?”

Devon gave a slow nod. “Okay.”

“Good girl.” He gave her ass a pat. “Let’s go get your things.”

*

As she didn’t have an awful lot of stuff and plenty of people pitched in to help, it didn’t take long to move her things into his building. In terms of furniture, she only took her bed and a few other pieces, since her stay would most likely be a short one. Her helpers also assisted her in unpacking once she arrived, which was very much appreciated.

As a thank you, she later bought a takeout for everyone, which was quickly demolished. People slowly began to leave over the following hour, until only Devon and Tanner were left. It was while they were cleaning up the kitchen that Finn called her, and it quickly became apparent that he wasn’t happy with her for not calling him about the second attempted kidnapping.

“Jolene told me that she’d call you with the entire story,” Devon told him.

“And she did. Five minutes ago. I should have been told of it immediately. I’m your father. You think I wouldn’t want to know that you went through hell yesterday?”

Her father? Biologically, sure, but that was all. “I did send a text message to your phone last night,” she reminded him.

“Oh yeah—Finn, some shit went down between me and a group of demons but don’t worry I’m not dead.”

She shrugged. “I thought it was pretty succinct.”

“You know it can take me a while to sift through my text messages—it’s why I tell you to leave a voicemail if it’s urgent. This counts as urgent. Look, I can understand if you’re upset with me for not handing Asa over to Jolene to be interrogated, but I shouldn’t have heard about the attempted kidnapping from her. I should have heard it from you. And I should have heard of it straight away.”

A growl rumbled out of Tanner, who was bagging up the trash, totally eavesdropping. “If he yells at you one more time, I’m ending that fucking call.”

No, Devon would do that herself. “Finn, you’ll be kept in the loop, but Jolene isn’t going to be in any rush to call you with news, because she feels that you’re not invested in finding out what’s going on here. If you were, you’d have given someone else a shot at Asa.”

A brief pause. “It’s not that simple, Devon. I’d make myself look weak if I surrendered him to another Prime for questioning. No Prime can afford to demonstrate weakness.”

“She said you didn’t need to hand him over; she said she’d be content enough with going to wherever you’re keeping him and having a chat with him.”

He made a sound that was close to a snort. “Jolene is an imp. Imps can get in and out of anywhere. If she knew Asa’s location, she’d send some of her lair to retrieve him. We both know that.”

Okay, that most likely would happen.

“Believe me when I say we’re doing everything we can to get answers from Asa.” He paused as a female voice spoke in the background. “In a minute, Reena, I’m on the phone.”

An acidic smile curved Devon’s mouth. “I’m sure she’s devastated that I got free.”

He sighed. “I know you two don’t get along well, but she wouldn’t like to see you dead.”

Devon snorted. “Don’t kid yourself.”

Another sigh. “Devon—”

“Look, I have to go.” Because, really, what more was there to say?

There was a long pause. “All right. If something else happens, I’d like it if you could notify me immediately.”

As she couldn’t make him any promises, she simply said, “Take care.” Devon rang off and took a deep breath.

“I don’t like the way that asshole speaks to you,” said Tanner. “Like he’s entitled to know what goes on in your life when he’s never made himself a real part of it.”

Devon shrugged. “He’s a Prime. They’re spoiled and used to having their way. Kind of like you.”

“I can’t even deny that.” Sensing that she didn’t want to talk more about Finn, Tanner prowled towards her and said, “Cleaning’s done. Did you manage to unpack all your things?”

“Yes. I had some help.”

“Good.” He hauled her close, loving how her heartbeat instantly kicked up. Just that easily, hunger slammed into him, as if her need could in an instant become his. “I’ve never wanted anything the way I want you.” He snaked a hand around her throat and tipped her head back. “Tonight … I want to fuck you here, in this apartment.”

Devon hummed, not seeming to feel the least bit uncomfortable exposing her throat to him. He fucking loved that. “Why?” she asked.

Because he wanted her to have that memory of him in her bed. Wanted her to think of him as she lay on it, even if there was someone else lying beside her.

He dipped his head and pressed a kiss to her pulse. “We could sleep at my place, but I highly doubt you’ll want to leave this apartment after all the trouble you’ve just taken to get it ready.”

“You’re right on that.”

Knox’s mind touched his, buzzing with a sense of urgency. Tanner, we need to talk. Where are you?

Brow wrinkling at the Prime’s curt tone, Tanner replied, The apartment where Devon’s staying for the time being.

Meet me at your apartment as fast as you can.Just that quick, Knox was gone.

Both curious and put-out by the interruption, Tanner lifted his head and pressed a kiss to her mouth. Unable to tell her about Knox’s ability to pyroport, he said, “I need to go grab some things from my place.” He slowly pulled back, hesitant to leave her for even a minute. “I won’t be long.”

Strolling into his own apartment no more than a minute later, he found Knox and the other sentinels waiting in his living room. Knox stood near the fireplace, his muscles taut, his expression hard. Except for Levi, who’d propped his hip against the wall, the others were seated. One glance at each of the sentinels’ faces was enough to tell Tanner that they had no clue what the emergency meeting was about.

Uneasy, Tanner didn’t take a seat. “What is it?”

Knox’s nostrils flared. “I’m sure you all remember Mattias Ranger.”

Kind of hard to forget someone who Knox once flung into an ants’ nest after the kid tried hurting Larkin. Mattias was Ramsbrook House’s biggest bully.

“He’s dead,” clipped Knox.

Shock stiffened every muscle in Tanner’s body, and all he could do was join the other sentinels in staring dumbly at their Prime.

“You may remember that I told Muriel to give me a list of whoever she wanted to be notified of Dale’s death,” Knox added. “Mattias’s name wasn’t on that list, but his cousin’s name was.”

“Noah,” Levi remembered. “Both their parents died in a car accident. Noah’s father was the driver.”

“Yes,” said Knox. “And Mattias blamed Noah’s father for the deaths, so he made that kid’s life a misery. Dale and Muriel befriended Noah, and I think they made things bearable for him to an extent. When I contacted him to inform him of Dale’s death, he wasn’t just horrified, he was shocked. Because Mattias was mutilated in the exact same way as Dale and Harry.”

Larkin sucked in a breath while Levi spat, “Fuck.”

Keenan pulled his flask out of his inner pocket. “That makes three people from Ramsbrook who’ve been—”

“Four,” corrected Knox.

Keenan did a double-take. “What?”

“Joseph Morgan was also on Muriel’s list,” said Knox. “He wasn’t taking my calls, but I didn’t think much of it until Noah told me about Mattias. On a hunch, I paid Joseph a visit. All I found was his mutilated, decomposing corpse. He’s been dead weeks.”

“Weeks?” echoed Larkin.

Knox nodded. “Looks to me like he was the first to die. And I’m not sure about any of you, but my view is that we were wrong in what we initially thought. Harry wasn’t killed because he knew something that Sloan wanted kept quiet. Someone is targeting people who stayed at Ramsbrook.”

“It makes the most sense,” granted Keenan. “But … why would they?”

Knox snorted. “I have no clue. I can’t think why anyone would want to remove someone’s eyes, ears, and tongue—nor why they’d prop them up against the wall in a very specific way. Is it some sort of message to the victim? Is it supposed to be somebody’s fucked-up idea of poetic justice?”

Poking his tongue into the inside of his cheek, Levi rubbed at his jaw. “It comes across as a punishment to me. The killer mutilated them while they were alive.”

“You know, other ex-Ramsbrook kids could be dead,” said Larkin.

“Yes,” agreed Knox. “But there’s no fast way to trace the whereabouts of all of them to find out—there was simply too many of them. Kids came and went from there all the time.”

Some were adopted, some died, some ran off, and some even committed suicide. Ramsbrook was no easy ride. “It’s possible that the killer’s just randomly picking off ex-Ramsbrook kids and employees, but it seems unlikely,” said Tanner.

Nodding, Larkin idly toyed with her braid. “There must be a specific reason why Harry and the others were chosen. It could have been something they did or something they failed to do. Something that made somebody feel the need to track down and kill them.”

Tanner perched himself on the arm of the sofa and folded his arms. “Either something occurred there that we don’t know about, or we’re making the mistake of thinking the killer is operating on logic.”

“You think they might be deranged or near-rogue?” Larkin asked him.

Tanner shrugged. “I’m just making the point that the motive only has to seem logical to the killer.”

Lips pursed, Knox inclined his head. “True enough. We know from our experiences with other near-rogues like Crow that, even though their minds are splintering, they truly believe they’re rational and in the right.”

“Personally, I don’t see how Mattias, Harry, Joseph, and Dale could have been jointly responsible for some sort of crime or accident that they were recently ‘punished’ for by some fuckedup vigilante.” Keenan took a long swig from his flask. “Neither Dale nor Harry had any time for Mattias or Joseph. No one had time for Joseph—he was almost as bad a bully as Mattias.”

“If the victims were staff members, I could understand it,” said Knox. “The punishments that some of them dealt out were quite severe. Severe enough to leave scars. And they were constantly fucking preaching at us …”

Knox’s voice faded away as something in Tanner’s brain clicked. His eyes fell shut as realization hit him like a ton of bricks. He rubbed at his face. “Shit, I should have seen it before.”

“What?” asked Levi.

Unfolding his arms, Tanner said, “I thought that gouging out the eyes, slicing off the ears, and cutting off the tongue was a symbolic punishment for being a plant. But it’s not that at all. What did the tutors always preach to us? See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.”

Keenan’s mouth fell open. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, we all should have seen that.”

“But what does that mean?” asked Larkin, leaning forward.

“It means the killer has to be someone from Ramsbrook—either one of the kids or one of the staff. Nothing else makes sense to me.” Levi looked at Knox. “I know it’s unlikely that Dale and the others were involved in something as kids, but it might be worth asking Muriel. If something did happen, she’d probably know about it—Dale confided in her a lot, from what I remember.”

“Does anyone know if Ernest Milton is still alive? Or Milton, as he preferred to be called?” asked Tanner, referring to the home’s caretaker. “Very little went on in that place that he didn’t know about.”

Knox’s eyes sharpened. “I’ll look him up. If he’s alive, we’ll pay him a visit tomorrow.”

“What about the Primes of Matthias and the other victims?” Keenan asked Knox. “Have you spoken with any of them about the murders?”

“Briefly,” replied Knox. “They’re each looking into the deaths. I thought about bringing them in on our investigation, but none are our allies, and I don’t trust them enough to work closely with them—especially when it would mean disclosing a lot of information to them about our pasts. Besides, they’d more than likely be offended that I’d suggested they needed my aid. And unless Primes get along well the way Jolene and I do, coming together on something often isn’t very productive.”

They spoke for a few more minutes and made plans to meet at Knox’s office in the morning. The Prime then pyroported the other sentinels away, and Tanner headed back upstairs to Devon.

*

Squinting up at them from his bunk in the cramped quarters of the fishing boat the next day, Milton echoed, “Secrets?” He grunted, scratching at the stubble on his tanned cheek. “Yes, there were secrets at Ramsbrook. Secrets I didn’t even know of for what might have been a long time.”

The guy had been washing the deck with a hose when they appeared on the dock near his house and asked to speak with him. It had probably been more curiosity than anything else which made the ornery male invite them inside. He’d gestured for them to take the small sofa, but only Knox and Tanner took a seat. Levi was leaning against the counter in the tiny galley kitchen.

Tanner’s demon didn’t like the cramped space. Didn’t like the scents of brine, motor oil, coffee, and a faint hint of fish guts. It also didn’t like being around someone that reminded it of a bad time in its existence.

The demon hadn’t minded being around Muriel—she’d just been a child back then, couldn’t have helped. But Milton had been an adult, a member of the staff. And though Tanner understood that, as a caretaker, Milton hadn’t had enough power or influence to make changes to the shitty place, his hound wasn’t so understanding.

“We want to know if something could have happened at Ramsbrook that would explain why someone is killing people who once stayed there,” said Knox. He’d called Muriel to notify her of Mattias and Joseph’s deaths. She’d claimed there was no way that Dale and the other victims could have been involved in something together.

Milton’s brow furrowed. “Who was killed?”

“Harry Tomlinson, Dale Tipton, Mattias Ranger, and Joseph Morgan.”

A shocked silence seemed to descend on Milton, making the exterior noises of the creaking of the taut rope outside, the flapping of the mast, and the cries of seagulls that much louder.

Finally, Milton’s eyes clouded, and he expelled an audible breath. “Ah, shit.”

“The only common denominator we can see is that they stayed at Ramsbrook. We need to know if they were involved in anything that could explain their deaths.”

Sighing, Milton rubbed at the back of his nape. “Yes, the boys were … I don’t know if you’d use the word ‘involved.’ Something happened to them. I don’t even know how long it had been happening. But it came to an end about a year after you left. I might never have known anything about it if it hadn’t been for Harry.”

“What did Harry tell you?”

“He didn’t tell me anything. But one night he asked me to stay in his dorm; to use my ability of camouflage to conceal myself. Said there was something I needed to see. It was the same small dorm that Dale, Mattias, Joseph, and some other kids slept in. I did as he asked. Only Harry knew I was there, from what I could tell. It was about midnight when they came.”

“Who?”

“Two of the tutors, Mr. Giles and Mr. Shephard. They ordered the children to get out of bed and form a line, facing the tutors. The kids were pale and trembling, clearly terrified out of their minds, and I knew this wasn’t the first time it had happened.”

A sliver of unease snaked up Tanner’s spine, raising the hairs on his arms and the back of his neck.

Milton fiddled with the collar of his tee. “Mr. Giles asked, ‘So, who will it be tonight?’ He made the children vote on who would go with him and Mr. Shephard. Then the tutors dragged whichever child received the most votes out of the room. I followed them, still camouflaged. They took him down to the basement. Chained him up. Probably would have done despicable things to him, only I slit both their throats and then released the boy.”

Disgusted, Tanner ground his teeth to bite back a curse. He remembered the tutors well. Remembered how staid, stringent, and authoritarian they’d been. They’d had no patience for error or idleness; hadn’t seemed to take any joy in teaching. But he wouldn’t have suspected them capable of such cruelty. That was the thing about evil fuckers like that, though—they were very good at hiding what they were.

The thought that those poor kids had been subjected to such abuse and felt they had nowhere to turn … Tanner’s blood boiled. He hated that it went on right under his fucking nose. If he’d known, if he’d even suspected, that such things were happening, he’d have acted—teen or not. And Knox and the other sentinels would have been right at his side when he did.

“I notified the rest of the staff,” said Milton. “They were horrified. You might find that hard to believe, since they were so cold towards all the children. The punishments were harsh, yes, but the staff never took any sadistic pleasure in them. They did what they thought was necessary to control a whole building of orphaned, angry, gifted children. And maybe sometimes they were harsher than they needed to be, but they didn’t get a kick out of it.”

Tanner had never got the feeling that any of the staff enjoyed what they were doing. They’d never punished anyone for the sake of it or for some imaginary slight. But then, he’d never got the feeling that Giles and Shephard would take delight in abusing kids. “The tutors made the other kids choose which child would go with them because the bastards wanted to make the kids feel partly to blame, didn’t they?”

“Yes, I suspect they thought the guilt and shame would keep the kids quiet,” said Milton. “And it did. They wouldn’t even talk of it much after the truth was out and the tutors were dead. They seemed to just want to forget.”

“What happened afterwards?” asked Knox.

“The manager swept the whole thing under the rug because they didn’t want to risk that the place would be shut down. I voted against that,” Milton quickly added, “just as some of the other staff did, but we were overruled. We didn’t hold enough power to overturn their decision.” And he appeared to be pissed at himself for that.

“I never noticed any injuries on those kids to suggest abuse,” said Levi.

“Shephard could undo wounds, so he’d healed the children afterwards, leaving no evidence of what they’d been through,” said Milton. “From what the staff could tell, the abuse was isolated to that one dorm. The reason Harry and the others were placed together was that they were low on the power spectrum—the staff didn’t believe it would be fair to place them with children who they’d be unable to defend themselves against. I think that was probably also why the tutors chose that dorm—in terms of power, the kids were too weak to fight back.” Milton let out a sad sigh. “And now some of them have been victimized yet again. How were they killed?”

Knox gave him all the details, including Tanner’s belief that the mutilations reflected the See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil saying. “How many other kids were in that dorm? Because I’m thinking that one of them is holding the others to blame for whatever they went through, and they’re intent on making them pay for it.”

Milton pursed his lips. “Other than the boys I mentioned, there were three other children. Patrick Stephens, Royal Foreman, and Donnie Ramirez. I can tell you that Ramirez is dead—he turned rogue while at Ramsbrook; had to be taken down. I’m not sure what happened to the other two. Dale’s sister might also be a target.”

Tanner’s brows pinched together. “Why?”

“Well, she didn’t sleep in Dale’s dorm—the girls were kept separate—but she told one of the staff members that she snuck in there one night after she’d had a nightmare and the tutors came in and forced her to ‘take a vote.’”

Knox stilled. “Muriel told us that there was no way the victims were involved in anything together.”

Milton lifted a brow. “Then Muriel lied.”