Chapter 120

‘How do you plead, brother mine?' Bethany asked.

Aaron, the man formerly known as Thomas, was too terrified to answer. Poe didn't think he'd ever seen anyone so scared. His trousers were wet and steaming at the crotch. He was trembling so fast it looked like he was vibrating. He started blubbering like a toddler who'd dropped his ice cream the second he'd seen Bethany and he hadn't stopped since. Tears streamed down his face; snot bubbles popped from his nostrils.

‘Will you stop that, Aaron!' Eve snapped. ‘Be a man for once in your life.'

‘But-but she's going to kill us,' Aaron snivelled.

‘Don't be so stupid. Of course she isn't going to kill us.'

‘She-she-she isn't?'

‘Why would she? We're family, the only family she has left.'

Which Poe thought was a bold statement. Family can be murder, burst unbidden into his mind. He thought Bethany was going to kill her brother and sister. In her mind, they deserved to die. And then she would kill him too. He doubted Bethany wanted to add ‘cop killer' to her CV, but he also knew it would come down to a straight choice between walking away with the world still believing she was dead or being hunted for the rest of her life. That didn't seem much of a choice, not even to Poe.

‘But she's tied us up,' Aaron whined.

‘She's just trying to frighten us,' Eve said. ‘You know, like we were trying to frighten Sergeant Poe.'

‘But we were going to kill—'

‘Shut up!'

‘He really isn't that bright, is he?' Poe said.

Bethany watched the exchange with apparent amusement. She had been leaning against the camping equipment table, but she pushed herself away and walked over to Aaron.

‘I asked you a question.'

‘I'm sorry, Bethany,' Aaron sniffed. ‘They made me do it. You know they made me do it.'

‘I won't ask you again,' she said, raising the mallet. ‘How do you plead?'

‘Not guilty! Not guilty!'

‘What a surprise.' Bethany turned to Eve. ‘And how about you, sis? Are you a revisionist as well?'

‘Bethany Bowman!' Eve snapped. ‘You let me go this instance. This charade has gone on long enough, even for a freak like you!'

‘Not guilty as well then,' Bethany said. She rolled her eyes and tutted. ‘Family,' she said to Poe.

Poe thought he'd better try to intervene. ‘Where have you been all this time, Bethany?' he asked. ‘How did you survive the mercy chair?'

‘Are you trying to save everyone, Sergeant Poe?' she replied. ‘What's the plan? Buy some time. Keep me talking until your colleagues arrive.'

‘No one's arriving,' Poe said. ‘I said I'd pop in on my way home to tell Eve and the person I knew as Thomas what we'd found in the Children of Job's basement.'

‘I know. I checked your phone when I was upstairs.'

‘Then you know I'm not trying to trick you. I just want to know what happened.'

Bethany checked her watch. ‘OK, why not?' she said. ‘What do you already know?'

‘Only what was in your journal,' Poe said. ‘A bit of what Eve told me, although I should probably take everything she said with a pinch of salt.'

‘Noah and Grace had always hated me, Sergeant Poe, but it wasn't until after I'd sat in the mercy chair that I understood why . . .'