Chapter 24

DESPITE THE EVENINGgym session, I couldn’t sleep. I desperately needed to. I called my brother and blasted him with complaints about Tox as soon as he picked up.

“What actually is the story with this guy?” he said. “How can he possibly be a cop if you’re saying he’s killed two people?”

“No idea,” I grunted. “People are saying he was seven years old. If I had to guess, I’d say that because of his age at the time of the crime, he’d have been charged with involuntary manslaughter, if he was charged with anything at all. Apparently it was a group of boys, not just him. So his lawyers would have said he was influenced by the group, and far too young to know what he was doing.”

“But you don’t actually know any details about it?”

“No, the records are sealed. I tried to have a look before I left work this afternoon.”

Sam scoffed. “So it’s all just rumor, really?”

“What are you getting at?”

“Maybe he didn’t do it.”

“If he didn’t do it, he’d have set everyone straight, right?” I said. “The bosses would have set everyone straight. He must have done it.”

We fell silent.

“I’d like to think he didn’t do it,” I admitted. “But when I look in his eyes, I’m not so sure.”