My mind snaps to the man that I beat. I don’t even know if he is still alive. There had been so much blood over my hands and his body, most of it from my fists.
It is only a lump of meat I tell myself as I pick up the finger. It is real.
I have to bring this to my father. But now I’m not presenting just one problem, but two. I place the finger back in the box before taking out the second one. It is smaller, definitely female. I drop the female finger into the glass of water on my bedside table. This finger my father didn’t need to know about yet.
Taking the glass, I bring it into my bathroom and hide it at the back of the cupboard.
I’ll hand over the box tomorrow but until a female body appears with a missing finger, I’ll keep that one to myself.
***
After sleeping on it, I decide that I won’t go to my father. I want to confront Henry first. Let him know that I am the one that discovered the finger. That I am the one that finally caught him out.
The house is busy this morning; I hate the noise they make as they shuffle around, always giggling, always chatting. It doesn’t stop me from trying to seek out Ella. In the sea of faces I don’t see hers. I wasn’t sure how I felt about looking for her; she infuriated me, defied me at every step. Refused to refer to me as Master Lucas, the times when she did use my name, it sounded different on her lips.
I liked it.
Henry is already in the attic, he’s frantically pulling out furniture.
“Did you lose something?” I ask as I take the final step into the attic. He swings around and nearly loses his balance. I’ve never seen him so white. He pushes his glasses up on his nose.
“I knew you were all kinds of fucked up, but this.” I remove the box from behind my back, his eyes zapping to it. “This is sick.”
He shakes his head before dipping it.
I step further into the room. “You like to keep a token from your victims?”
He looks at me from under his glasses, his shoulders hunching forward.
“You jerk off looking at it.”
His spine snaps straight and he’s someone different. “You’re so crude.” He blinks rapidly.
I sneer. “You’re a fucking freak. Do you know the sentence for killing?”
He’s back to shaking his head again. “I didn’t do it.”
“Right, how did this get here?” I wave the box at him, and I swear he pales further.
“I found it.”
“You know you will have to do better than that Henry, I found it just isn’t going to cut it when I present this to the committee.”
His head snaps up again, he stands to his full height and pushes his glasses up on his face.
“I’m your brother. I would be hung for it.”
My stomach twists at the image of him swinging from a tree. He didn’t know that I had the power to choose his punishment. I wouldn’t have him killed, but he would be punished. I didn’t care for Declan, I just wanted to know why he did it.
“Was Declan touching you?” I ask.
“You’re vulgar, I had no dealings with Declan.”
I didn’t like this, us going around in circles. “Okay, you little shit, then tell me why you killed him?”
“I didn’t. That box was sitting in the middle of my floor. The day you arrived I had just found it.”
I scrub my face with my free hand. I had no clue if he was lying. He is very good at pretending.
“So what is your theory?” I quiz.
“Someone is framing me.”
If I was to frame someone it would be Henry. To me, he fits the profile.
But I still wasn’t buying into his lie. “So, who do you think framed you?” I ask.
He shrugs while tilting his head. Jutting out his chin, he narrows his eyes. “You.”
“So, I framed you and confronted you for being a killer and asked you who framed you?”
“I don’t know Lucas.” He barks and the anger that he is struggling to keep in check is growing. His hands tighten into fists. Three black dots on his right thumb catch my eye.
“New tattoo?”
He curls his fists and the tattoo disappears. “I just drew it on.” He looks at the floor. “I didn’t hurt anyone.”
“Where’s Alex?”
His face grows red, his hands return to fists. “Leave him alone.”
“No.”
Alex is a trigger for him, his only friend.
“He doesn’t even know about the box.”
“I know you’re lying Henry, and I know Alex has something to do with all this.”
Henry laughs, but it isn’t humorous. “Do you hear yourself? You just hate me so much, that you need to pin this on me.” He’s shouting, his temper getting the better of him. I hope it does. I hope he says something he regrets.
“No, you two are weird, and tell him to keep away from Ella. He’s sniffing around her like a dog.”
“You’re lying.” There is a tremble in his voice and the uncertainty in his eyes has me looking at him again.
“Ask him what happened in the garden?”
Henry shakes his head. “What are you talking about?”
“He was caught in the garden with Ella and later at the ball.”
His eyes are filling with despair and there is a look in his eyes that makes my skin itchy.
“Jesus Christ.” Laughter bubbles up my throat. “Wow.”
“Stop it.” He grits his teeth.
“Does father know?” If he did, he would string him up.
“Shut your mouth.” His anger is feeding into my own. I want him to keep feeding my violence so I can release it upon him.
“You’re gay,” I say it like it’s the funniest thing in the world.
Henry’s shaking his head violently
I’m bloodthirsty right now and I want him to attack. “Does Alex know?” I tease and it’s enough he snaps and charges.
Henry surprises my by throwing the first punch. I pause as I wipe blood from my nose before I grin and unleash my anger on him.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
ELLA
Breakfast is quiet. I can’t stop staring at Vicky’s empty chair. She must have slept in, there is no way he actually had her sent home. I glance at all the other girls; they are all subdued. My stomach tightens when Hannah focuses on her toast and tea, she won’t meet my eye. Do they all know what happened to Vicky?
I chew the inside of my mouth until it’s raw. “Has anyone seen Vicky?” I ask innocently, all eyes are on me and I swallow. This isn’t good.
Hannah’s wide blue eyes flicker to the left before she looks at me again. She’s out of her chair and gripping my hand. “Come on.”
“Hannah, don’t be foolish. She isn’t your friend,” Jessie speaks up and I frown at her. What is going on?
Hannah ignores her and takes me out of the room.
“What’s happening?” I half whisper, half shout. My nerves are already shattered after having Lucas in my room last night. He nearly kissed me. The worst part is I wanted him too. My body responded to him. Last night I was drowning while I stood in front of him, waiting to see what he would do. He terrified me and some sick part of me got off on that fear. I had no idea why.