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Of course, if Grant hadn’t come back, Keith would have found another way to help hi about poisons Which ones left a signature behind for a medical exa-distance lethality they offered Soood

That appealed to Keith He didn’t like hurting his siblings, but sometimes it was necessary Like with Everett

Keith’s stoue

At least he was free now He’d escaped his pain Four more and it would finally be Keith’s turn to escape, as well No htened his step and cal hands as he entered the police station Because he was a public defender, the police knew him and allowed him access to Grant with hardly any trouble He entered the interrogation room and shut the door behind him

Grant looked tired but unhurt, other than a s Keith had hired hadn’t done his job and slowed Grant down enough to give Keith a shot at subduing hi to be even harder to deal with than Keith thought

He studied theof which ould be best to help him If it weren’t for the fact that Keith would certainly be caught, it would be an easy thing to paralyze him with the spray Keith kept in his briefcase and shove one of the poison capsules he’d made down Grant’s throat By the tione

But it wasn’t Grant’s turn He’d lived with Lavine for only a heartbeat of tiet to go first Amanda was next Then Trina They’d both earned their place in line

Grant looked up in surprise "Keith? What are you doing here?"

"Isabelle called ," said Keith "Have you been charged with anything yet?"

"No, but I’er if Mathews has anything to say about it"

"Do you know if they have any evidence against you?" asked Keith

"Mathews said soerprints in Everett’s house"

Keith tried to hide his surprise that the police had even bothered to check for fingerprints Everett’s death should have beenthan that What had he missed? He needed to find out before he went to help A they’d get a confession out of you"

Grant shoved his fingers through his hair in frustration "I don’t knohat else it would be I’ve never been in his place, so h Keith knew the answer, he was playing a role and needed to ask the right questions to be convincing "Did you kill hi that word--kill--nearly ly word for the gift Keith had given Everett

"Hell, no!" shouted Grant

Keith held up his hands "Okay, I believe you Our job now is to convince the police Do you have an alibi?"

"I ith Isabelle"

Of course he was Isabelle still hadn’t gotten over her crush on Grant and likely never would But that was okay Keith would free her froh

The door opened and Mathews entered He looked like he hadn’t slept in days, or if he had, it was in the sa now Keith wondered if his wife’s illness had taken a turn for the worse, though he knew better than to ask thequestions about his personal life

He set a short stack of folders on the table and said to Grant, "I need to knohere you were on the following dates: January eleven, seventeen, thirty, February six, nineteen, and March three"

Those were the dates Keith had freed each of the others Somehow, the police had made the connection, and Keith was pretty sure it was Grant’s or Isabelle’s fault

Now that the police knew the deaths were connected, they were going to investigate theled to remain calm and tried to channel his panic into ould appear like anger "What is this about?" he asked Mathews

"Murder We’re looking into the deaths of six ht have been tied to Everett"

Murder? The word ust What he’d done hadn’t been murder, and he wanted to screaly insult If only Keith could explain what they’d been through--if only Mathews could know for himself what it was like to suffer the way Lavine’s children had--he wouldn’t ever use such a disgusting word to describe the sacrifice Keith had made to save theh them He didn’t look surprised at what he sahich meant he’d seen it before That lack of surprise also uilty

Keith’s mind scrambled to find a way to ed with the murders and put behind bars, then he’d be difficult to access when it was his turn And Keith didn’t need Grant to take the blame He already had someone else in mind for that on the off chance that he needed to remove any suspicion that would fall on hi his siblings, but what he did mind was the possibility he’d be put on suicide watch, unable to escape the memory of what Lavine had done to hiht He’d be stuck in this world, suffering indefinitely with nocaught was a possibility, so, to protect hi, he’d found another ht Dale to Isabelle’s attention, knowing she’d never be able to turn him away Once Dale was part of her life, so was Wyatt--a h like Keith to pass as hiainst Isabelle for keeping his son away froh proof of motive, there was one as yet undiscovered fact about Wyatt that would be

Wyatt would go back to jail, and Keith would be free to take care of whoever was left

It was a solid plan, but so had caused Mathews to suspect Everett hadn’t coh the files as Grant finished with thees of death before Thankfully, the paralytic he used metabolized quickly and was hard to trace even if one knehat to look for So far, no one had, and there was no mention of it in the tox screen "These are all suicides You can’t charge Grant with a suicide"

"We’re working on getting the deaths reclassified," said Mathews

"Why?" asked Keith