Diesel nodded, gratitude in his eyes. “What she said.”

“Then let’s go,” Scarlett said. “I can flash my badge if they give us any trouble.”

Cincinnati, Ohio
Wednesday, March 20, 2:00 a.m.

“Good evening, Father,” the nurse said in greeting. “How can I help you?”

Grant nodded once, acknowledging her. “I’m Father Emerson. I’ve come to see Mr. Kaiser.”

The nurse’s smile fell away. “He’s not allowed visitors.”

“I’m not here on a social call, ma’am. I’m here to see if Mr. Kaiser would like to offer a last confession.”

The nurse looked uncertain. “He’s conscious and aware. Mostly. I suppose he can say no.”

“And if he does, I’ll leave. I promise.” But he hoped that Kaiser would want to talk, though he wasn’t entirely certain what he wanted the man to say.

Perhaps give an apology, he thought, then had yet another moment of self-doubt. This was stupid. Maybe even illegal. But not dangerous. The man was no threat to anyone now. He’d paced outside the hospital for hours before forcing himself to come in. Now he was here and he was going to talk to the bastard. He at least needed to know why.

Although he knew why. At least he knew what Diesel, Dani, and the cops believed to be true. That Kaiser had thought Wesley was a pedophile and had eliminated him along with John Brewer.

But deep down, Grant could admit that he wished Wesley’s death had been an accident. That maybe, just maybe, he’d been killed because he’d tried to protect one of Kaiser’s other victims. That he’d died heroically.

Not because Wes had been blinded by his need for revenge and gone into a sting completely vulnerable, without backup. Without caring if he survived or not.

That would be a waste of a life, and Wesley deserved better than that. Laurel deserved better than that. Hell, I deserve better, too.

“This way, Father,” the nurse said, leading him to the ICU room that housed the man who’d killed his brother. A police officer stood outside the door, feet planted firmly. “This is Father Emerson,” she said to the cop, and he gave Grant a nod.

Damn, that was easy. If he’d wanted to kill the guy, he could have. Nobody had frisked him. Nobody had even double-checked his ID.

He paused inside Kaiser’s room, his own thought penetrating the numbness in his mind. If I wanted to kill the guy, I could.

Do I want to?

Yes. But there were hostages. Innocent people. A woman and her baby. Grant had read the articles online. Kaiser had used the woman to escape, then killed another young man after hiring him to buy baby supplies. He was keeping the woman and baby alive to buy his escape.