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Chapters (73)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Prologue
  4. Chapter One
  5. Chapter Two
  6. Chapter Three
  7. Chapter Four
  8. Chapter Five
  9. Chapter Six
  10. Chapter Seven
  11. Chapter Eight
  12. Chapter Nine
  13. Chapter Ten
  14. Chapter Eleven
  15. Chapter Twelve
  16. Chapter Thirteen
  17. Chapter Fourteen
  18. Chapter Fifteen
  19. Chapter Sixteen
  20. Chapter Seventeen
  21. Chapter Eighteen
  22. Chapter Nineteen
  23. Chapter Twenty
  24. Chapter Twenty-One
  25. Chapter Twenty-Two
  26. Chapter Twenty-Three
  27. Chapter Twenty-Four
  28. Chapter Twenty-Five
  29. Chapter Twenty-Six
  30. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  31. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  32. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  33. Chapter Thirty
  34. Chapter Thirty-One
  35. Chapter Thirty-Two
  36. Chapter Thirty-Three
  37. Chapter Thirty-Four
  38. Chapter Thirty-Five
  39. Chapter Thirty-Six
  40. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  41. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  42. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  43. Chapter Forty
  44. Chapter Forty-One
  45. Chapter Forty-Two
  46. Chapter Forty-Three
  47. Chapter Forty-Four
  48. Chapter Forty-Five
  49. Chapter Forty-Six
  50. Chapter Forty-Seven
  51. Chapter Forty-Eight
  52. Chapter Forty-Nine
  53. Chapter Fifty
  54. Chapter Fifty-One
  55. Chapter Fifty-Two
  56. Chapter Fifty-Three
  57. Chapter Fifty-Four
  58. Chapter Fifty-Five
  59. Chapter Fifty-Six
  60. Chapter Fifty-Seven
  61. Chapter Fifty-Eight
  62. Chapter Fifty-Nine
  63. Chapter Sixty
  64. Chapter Sixty-One
  65. Chapter Sixty-Two
  66. Chapter Sixty-Three
  67. Chapter Sixty-Four
  68. A Letter From Rob
  69. Acknowledgements
  70. DI Dani Stephens
  71. Books by Rob Sinclair
  72. About the Author
  73. Also by Rob Sinclair

And what does all this mean for me? My brother, too, is a killer, and now I’ve taken two lives with my own hands. Was that pure survival? Was it because of my TBI and my damaged frontal lobes and my newfound anger – which I still feel rumbling away inside, even if I feel more adept at controlling the outbursts now?

Have I always been capable of such violence?

Perhaps Ben was right after all. There really is a killer inside everyone.

One thing that’s clear to me is that I don’t regret what I did, even if it does disturb me to know what I’m capable of. Ethan and Mary Grant are buried six feet under, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s good riddance.

Jason and I make our way down in the lift and haul the luggage across the street to Jason’s car.

‘Give me the keys,’ I say. ‘You shouldn’t really be driving.’

‘I’m fine,’ Jason says.

‘I don’t give a damn. I’m driving. I know you can take care of me, but I can take care of you too.’

Jason says nothing. For so long he’s watched out for me. Even when I was pushing him away. Even when I hated him for treating me like an invalid during my recovery. Or like a child. I now see that he did it only out of love. I need to show him I can care for him too. That my love for him is as unwavering as his is for me.

He grabs the keys and slings them over to me. I catch them and we dump the suitcases in the boot and get into the car. I fire up the engine. I look back up at the apartment block.

‘I should have done this months ago,’ I say.

That apartment represents the darkest part of my life, I realise, and the feelings of anger, depression, alienation and reclusiveness would never go away if I stayed.

‘Yeah, but you’ve always been so damn stubborn, DI Stephens.’

‘And you’ve always been such a charmer.’

‘You’re getting out now,’ Jason says. ‘A fresh start. With me. That’s the main thing.’

I say nothing to that. I take one last look up to the sixth floor of the apartment block, then say goodbye to that place, and that part of my life, once and for all.

A Letter From Rob

Thank you for reading The Essence of Evil. It’s always a great pleasure and relief to finally send a book out into the world after so many months of work and revisions, and this book in particular has been in the works for a very long time!