Chapter 56

Sitting at his table near the guard station, Gavin wanted to crow. Even with the added curveball of Lila’s involvement, his plan had worked just as he had conceived it. In a matter of hours, he would be free to take the next steps, the ones that would ensure that he would never again lose sleep over his mistakes. He would put a stop to Lila before she could put a stop to him.

Like a child waiting for Christmas, he felt as though time had slowed to a near dead stop, the clock’s second hand cruelly lingering before sliding to the next dot. Yet at the same time, Gavin’s mind spun at a fever pitch, jumping from one idea to the next.

He finally calmed himself by thinking about war, specifically the idea that in every war there has to be a last soldier to die—that guy who did everything right, surviving battle after battle, dodging bullets and bombs, only to get shot by some asshole who refused to believe that the end had come. That last soldier let down his guard, believing that some finish line had already been crossed when in truth it remained miles away. Gavin resolved that he would not be that last dead soldier.

The dismissal of his case would not mark the end of a war but merely the start of a new battle. There was still much that Gavin needed to do, beginning with the task of eliminating Jack and any other path that might lead back to him. Once again Gavin’s mind turned to war, but this time he thought of the great generals who in the midst of loss and disarray, ignored calls for retreat and instead ordered counterattacks. They understood that opportunity is found in chaos, and that victory belongs to the bold and to those who kept their wits.

Gavin would not fall back. He would not watch as detectives drew a line from Sadie to Jack to him. Gavin would be bold.

At two-thirty, Gavin walked with a guard through the tunnel that led to court. He carried his green folder and secret SIM card with him because he expected them to toss his cell while he was gone. How could they not? Sadie Vauk had been murdered, and no one in the world wanted her dead more than he did. They would know he orchestrated her death. But it’s not what they knew that mattered, but what they could prove. Those were the rules.

The jailer paused outside of the courtroom and asked Gavin to hand over his folder. Pulling the papers out, the jailer shook them as though expecting something nefarious to fall out. Then he checked inside the pockets, a quick glance into each, before returning the papers and the folder to Gavin.

Could they have been any more predictable?

The guard walked him into the courtroom and to the table where Leo Reecey sat waiting.

“Any surprises coming?” he asked Reecey.