That, also—that same angry email—was when I told King Edward never to contact me again. If what he’d done to me was love, then I was going to find the opposite of love, I said. I’d go straight back to Intimate Links and answer an ad that wanted nothing more than sex, nothing more than a body to use; it would be less soul-destroying.

And so King Edward created Gavin.

If I’d only ignored his last email, there’d have been no Gavin, no humiliating encounter with a policeman in a supermarket parking lot, no involvement in a murder case.

No murder at all?

Very possibly.

It serves me right that I’ve been dragged into the police investigation. If it weren’t for that last email I sent King Edward in February, Damon Blundy might well still be alive.

MY PHONE BUZZES ON the table. I grab it.

A new message.

I gasp when I see the name in my inbox. I wrote to Gavin’s address—[email protected]—but it’s King Edward who’s replied from the address that’s been engraved in my mind since 2010: [email protected]. Same subject heading as in my email to Gavin: “Meet?”

My heart hammers in my chest. I drop my phone, pick it up again.

You knew Gavin was King Edward.

Of course I knew, but now the last sliver of doubt is gone.

I open the message.

Hi Nicki,

It would be unreasonable of me to refuse your request, wouldn’t it? After everything I’ve put you through. Am I unreasonable? Not to that extent, no. Yes, we can meet as soon as possible. At the Chancery Hotel again. Make the arrangements and tell me when. Like last time, I will arrive at the appointed hour. You’ll be waiting for me, as you were last time. In **all** respects, as you were last time. Yes, even the blindfold, which, once again, you must promise not to remove at any point during our meeting. You must also promise, like last time, not to speak a single word.

You said in your message, “We need to meet and talk.” I will talk. You will listen. I’m confident that, once you’ve heard everything I have to say, you will know what you want and need to know. You will know who killed Damon Blundy. (I know you think it was me. You’re wrong.)

Am I unreasonable? I suppose I am. Those are my conditions. I hope you will agree to them.

Trust me, Nicki, I won’t harm you. I love you.

KE7

DING DONG, HYPOCRISY IS ALIVE AND WELL
Damon Blundy, April 16, 2013, Daily Herald Online