Blood spurted from his mouth, spraying over Ripley’s face. Ripley screamed, and I lunged forward in unison with Rowe, Mae, and Liam.
But Vincent had Ripley up in his arms before any of us could reach him, gently wiping off the blood with the sleeve of his black shirt.
Zye slumped over on the grass, knife still buried deep in his flesh, blood trickling from the wound.
But I couldn’t worry about him bleeding out at our feet. Ripley had his arms tight around Vincent’s neck, and that didn’t help the thumping of my heart.
Vincent was just as psychotic as Zye. But he and I had a connection. And however the hell he’d gotten out of prison, he’d come here. That had to have something to do with me.
Or Mae.
That thought instilled as much fear as Ripley in Vincent’s arms. Subtly, I put myself between Mae and Vincent, blocking her from his sight.
“Vincent.” I stepped toward him cautiously, like I was approaching a bull that might gore me—or the little boy in his arms—at any moment. “He’s scared. Can you give him to me?”
Vincent nodded, moving toward me. “Of course.” He patted Ripley on the back, but his gaze remained on me. “I’m sorry for all the blood. That wasn’t how I intended to do it, but then he started talking about guns, and teaching Ripley to…” He shook his head. “That’s how I grew up. I don’t want that for him.”
I breathed a sigh of relief when they reached me, and Vincent tried to hand him over.
But Ripley’s arms tightened around Vincent’s neck. “Don’t leave again! Stay here with us. My dad and Heath and Liam and Mae will let you! Heath is hiding, too. You can hide together. You don’t have to go again!”
Rowe, Liam, and Mae all looked as shocked as I felt, all of us staring at the unlikely pairing.
Vincent tried to pry Ripley’s arms from around his neck. “I promise, I’ll come back another day.”
Ripley’s friend.
We’d thought it was Zye. And then we’d dismissed it entirely. “You’re the man he’s been talking about?”
“I dropped by a few times to check on you and Miss Donovan. Didn’t you get my housewarming gifts?”
“Housewarming gifts?”
He nodded. “I left some flowers in the kitchen for Mae, and a knife for you, Heath. I didn’t want to intrude on your family time. But Ripley and I got to talking whenever I dropped by. We’re friends now.”
I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Not exactly good, but I also knew that while Vincent might be a little unhinged, he protected those he cared about.
We weren’t all that different in that respect.
I managed to get Ripley from his arms and immediately passed him to Rowe and Mae. The two of them wrapped him between them, forming a shield around him. Rowe clutching his son to his chest with Mae sobbing into the back of Ripley’s T-shirt.
I swiveled back to Vincent. “How the hell did you even get out? I didn’t see anything on the news.”
He lifted one shoulder. “Wasn’t hard from the psych ward. That place desperately needs an upgrade of security.”
Mae spoke up. “The men in class were talking about them losing a patient. I didn’t believe them…”
It was Rowe who came up with a theory. “Tabor would have covered it up. He would have already been mortified over Heath getting out. The entire system would be under review if he had two prison breaks to his name.”
There was a ripple of agreement from all of us.
With that decided, our gazes strayed to Zye on the ground. Mae blanched, like she’d only just remembered he was there. Rowe turned away so Ripley wouldn’t see.
But Ripley wouldn’t be swayed. He kept looking to Vincent. “Please come with us? I want to show you my Spider-Man toy.”
But Vincent shook his head. “I’ve got to go, little friend. And it’s past your bedtime.”
Rowe hesitated, then held a hand out to Vincent.
Vincent looked down at it with interest, then took it to shake.
“Thank you,” Rowe said quietly.
Vincent seemed pleased by that, but then his expression dropped. “Unfortunately, I’m not just here for a social visit. I came to get Heath.”
“What do you mean?” Mae asked.
“I heard Zye on the phone on the way in. He has a friend calling in your location in…” He checked the time on a phone he pulled from his pocket. “About five minutes.”
I stared at him.
Vincent misunderstood my silence for confusion and spelled it out for me. “He was never going to just walk away, even if you had given him Ripley. The cops will be here in fifteen minutes, Heath. You need to get out of here.”
I stared down at Zye’s body. And then at the shocked faces of my family. I couldn’t. I turned back to Vincent. “I can’t leave with a body here a few hundred feet from the house.”
Vincent frowned, but his tone remained calm and patient as always. “Of course not. But I haven’t needed longer than fifteen minutes to clear a murder scene since I was twelve.”
“Twelve?” I choked out. Who the hell was this man? What kind of family had a child killing at twelve?
One who liked to.
I shuddered.
“I’ll take care of this.” Vincent gave me a stern look. “Go. You can’t end up back in prison. You’ll have a lethal injection in your arm in under a week if you do.”
He paused, waiting for me to move.
My feet felt like they were made of lead.
“Go, Heath!”
I blinked, stumbling back, away from Vincent and the body of the life taken. Then Liam was at my back, shoving me toward the house, all of us running, me still barefoot and in slightly damp swim trunks from a day of fun that now felt like a lifetime away.
Liam sprinted ahead, faster than all of us thanks to his baseball fitness. By the time we reached the clearing, Ripley still clutched to Rowe’s chest, Liam was back outside with car keys in his hand. He threw them at me and put the gun against my palm. “Go.” He shoved me frantically toward the car. “Go, Heath!”
I glanced around at them. I couldn’t leave. Not like this. Not without time to say goodbye. Where the hell was I gonna go? I had nobody else. “I can’t.”