I finally freed my mouth from her grasp. “You’re a killer!” I gasped. “A murderer. All this time, you’ve been laughing at me, letting me chase silly cases so I wouldn’t pay attention to what was right in front of me.”
“I am not a murderer,” she said firmly. “But I won’t admit that I’m not a killer.”
“Don’t touch me.” I shook from head to toe with fear. Anywhere Evelyn’s body connected with mine felt like it was on fire. All I wanted was to get away from her. “I don’t know you. You’re not my friend.”
“I’m the same person I’ve always been,” she replied. “Even if I have a terrible job.”
“Get off!” I said louder, squirming. If she touched me for a second longer, I might burst into flames. “Get off, get off, get off!”
Evelyn leaned back but kept her hand flat against the wall to keep me inside the alcove. I knew better than to attempt escape. She would stop me in a heartbeat, and with that knife in her pocket, I had no idea what her plans were.
She reached into her shirt and pulled out the owl-shaped locket. Pressing her thumb against it, she popped it open to reveal a small black capsule.
“See this?” she said, letting me look closer. “It’s cyanide. If I don’t do my job correctly, if the people I hunt get away or capture me, I’m contractually obligated to crack this capsule between my teeth and kill myself.”
Stunned, I forgot about my escape attempt. Evelyn closed the locket and tucked it away.
“My biggest fear is having to put that capsule in my mouth,” she told me. “You know why? Because it would mean leaving you, Jack. I can’t do that to you, not when everyone else has already left you. Regardless of what you think, I am still your best friend. I simply left out the details of my employment.”
“You’re a liar,” I said. “And a fraud.”
“I won’t deny that,” she conceded. “But I did what I thought was necessary. By now, you might have guessed that the Wagner Company doesn’t just provide personal security. We have other duties.”
“Killing,” I added for her. “You’re an assassin.”
“Wagner calls us enforcers,” she said. “Assassin has a negative connotation to it.” She studied me with a worried look. “You are incredibly pale. Should we go to the doctor?”
When she reached for me, I slapped her hand away.
“Don’t touch me,” I ordered again, turning from her. “I can’t—I can’t look at you. God, I can’t do this, Evelyn. I can’t be around you.”
Evelyn’s voice thickened as she replied. “Jack, you don’t understand. I’m not the same as the people you hunt down. I eliminate people who are casting undue harm upon others. We’re a private sector with offices all over the world. This is much more common than you’d think.”
“Who are you?” I asked her.
“I’m the same—”
“No, I meant who are you to judge if someone should live or die?” I demanded. “Where do you get your orders from? Do you know why your hits are assigned to you?”
“I get a case file on each one,” she answered. “These are abhorrent men. Prison won’t stop them from wreaking havoc. This is the only way to keep others safe from them.”
I stared at her, unable to process the words coming out of her mouth. “You blindly follow Wagner’s demands. You never question their reasoning.”
“On the contrary, I question Wagner often.” She yanked out her ponytail and let her hair flow freely around her shoulders. “But I’m one of the best in the world. I don’t fail, Jack. I never have, and I never will. And no matter what you think of me—whether you call me a murderer or not—I won’t regret the things I’ve done. My job keeps you and many other people safe.”
“I didn’t ask you to keep me safe,” I snapped.
She looked down at me. “You ask me every single day, Jack.”
My pulse thumped so quickly that I could feel it in my throat. “What about that man? What’s going to happen to him?”
“I’m sure someone will find him shortly,” she said, numb and detached. “His death will be reported to the police, but no one will ever figure out who killed him.”
I bowed my head and plugged my ears, wishing I could drown out Evelyn’s voice. “I can’t believe you. I can’t believe this.”
She reached to comfort me, but I jerked away, cowering against the wall of the alcove.
“Are you—” She cleared her throat. “Are you scared of me?”
My lower lip trembled.
“Jack, I would never hurt you,” Evelyn said. “I swear. I’m so sorry about all of this, but I couldn’t tell you about the Wagner Company. It is, truly, confidential.”
“And now that I’ve found out?” I asked.
“It puts you in danger,” she answered. “If you say anything or report me to the police, no good will come of it. Wagner will silence the case, suspend and hide me, and likely make you disappear too.” She swallowed hard. “If you don’t say anything and keep this to yourself, we can avoid all of that nonsense.”
I laughed heartlessly. “Nonsense. Is that what you call it? Do you even care about Marie’s wedding or were you just here to murder someone?”
“I wasn’t lying to you before,” she said. “When Wagner figured out that man would be in Chicago at the same time as myself, they arranged for me to make the hit. I’ve been studying his patterns for the last two weeks. That’s why I’ve been absent from the wedding plans.”
“What happens now?” I asked. “Where do we go from here?”
“You tell me,” she replied. “If I let you go, are you going to go straight to your new cop friend? Detective Arnold or whatever her name is?”
“What happens if I say yes?”
She bit her lip and looked away. “Jack, Wagner will send a cleaner after you.”
“A what?”
“A
