Heaving a long breath, Stone dragged his hand though his hair before taking a seat at the desk, resting his hands on the table. He bowed his head again, not allowing Sadie to see the anguish on his face. Although he knew it could be heard in his voice.
“Cavanaugh and Shaw were taken in, given Breathalyzers. Both of them were well past the legal limit. Cavanaugh was charged with vehicular manslaughter, tried and sentenced to seven years in prison. Shaw was cited and ticketed for underage drinking. He paid his fines and spent his summer doing community service before heading off to college that fall.”
“Stone, I don’t understand. If…” Sadie was shaking her head when Stone interrupted her.
“Shaw was the driver.”
“What?” she whispered.
“Shaw was driving that night; he was the one who killed that woman, not Cavanaugh.”
“Then, why would Cavanaugh take the blame, he had to know he’d go to jail.”
Stone released a disgusted snarl. “I’m sure he did but Shaw’s family gave him an offer he couldn’t refuse. They paid him off. Cavanaugh was a kid with no future and Shaw was a kid with a bright one. So, Bryant Cavanaugh took the money, did the time, while Barry Shaw went off to college. The end, right? Not quite, because when Cavanaugh got out of jail, he paid Shaw a visit. Apparently, Cavanaugh was greatly underestimated by the Shaw’s, which Barry Shaw found out when he was played a recording of Shaw’s father bribing Cavanaugh to take the wrap. It included Shaw admitting he was the one driving the car.”
“Oh my God,” Sadie whispered.
“Yeah, so a deal was made. Someday Cavanaugh would come calling for a favor and Shaw would oblige. You want to guess what that favor was, Sadie?”
“Alibi.” Sadie whispered in a broken voice.
He snorted. “Yeah, that motherfucker knew, he fucking knew that he could kill that little girl and get away with it. He knew Shaw would fulfill his obligation.”
Stone jumped up and walked over to the far wall near the windows again. His enraged eyes stared into Sadie’s. She was sickened by it all. And this was part of his life.
“So where do you fall in this?” she quietly asked. She was twisting her hands together. Stone stared at her hands. She only did that when she was nervous. He looked back up at her face, her beautiful face. Fuck! He was going to lose her.
“I’m a bounty hunter, Sadie, that’s my job. Everything Ethan told you about our company is true.” He sighed. “But we do have other assignments. Cavanaugh was one of them.”
“What kind of assignments?” Sadie whispered.
He took a deep breath and leaned against the wall. He raised his eyes to the ceiling before looking down to meet hers. His angry eyes had changed to sadness. His next words were going to break them.
“We were hired to find Cavanaugh. He went off the grid right after he was released. Our job was to find him and deliver him to the clients.” Stone inhaled another deep breath and released it with his next words. “Our clients are the victim’s family.”
“What did they do to him?”
“What would you do to the man that raped and murdered your little girl?” he countered with an angry scowl and a bite in his tone. He immediately regretted snapping at her when he saw her flinch. He took another breath and exhaled. “We are hired to find and deliver. We don’t play a part in anything beyond that, usually. We have associates that deal with the aftermath. Don’t bother asking for details, I can’t and won’t give them to you.”
“So you found and delivered Cavanaugh to his death?” Sadie asked solemnly.
Stone nodded.
“And the other guy, Shaw, what happened to him?”
“I can’t tell you any more than that, Sadie.”
There was a long silence between them. Stone watched Sadie as she took in everything he just said. He was a vigilante. Stone looked down at her hands as they trembled. Her face was distraught. If this was it, then Stone was going to put it all out for her to see. He told her what he did, now he was going to tell her why.
“We come in when the law fails to give the victim’s families the justice they deserve. The justice they want. We get them the justice they need. You don’t see what I see, Sadie. I see them, the ones left behind. I see their pain, so much fucking pain—it filters into who I am. Have you ever seen someone lose the most important person in their life? The person they live for, smile for, fight for? The one they breathe for? These people are so much more than a victim’s family. They are victims, too. Broken, ruined victims. It’s a battle to just get out of bed because their pain is so real, so raw. They feel like it’s going to swallow them whole. Every day they wake up knowing they have to live without their child. They have to find a way to get up in the morning, go to work, live their lives. They’ll never hear her laugh again, see her smile, smell her scent, they’ve lost everything. There is no greater loss to a parent than loss of their child. And because of a lie, this child’s killer walks. He gets to laugh, smile, and just breathe. He gets to live and he’s free to hurt again. And he would, Sadie, eventually he would do it again. But not Cavanaugh. He will never hurt another child again. I sleep better at night knowing that and so do the victim’s families. They deserve an eye for an eye and I’m willing to help them get justice…at any means. They heal from it, Sadie. They can go on knowing that no other child will die from this killer, no parent will go through this pain. They get their justice and they heal knowing their
