by Mia Thompson
“I’m not the enemy, I love you!”
Sapphire’s finger was rigid over the trigger. She didn’t know whether to pull or not. The confusion was painful. She felt like the two voices were tearing at each of her arms and severing her down the middle.
“Love, Sapphire? Come on,” William Dubois hurried. “You know he could never love you for the vile creature he thinks you are, just like Vivienne could never have loved me had she known the truth. And we certainly don’t love them. We’re incapable. Now pull the trigger!”
His words bounced around her head. The menacing confusion lifted and she looked at her father. “You might be incapable, but I’m not.”
All Sapphire had seen since she killed Richard Martin were the morbid similarities between herself and her father. She’d missed the one fundamental thing that separated them. Love. Sapphire loved Aston. Julia. Her mother. Chrissy. Father O’Riley. She understood it now. She chose to kill Richard Martin because of her love for Charles, not because she was a killer.
Sapphire’s vision adjusted back to normal. Richard Martin was nowhere to be found, instead there was only Aston. He stood four feet away, bleeding. God, she’d shot Aston.
“You don’t know what you’re throwing away!” Anger ruled her father’s voice.
Sapphire looked back at his furious face and lowered her gun, finally seeing William Dubois for what he really was. He wasn’t powerful, unbeatable, or God. He was a sad man, incapable of the one emotion that made even the harshest life bearable.
“I pity you.” Sapphire felt a release inside her as she spoke the words.
Her father’s expression distorted into something dark and cruel.
“Sapphire?” Shelly’s confused voice called from the altar. A whimper escaped her as she pulled on her arms.
“We don’t need you!” Her father turned to Shelly with a vicious look. “We don’t need anyone!”
He held the knife over Shelly’s chest and she let out a blood curdling scream.
“No!” Sapphire raised the gun at her father. Aston launched in behind her and slipped his arm over hers. He corrected the aim swiftly, placed his finger over Sapphire’s and pulled the trigger twice.
The bullets buried in William’s chest and his knife dropped to the floor. Sapphire exhaled, watching her father fall to his knees and touch his bleeding chest.
Aston carefully guided her hand down, then took the gun.
“I would’ve done it,” Sapphire whispered.
“I know.” Aston’s voice was firm. “But no one should have to live with that.”
A wheezing came from the altar. Her father called her name, over and over. Sapphire felt a sudden need. She had to be by her father’s side when he died, killer or not.
“Help me out.” Sapphire grabbed the pew and pulled at her chain. “Help me out!”
Aston gripped the pew and they both lifted. Sapphire slid the chain out and ran toward the altar. She dropped to her knees in front her father.
“Sapphire.” He grabbed her hand with force. “When the time comes, don’t do what I did. Don’t choose the hunt.”
Sapphire shook her head and spoke with conviction. “I only went after killers because I knew my father was one. You’re the one I was hunting.”
“Well… you caught me,” he said, full of wonder. His eyes shifted to the star-filled sky above. “There it is.”
“What?” Sapphire asked, clenching his hand.
“Silence.” Serenity entered her father’s face. His eyes, the color of her own, glossed over, and his hand grew limp in hers.
Sapphire exhaled and shut his eyes.
Aston had said her father had given her some sort of drug, but whatever it was must’ve worn off, because Sapphire’s mind had never felt so clear. She stood and turned to Aston who was helping Shelly down. The man loved her despite what she’d done; what more could she ask for? She watched him scoop Shelly up in his arms.
“I don’t understand. I don’t understand,” Shelly McCormick cried.
“It’s okay,” Aston hushed, then groaned at the strain of his injured arm.
“Aston…” Sapphire called.
He walked right past her with Shelly cradled to his chest, his body stiff. “You should clear out. I have to call it in.”
“But…” Sapphire watched him walk down the aisle, “are you okay? I’m sorry I—”
“I’m fine,” he cut off, his voice detached.
The horrible suspicion grew in Sapphire as she watched him walk away. Aston couldn’t even look at her.
“That story,” she whispered, “the one about your partner being put in the hospital… it was a lie.”
When he turned to face her, his stare was iced with detachment. “Yes.”
Then he walked out. Sapphire’s heart contracted in pain and a dense fear spread in her chest. Aston could handle a lot of things, but to be shot by her, witnessing her almost kill a woman, and hearing her confess to willingly killing a man, may have been too much.
Her father said Aston couldn’t love her after knowing what she did, and that he would say anything to get her to put the gun down.
Sapphire stood alone in the ruins of the dark church and stared after the man she loved.
With all the things her father had wrong, it seemed William Dubois got one thing right.
Chapter 22
Sapphire rolled down the window to let the hot wind pull her hair and blow at her sunglasses as she sped down the Pacific Coast Highway. She watched the sparkling water slam into the taupe mountain below. She’d miss seeing the California coastline, the dry hills, even the congested roads.
It had been four days since her father died at the abandoned church, and four days since Aston walked away from her. She’d called him, but he never picked up. The message was clear. He wanted nothing to do her. No wonder.
There hadn’t been a peep from the jury yet—an unusually long deliberation, Mr. Goldstein said—but when it did come in, she was certain they’d lock her up. Then her bank app beeped: the funds had transferred. Aston’s rejection and the incoming money were signs, she’d thought.
It was time to get the hell out of L.A.
Sapphire began her search for a pilot to take her to South America. There, she’d make sure she never stayed anywhere long enough to leave a trail. This would be the free and wonderful life she’d gotten a taste of in Paris.
But when Sapphire started packing, a life without constraints and obligations didn’t feel like freedom anymore. It felt like she was about to enter eternal solitude. Total seclusion was the wish of someone from a long time ago, a different Sapphire. But what choice did she have now?
She’d been in the middle of writing farewell letters when the BHPD car pulled up outside of the mansion. She’d rushed for the door, foolishly believing it was Aston. Of course it wasn’t; Aston was a detective and didn’t drive a cop car.
“Here.” Barry had handed her a wallet. “Aston thought you should have this.”
The cop left and Sapphire opened the wallet. It belonged to her father and was filled with fake IDs. She’d walked back upstairs as she flipped through every fake name, every state. New York, Illinois, Florida, Massachusetts.
She’d stopped at the entrance of her room and looked at her suitcase filled to the brim. That’s when she realized the life on the run ahead of her in South America, was the life of her father. She had to make a choice. Run to stay out of prison. Or stay, and deal with the consequences of her actions.
Sapphire took one last look at the ocean before she pulled off the PCH and into the heart of Malibu. She knew she’d made the right choice. If Sapphire wanted to be the opposite of her father, she had to act the opposite of him.
She stepped out and took in the beauty of the lush landscape while she could. She would miss it all when she went to prison.
Sapphire walked up to the compound, a mansion surrounded by tiny guest houses, and rang the doorbell. She spotted her mother and the other women at the po
ol behind a gate.
Vivienne pushed her sunglasses to the tip of her nose. “Sapphire?”
Bianca opened the door and Sapphire pushed herself into the massive mansion filled with exorbitant furniture, no doubt paid for by all of Søren’s women.
A moan escaped from a door to her left. Sapphire pushed it open and took in a scene that could only be described in one word: Yucky.
The woman, who was on top—figures—screamed and rolled off Søren.
“Hello, Søren.”
“Michelle, why don’t you give us a moment?” Søren kept his eyes on Sapphire as Michelle scrambled for her clothes and hurried out the door.
Søren grabbed a robe, then placed his arms behind his head with confidence. “Have you come to join the Camaraderie of Light?”
“Please,” Sapphire sneered and waved the envelope. “Here’s the five hundred grand you asked for. Will you tell my mother she can go home now?”
“The comrades thank you for your gift of light. I’ll allow your mother to leave.” His face swelled with arrogance. “Of course, we will always be her family.”
Psycho cult leader translation: I will keep blackmailing you until you’re bled dry.
“You know, intelligence intrigues me.” Sapphire walked up to the window and watched the women, her mother, outside by the pool. “To fool so many women and to build this mansion off of such a simple lie is highly intelligent. How did you do it?”
“If you think I’ll tell you, and then you’ll be able to tell your mother, you’re wrong. I’ve trained them to believe that any bad things people say about me are words of darkness.”
“I know that. Like I said, your intelligence intrigues me.”
Pride glazed Søren’s eyes. “I watch the rehabs until I see the ones that come out looking small and full of self-resentment. Then I accidently run into them. The women, like your mother, are so broken, all I have to do is listen. I act as a psychologist, and then, when their walls are down, I show them the light.”
“And the light is…?”
“The bullshit that feeds their souls and makes them ask how high, when I say jump.”
“You calling my mother dumb?” Sapphire tossed him the envelope.
“Dumb. Desperate. Ignorant. Gullible. All of the above.” He opened the envelope and pulled out the check. His expression turned sour when he saw the amount she wrote.
Zero Hundred Dollars, and Zero cents.
Memo: Suck it.
Sapphire pulled the new recorder out of her purse and pushed the button. “I think this is my favorite part.”
“Dumb. Desperate. Ignorant. Gullible. All of the above.”
Søren’s face dropped farther.
“That, or the part where you explain how you manipulate them. You know what? I think I’ll just play them the whole thing.”
“You bitch!”
“Søren…” Sapphire wagged her finger. “Cursing is a tool of darkness.”
Søren pounced toward her. “You don’t know who you’re messing with!”
Sapphire waited until he came close enough, then did a simple throat chop. He fell to the ground, gasping and grabbing his throat.
“Ditto.” She tilted her head down at him.
“I’ll get more,” he coughed. “There are desperate women all over the world. You can’t stop me.”
“I can’t,” Sapphire agreed. “But since we live in the twenty-first century, the website I’ll post this on might. I’m thinking watchoutforsøren.com. You like?”
Søren let out a scream of frustration as Sapphire headed for the door feeling fulfilled. Although Søren wasn’t a killer, he was her last hurrah before she went to prison.
Fifteen minutes later, Sapphire and Vivienne were in the Range Rover while Søren was on the ground, being kicked by fifteen angry women.
Sapphire’s eyes drew from the narrow road snaking around the hill and onto her mother.
Vivienne sat quiet, deep in thought, then looked at her. “You know… I think I was in a cult.”
Sapphire turned with mock shock. “Noooo.”
“Yes.” She nodded matter-of-factly, then smiled and reached over to pinch Sapphire’s cheek. “But it doesn’t change the fact that I’m a new woman. Your father was right; I need to move on. And, I am going to be a better mother. Try even harder, okay?”
For the first time, Sapphire believed Vivienne meant her words.
“Okay, but…” she eyed her mother who was still pinching her cheek, “maybe not that hard.”
“Got it.” Vivienne put her palms up. “Baby steps.”
Sapphire pulled back onto the PCH, to take in the coastline one last time.
“You know…” Vivienne stared at her. “I never thought the allegations of you being that Serial Catcher person were true.” She paused. “But after your little stunt with Søren… is it? I mean, are you?”
Sapphire would’ve normally lied her ass off at this question, but she was no longer scared of being exposed and she was done keeping everyone at an arm’s length. However…
“Mom,” Sapphire said, “do you really want to know?’
Vivienne thought about it, then let out a half smile and looked out the window. “No.”
Sapphire’s phone rang. She knew it was Mr. Goldstein before she even looked at the screen.
The verdict was in.
• • •
“Detective…”
Aston stared out the window of his office, finger to his mouth. He hadn’t liked the office at first, but it had grown on him.
“Aston…”
He’d hated a lot of things when he first moved to Beverly Hills. The fancy coffee. The pimped out interrogation room. The snobbery. Lastly, the heiresses.
Now he loved his daily macchiato. He enjoyed the snack bar in the always-vacant interrogation room. As for the heiresses…
“Dude!”
Aston swiveled his chair around. “What?”
“Didn’t you hear?” Barry walked up to his desk. “The verdict is in. Let’s go.”
“Is everything ready?”
“Pretty much. I just spoke to him. A few details left to handle.”
“Then I’m not going. I have plans.”
“Plans? We’re talking about Sapphire’s trial here.” Barry’s eyes landed on Aston’s desk and he picked up the paper. “What is this?”
“If you don’t know how to read by now, I can’t help you.” Aston got up.
“I mean, why are you resigning?”
“Haven’t given it to the chief yet, but I’m highly considering it.”
Barry held his arms out in frustration. “To go where?”
“Anywhere, Quantico maybe. With everything that’s gone down, the FBI will welcome me with open arms.” A knock came on the door and Aston walked over to it.
Ginnifer with a G stood on the other side.
“Ready for our date?” she asked, then saw Barry and made an awkward face. “Oh, hi, Barry.”
“Hi.” Barry shut the door. “You’re going to go bone Ginnifer with a G! You’re kidding me?”
“First of all, you said she wasn’t for you. Second of all, I’m not going to bone Ginnifer with a G. I’m going to take her out for lunch. She’s a nice, normal girl. I need someone like her.”
“What about Sapphire?” Barry looked at him in disbelief. “This is the worst ‘will they, won’t they’ ending ever! Worse than Bill and Sookie’s!”
Aston’s stomach churned at her name. Sapphire’s that was, not Sookie’s. “She’s not right in the head, Barry. I thought I knew her, but I don’t.”
His mind shattered four days ago. The drug her father gave her had made her do a lot of things, but lie wasn’t one of them. Aston had been so sure Sapphire wasn’t a killer that the possibility of her attacking Martin because she wanted him dead had never occurred to him.
Aston had killed a lot of people in the line of duty. Had he felt some of them were deserving? Yes. But never had he wanted to.
“What the hell, man?” Aston touched his burning cheek, not sure if he was more shocked over the bitch slap or Barry’s giant balls.
“You’ve pined over Sapphire Dubois for what, almost a year, and now that she wants you, you don’t, because she killed a serial killer? If a man murdered someone I cared about right in front of me, I might have killed him too.” Barry pointed to the door. “And now Ginnifer? Really?”
“You know,” Ginnifer’s voice came from the other side of the door, “these doors aren’t soundproof.”
“It’s a statement.” Aston lowered his voice. “I’m moving the fuck on with my life. With all the things we’ve done for her, it turns out Sapphire actually belongs in prison.” He tapped his head. “She’s fucked up.”
Aston opened the door, then put his arm around Ginnifer and walked her down the hallway.
“Hey…” Barry called and Aston turned. “You might think Sapphire Dubois is crazy, but just for the record, you’re no picnic either.”
Aston scoffed and shook his head, then looked at Barry and felt his face soften. The boy had grown from a pimply newbie to a pimply cop in less than a year. “You’ll make an excellent detective one day, Barry.”
Barry Harry’s face swapped from frustration to shock.
Aston headed to the elevator with the kindhearted, normal girl by his side. The fact that he was going out with Ginnifer did not mean he didn’t love Sapphire. He still did, very much.
Perhaps a part of him would always love her. He just hoped the hole in his chest would get smaller over the years. What Sapphire had done, however, was to change Aston. He was no longer the man who used and disregarded women as he pleased, like he was when he first arrived in Beverly Hills, and that was thanks to Sapphire.
He escorted Ginnifer with a G into the elevator and pushed the button.
Barry had compared him and Sapphire to stories, fairytales, and perhaps this wasn’t the conclusion Aston hoped for when he brought her home from Paris.
When the elevator dinged open, he stepped out of the station and looked up at the gray clouds moving toward them.