Page 30 of Dead O’Clock

“Damien Rhodes!” a voice called over a loud speaker. “The house is surrounded. Come out with your hands up. SWAT is on scene and will breach if you do not come out voluntarily.”

“What the fuck is happening?” Fitz shouted, running toward the officer with the megaphone.

The living room light flashed on revealing a woman standing in the window. It was Sarah, the receptionist from the public defender’s office. “He’s got a hostage!” Ronan shouted. Rhodes stepped out from behind her. He held what looked like a taser to her head.

“Ronan, we need you on the megaphone. Talk to Rhodes.” Fitzgibbon handed the device to Ronan.

“I’m here, Rhodes.” Ronan’s voice sounded tinny through the megaphone. “You don’t need Sarah. Let her go.”

“You took everything from me!” Rhodes shouted. “This bitch can fry for all I care!”

“Let her go, Rhodes and I’ll take her place.” Ronan set the megaphone down and held his hands out.

“Ronan, no!” Fitz shouted.

Ronan kept his eye on the front window of the house. He heard Fitzgibbon, but couldn’t afford to look away. “If I’m the object of your sick game, take me.” Ronan crossed the street and climbed the stairs. He kicked the front door with his boot. “Here I am. Send Sarah out!”

“It’s a trick! When I open the door they’ll shoot me,” Rhodes yelled back.

“It’s not a trick. Have Sarah open the door and walk outside. She’s not part of this. Let her go.” Ronan didn’t know if his plea would work. All he knew at the moment was that he was on a short leash. It wasn’t going to take much for the SWAT team to come barreling toward the front door. He was sure there were men stationed at the back of the house. All were waiting for the command to go.

The front door opened slowly. Ronan could see Sarah. She was terrified. Dried blood was crusted to the left side of her head where Rhodes had hit her with something. “That’s right, Sarah. Come on out.”

“He’s fucking nuts. He’s going to kill you. Don’t go in there. Don’t-” Whatever Sarah had been about to say died in her throat when members of the SWAT team grabbed her and pulled her away from the house.

“Ronan,” Fitzgibbon shouted. “Do not go into that house.”

“Sorry, Cap. A deal’s a deal.” Knowing he was the stupidest man on earth, Ronan walked into Michael Miller’s house and shut the door behind him. “Damien Rhodes, I presume?”

“You know damn well who I am!” Rhodes shot back. Damien Rhodes wore black jeans with a black tee. His hair looked as if it hadn’t been washed in several days, while his eyes were red and bloodshot.

“We met at the prison after Josh was murdered,” Ronan said, even though he didn’t ever remember meeting this man, he did remember seeing him in a cell. He’d been focused on finding out what happened to Josh so that he, Ten, and the rest of the team could get the hell out of the prison.

“After you got him killed, you mean.” Anger burned bright in Rhodes’s dark eyes.

Ronan stared at Rhodes. The man looked as if he hadn’t slept in several days. He had that hauntingly crazed look in his eyes Ronan had when Josh walked out on him and their marriage. “You know who my husband is. You know what he can do.”

“He couldn’t read me.” Rhodes aimed the taser at Ronan.

Ronan wasn’t going to answer to that claim for now. “I met Tennyson during my investigation of the Michael Frye case. He’d just helped police find a kidnapped boy and I called him to help me find Michael, who, at the time, had been missing for seven years. He was kidnapped right out of his own front yard when he was only five years old.”

“You know Josh was innocent. He didn’t kidnap that brat and he sure as hell didn’t murder him.”

“That’s not what Michael Frye said. He told Tennyson that Josh was his killer. This child’s ghost had no skin in the game. He had no reason to lie. Not only was he dead, but his disappearance tore his family apart. We found Josh’s DNA with Michael’s body. Josh knew he was about to be arrested so he kidnapped Tennyson to get to me. Josh confessed to the crime.” Ronan paused, trying to assess Rhodes’s mental state. Was he listening to what Ronan was saying or was he about to go nuclear?

“I loved Josh and he loved me. We had plans to build a life together.” It was obvious Damien had been close to Josh. What Ronan wanted to know was at what cost?

Ronan sighed. “Build a life? Like the life he built with me? I was so stupidly in love with Josh that I didn’t want to see he was dicking every man he could get his hands on. He dumped me for a woman and when she divorced him after he went to prison, started a relationship with you. He was sentenced to life with no parole. How the hell were you going to build a life together?”

“Josh had a new attorney who was preparing a new appeal. His verdict was about to be overturned. He was going to be set free.”

“No, that’s not true.” Ronan watched as Rhodes’s face crumpled. “Josh was out of appeals. I was in contact with his lawyers through every step of the appeal process. I wanted to make sure nothing slipped through the cracks and set Josh loose on society. His final appeal was denied a month before he was murdered. He had no shot of ever being released. You were no longer his cellmate and had been moved out of his block. Josh had nothing else to live for.”

“He lied?” Rhodes sounded as if he were asking himself the question, rather than Ronan. “That’s not possible. Josh would never lie to me.”

Once upon a time Ronan had felt the same way. “I understand you wanting to come for me, but why the others? What did you get out of killing Crews and Jones?”

“Revenge!” Rhodes shouted. “Revenge was all I had left. Miller was a shitty attorney. He made the deal that sent me to prison for nearly ten years. There was more he could have done to mitigate my sentence, but he was too lazy. Those last years in prison after Josh died were hell. I was beaten, left in the hole, wasn’t given access to commissary, all on Jones’s orders. Then when parole was in sight, Crews voted against me. Said I was a danger to society. He was right and now he’s dead. I knew killing them all would set me free.”