“They have the recorded conversations between you and Commissioner Vance.”

Arthur’s chest rose and fell in rapid, shallow breaths.

“You don’t have those,” he muttered. “I kept those in the safe at the estate.”

“You kept the physical drives in the safe,” I said.

“I bought those drives for you.”

“I installed them.”

“Did you really think I didn’t mirror the directory before I initialized the encryption?”

Julian let out a soft, dry laugh.

The sound was like dry autumn leaves scraping across concrete.

“She had you from the day you hired her, Arthur,” Julian said.

Julian took his hand out of his coat.

He was holding a slim silver lighter, not a gun.

He flicked it open, the small yellow flame illuminating his sharp cheekbones.

“I told you she was the brain of your operation,” Julian said.

“You thought you were the king, but you were just the muscle with a desk.”

“Shut up!” Arthur screamed.

His finger trembled on the trigger.

I could feel the cylinder gap resting against my temple.

If he fired, the hot gas would burn my skin before the bullet even left the barrel.