Knife in my Heart (Purple Devil Series book #1) #Wattys2016

Chapter 23

     "Ok." Mackenzie says while pacing the room. "We have been at this for what, two hours and found out that she had a muffin for breakfast, but nothing about her connection to the Devil Gang?" 

"Yeah, pretty much sums it up." Eli says standing up. "And what in the world is a Devil Gang? When did we start calling it that?" He looks at me and Liv. 

Liv shrugs her shoulders. "I like it, I mean now that we know that there is more than one person involved, why not call it a gang?" 

"Yeah. It fits. Than maybe we can send them right back to hell." I say with a mischievous smile. Eli laughs. 

"Alright then. Can we we focus here?"  Eli  says. "Now you said that she was Mallory when she was a receptionist when I was here, now is Mallory her real name or was that an alias too like Barbara? That's what we need to establish." 

As if someone ordered her, Liv swung around in the chair and started typing on her laptop. "Let's see.. She was hired a week before your accident and her name really is Mallory. Mallory McKinley." Liv turns around and smiles proudly. 

"Ok, how do you know that's her real name?" Mackenzie interjects. "She probably just did everything under that alias at the time." 

"Well, I am SO glad you asked. Because I looked on the hospital records, and under the birth certificates of every person that has been born at Anderson Hospital and came across two Mallory's. But only one Mallory McKinley. And there was a recent photo under that name and it's her. So the Barbara name is an alias." 

"Ok!" Eli claps his hands. "THIS is progress." 

Liv rubs her fingers on her temples and closes her eyes. "What are you thinking?" I ask studying the way she moves it's like she's concentrating so hard on what she's thinking about, that the rest of the world is oblivious to her. 

"I'm connecting the dots." she mumbles. 

"What dots?" I ask. She holds her hand out to shush me. 

"Hold on a sec." She goes back on her laptop and continues to ignore me. "A-HA!" Liv yells. "YES!" SHe throws both fists in the air and leans back in her chair. 

"What? Tell me Liv!" I sit next to her ready for her to tell me what amazing discovery she's found. 

"You know, I am awesome. I can tell you anything about everyone without reading a billion files. I am awesome!" 

"Ok Liv, will you please share your awesomeness with the rest of us?" Eli asks. His arms are crossed and there are distinct worry lines on his forehead.

"Emily and Mallory, were bunkmates at that cop boot camp last summer!" She points at the screen. "There's your connection." She scoots back so that the rest of us can see. It's true, records don't lie. 

"I knew that phone call was Purple Devil. She was evil. She tried to kill us ELi." 

"At least I didn't have her as a nurse." Eli laughs. I slap him on the arm. "Ow! Hey, what was that for?" 

"Because your sarcasm could use some work." I say.  

Eli leans against the desk and puts one arm behind me and the other close to me. I can feel his body resting on my back. "People say that my sarcasm is charming." His low breath tingling the back of my neck and his lips graze my ear. 

I lean back in my chair and look up. His eyes are the first thing that I see. Deep and dark, but warm and welcoming. "I beg to differ." I smirk. 

I hear him exhale and lean closer. "Are you ok?" He says in a hushed voice so only I can hear. 

"I'm fine." I say blankly. 

"No you're not." 

"How do you know? I'm fine." 

Eli moves from behind me to the chair to my right and leans in so he is only an inch from my face. "I know you're not, so tell me what is going on inside your head." 

I take a deep breath. "It all just seems so easy. Purple Devil has tried all this time to keep her identity a secret, but all of a sudden it's like she's giving us answers. It's just not... " I pause. "It cant be this easy. I worried that..That.." 

"That she's going to mix things up and go after you again? That's not gonna happen." 

"I'm not worried about getting kidnapped again, I'm worried she's going to start going after you." My eyes fill with tears and my face feels hot. 

Eli takes my hand. "We can't control what other people do, but we can do our best to protect each other. That's what we do." He kisses my forehead and smiles. 

"Oh get a room already!" Mackenzie laughs sarcastically. "I mean come on, are we here to get answers or are you guys on a date?" 

"Both." I say. "That's what we do." I smile. 

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"Let's make a diagram." Liv takes a big roll of parchment paper and lays it on the desk. "So we've got Carla, me, Eli, Kenz, Emily, Jon and Mallory. Am I missing anyone?" She scans the paper. 

"Officer wonderful." I point. 

"Oh yeah, who can forget his charm?" Liv asks with an eyebrow up. 

"Me." I say quietly. Liv gives me a side hug. "We need to know more about Mallory's death. All we know is that she's dead. We need more." 

"So me and Carla will check that out while Mackenzie and Eli can find out what the officials know." Eli nods his head in agreement, but Mackenzie looks confused. 

"How are we supposed to do that?" 

Eli looks over his shoulder, "By hacking into the police database." 

"And you know how to do that?" She looks at me and Liv and then Eli. 

"Yeah, that's how we get our information." I say. "Eli, you got this?" 

"Yeah. Go." I nod and follow close behind Liv.  "Be safe!" I hear Eli yell. 

"He's still freaked out about what happened C., give him time." 

"I know. But I can't wait around in fear of what could happen, I want my freaking life back." 

"Then let's get it back." And Liv pushes me into a closet.