You Looked Down on Me Once Now You Look Up (Patricia and Oliver) novel Chapter 636

“Uncle Emerson, I’m just giving back what I got. Don’t worry, I’ll let one person from the Brooks family live.”

“That’s too much...” Patricia shook her head, slow and firm. “No. That’s not enough.”

“You get to choose who.” Her eyes locked onto his. “I want you to know what it feels like when your heart gets torn apart.”

She pulled out her phone and started a timer. “Five minutes. That’s all you get. If you don’t pick, I’ll pick for you. And I’ll start with Amber and her kid.”

The seconds slipped by. Emerson stared at the countdown, his fingers shaking so hard he could barely hold still. Patricia just watched, calm as ever.

When there were only ten seconds left, Patricia finally spoke.

“Ten.”

“Nine.”

“Eight.”

“Seven...”

“Six.”

“Five...”

Emerson sucked in a shaky breath, like he was forcing himself to say it. “Tina...”

—

Thud, thud, thud.

The sound of a folder smacking down on the desk snapped Brandon out of his nap.

“We’ve got work.”

Brandon groaned. “Seriously? Every time I’m on night shift, something comes up. What is this, a curse?”

His coworker shrugged. “Don’t look at me. Emerson told the guards he wasn’t the only one involved in the case.”

“The guards called me. This case is on us. We can’t just ignore it, right?”

Brandon rubbed his face, putting the pieces together. “So I have to head out to the county prison with you. Right now? In the middle of the night?”

—

“Ma’am, the detectives on the case just arrived at the prison.”

In the Cloud Peak courtyard, Patricia stood under a lemon tree, snipping lemons from the branches. Marian stood next to her, holding a basket.

“I see. Keep watching,” Patricia said.

Aiden nodded and started to leave. After a few steps, he saw Patricia stretching up on tiptoe, reaching for a lemon high in the tree. He turned back. “Need some help, ma’am?”

She smiled, waving him off. “No, you go ahead.”

Patricia put the pruning shears back in the basket and stared up at the lemon right at the top of the tree. Her eyes grew distant.

“What are you thinking about, Miss?” Marian asked softly.

Patricia lifted her skirt a little as she walked, her voice drifting behind her. “When I was a kid in the village, people would catch birds by hanging grapes or fruit at the very top of the trees. The birds couldn’t resist. That’s how they’d get caught.”

Just like she was baiting Emerson now.