"You never found your mother's book, did you?" he asked.
"No. I'm sorry I lied to you."
"I understand," he said, kissing my head. "Just… no more lies okay? We tell each other everything, agreed?"
"Agreed," I said, my heart sinking.
"It's over, isn't it, Catelyn?"
"Yes," I lied. "It's over."
***
Ash slept soundly beside me, his chest rising and falling with each breath. He looked so content. So at peace. I tossed and turned, unable to quiet my mind, so I crawled out of bed, grabbed my mother's notes from under a loose board in my dresser and headed to the study.
Using one of the law books I was studying as a cover, I curled up on the overstuffed reading chair and began to sort through the research notes. If Ash came in, I imagined covering the notes with my book.
"What are you doing down here, Catelyn?" I imagined him asking.
"Oh, I couldn't sleep. Thought I'd get caught up on some studying."
"What's that?" he'd ask, pointing to the stack of paper.
"Oh, just some notes I'm taking."
Satisfied I could explain myself without raising suspicion, I started with the first page, where her sloppy handwriting bled across the page in red ink, like blood. The Davenports will be responsible for my death. Someone has to get close to them and find out the truth.
Her words still sent chills up my spine, but I turned to the next page and continued reading.
I met the first of our little group at a golf tournament. We both enjoyed playing and soon got to talking about our common goals at Harvard and beyond. My roommate was intrigued by my new connection and so the three of us met for coffee. We'd all been sought after by sororities and fraternities respectively, but we knew we wanted something more than superficial social connections and parties.
We decided to form our own group and called ourselves Alpha Pi Omega. We thought ourselves clever. The beginning and the end trapping the infinite in the center. We each took names that fed our egos. Caesar, Cleopatra and I were the first. I went by Elizabeth. Others would come to join us over time. Augustus. Alexander. Elizabeth. Caesar met Livia in his last year of law school while she was just a freshman, and they became the center of our group. And later, Napoleon joined us.
We, first and foremost, wanted power. We wanted to control our own destinies, whatever the cost. We had chosen a diverse range of careers to pursue, and we knew we could help each other in ways others couldn't, or wouldn’t.
While our friends at Harvard pledged sororities and fraternities, we formed our own secret club with much loftier ambitions than just getting drunk and laid on Saturday nights. We committed to using our many talents and resources to aid each other. At first it meant studying together. Helping each other with internship opportunities and connections through each other's families. But, as we left school and began our careers, our ambitions grew and we began to cross lines we never thought we'd cross.
Soon, we all found ourselves doing the unthinkable. Covering up evidence in crimes. Throwing legal cases. Insider trading.
Murder.
I regret what I have done. Looking at my child in the next room sleeping, listening to my husband breathing deeply beside me, I realize what I have done, the hurt and pain I have caused, is inexcusable.
What follows is my confession. And my death warrant.
I want out, but we committed for life. By leaving, I am betraying my oath, and they will stop at nothing to keep me loyal, even if that means killing everyone I love.
I have a suspicion of who they will send to do the deed, but it doesn't matter. They are all responsible if I die. I just pray my baby is spared, that the sins of the mother do not taint the innocence of her child.
Tears streamed down my face as I turned page after page and read accounts and information, details about the original Midnight Murders.
Augustus was the killer.
Alexander helped cover it up.
Napoleon also committed some of the crimes.
If things ever went to court, my mother was expected to stop it.
I kept reading, pushing out of my mind that this was my own mother and trying to see it for the facts of a case, looking for clues, but she never named anyone by their true names, and she never gave any identifying clues that would allow me to figure out who was who. A huge section of paper at the bottom had been ruined by water and weather damage, and I did my best to pick out the pieces I could read.
Was Lauren part of Alpha Pi Omega? Was Lucky?
Lauren went to Harvard, but Lucky didn't. But then she said they met at Harvard. That didn't necessarily mean they all studied there. Lauren must have been one of the original members. Was she Livia or Cleopatra?
I knew then what I had to do. I'd thought I was hunting a murderer. I now knew I was hunting a pack of psychopaths. I thought I'd have to kill one man. I now knew I'd have to kill them all.
Some debts can only be repaid in blood.