A Matter of Time (The Chronicles of Kerrigan Sequel, #1) by W.J. May

Author:W.J. May [W.J. May]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dark Shadow Publishing
Published: 2020-07-17T16:00:00+00:00

“W HY SHOULDN’T I HAVE let my guards shoot you?”

Simon blinked, taken aback by the directness of her query. They were sitting in opposite chairs—granted, he was strapped into his. And with the iridescent lightbulb dangling above them, the entire thing felt a good deal more like an interrogation than a conversation.

But as well-trained as his daughter might have been in the art of information extraction, he had been taught the same lessons decades before.

With a wry smile, Simon shifted in his chair to slow down their pace. “I suppose it depends on who you ask.”

She didn’t blink. “I’m asking you.”

Father and daughter shared a look.

“I know what you want me to say,” he said quietly. “You want me to say that you should have done it. That you should have pulled the trigger yourself. You want me to say that I deserve it.”

“Would that be true?” Rae asked stiffly, sitting rigid as a board in her chair. “Do you think that you deserve it?”

Simon paused for a second before leaning back with a twinkling smile. “Tell you what—I’ll make you a deal. I’ll answer your questions, and I’ll answer them truthfully. But for every question I answer, you have to answer a question of mine.”

Rae fell silent, considering the proposal. It wasn’t what she had planned on but, truth be told, she had very few expectations when it came to what Simon would or would not do. There was little harm in satisfying his curiosities, and if it would lead to the satisfaction of her own? Plus, she knew what kind of questions he was going to ask. “Fine.”

“Excellent!” Simon clapped his hands together. “In honor of your participation, I’ll even volunteer to go first. In answer to your first question...” his smile faded, “...yes. I deserve it.”

The room grew abruptly still.

“You do?” Rae shivered in spite of herself, searching his eyes for any hint of a lie. “You really think you deserve to die?”

Simon’s face grew thoughtful. “The man I was before, the man I was ten years ago...yes, I believe he deserved to die. The things he did, the people he hurt—the world would have been a better place without him.”

The things he did? The people he hurt?

“You’re awfully quick to disassociate yourself.” Rae’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Pronouns can’t save you here. You did those things yourself. No matter how wide your perspective.”

“Well, prison gives that to you.”

“What?”

“Perspective.”

The entire exchange came out a lot quicker than either of them had intended, and Rae leaned back in her chair, slowing things down a notch. “Alright, well...do you think the person you are now deserves the same punishment?”

“Not so fast.” He stopped her with a smile. “It’s my turn.”

While she shifted restlessly in front of him, he laced his fingers beneath his chin, studying her with intense curiosity. “Do you like pancakes?”

For a second, she almost laughed. Then she caught herself. “Do I like...pancakes?” Her eyebrows lifted delicately. “Really? That’s your question?”

Simon’s face warmed. “When you were a child, I couldn’t get you to eat them for the life of me.

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