Mind Games

Chapter Seventeen: Caught and Captured

Blaming her!

Ezra had the audacity to blame her. And not just Ezra, but Kanas.

Blaming Lucca for killing Whitley, for his death. Arguing against her like he had evidence to support the theory. Evidence beyond Ezra's words. Beyond trust in Ezra's words.

And that's all it was. Trust. Because Ezra wouldn't have had anything beyond the surety of his own words in order to persuade Kanas over to his side. Unless there was more to why Kanas was so willingly trusting Ezra. Something beyond his friendship.

Like Kanas calling into his friends at the CIA, finding out who Lucca was and using this as an excuse to get Lucca into their crosshairs. Perhaps something as mediocre as a teacher's unusual death would be enough for them to drag her ass in.

Not that they really knew who Lucca was. That's what her father worked so hard to protect.

So Ezra had convinced Kanas to trust him. Because what, he'd put enough faith into a lie? Or because he trusted his own delusion.

Trusted that Lucca was somehow responsible for killing Whitley. Trusted that she wanted to stay as far away from police suspicion's that she was willing to throw an innocent like Ezra under the bus. Or he trusted that, what? Lucca had a guardian angel.

Which was too accurate. Too real.

A wickedly true guess that landed a little too close on the mark. But in this situation, it was wrong. Her guardian angel had little to do with what had happened.

She'd been targeted here, not protected. Somebody had tried to kill her, and when they couldn't find her, they'd killed Whitley. To get to her. And, wait...

Wasn't that what Kanas had just said? He believes that somebody is targeting you. That's what Kanas had told her. That's what Ezra would have told him. Which meant what, exactly? That Ezra had somehow stumbled onto her and who she was, had somehow gotten caught into this tangled web of her life, and he had somehow contributed to Whitley's death.

It was Ezra. Finding out how he'd contributed wouldn't have been difficult.

So, what would have happened?

Lucca already knew that she'd been watched. She now knew that the Pazzi's had been closing in on her. Not enough to be close to her, but enough to know who she spoke to. Enough to approach them. What it Whitley hadn't been the Pazzi's first target? What if they'd gone after Lucca, and when they couldn't find Lucca, they'd gone after him?

Her original theory. Throw Ezra into the mix, so maybe Ezra was the first. He was the one who hung around her too much, created the guise that they were close. If the Pazzi's had been watching her, they'd have been more inclined to go after Ezra. So, maybe they did. Maybe their first option hadn't been to kill him, maybe they wanted him to get her. To bring her to them.

So, in an attempt to save his life, Ezra convinced them to go to Whitley, or to the school. Convinced the Pazzi's that Lucca would join Whitley there, and when she didn't show up, they killed Whitley because they got impatient. Which would go a long way to explain why Ezra was guilty.

Because he was. Because he'd given up Whitley's life in order to save his own. In order to save himself.

But in doing so, he'd saved Lucca. Even for a moment. Just for a minute.

If she was right. She could always be wrong. Playing out Ezra's importance to the story. Putting too much hope and faith into the man, in her own little delusion of grandeur.

In the end, it came down to one thing. It came down to Whitley dying because he knew Lucca. Because everybody in Lucca's life got hurt, one way or the other. Death had been Whitley's demise. Insanity had been Ezra's. And Kanas's...