Page 6 of The Revenge
Once again, Gemini is the first person to reach the only door on this floor. Like outside, there’s another keypad, and after a quick glance at his phone, he types in the code. At this point, I’m neither surprised, nor do I care that they seem to have access to all these codes.
Declan probably thinks he’s gotten away with murder, and I don’t want him to have the chance to get rid of any evidence.
The door opens straight into a living room area. Peter and George, two other freshmen Elite, are playing a video game on the couch, and despite someone entering their apartment without being let in, neither of them look away from the TV.
“Which room is Salaway’s?” Syn demands.
Peter glances over his shoulder, and in the process of doing a double take, throws his controller in the middle of the room as he leaps to his feet. “That one.”
“What the—shit, Synclair? Is everything alright?” George joins Peter on his feet, but Syn doesn’t pay any attention as he marches across the room to the door Peter is pointing at.
Without giving any warning, Syn pushes the door open and walks in.
“Ah, shit,” Gemini mutters from right behind him.
From the lack of response from Declan at having his room barged into, I assume he’s not there. Pushing my way past Royal, whose broad back is almost entirely blocking the bedroom door, I squeeze into the room, ready to start searching.
But Declan is in his bedroom. He’s at the large desk in front of the window, his body slumped over, asleep.
I take a step closer, but Syn sticks his arm out in front of me.
That’s when I realize Declan’s not sleeping.
A red pool surrounds his head and feet. One hand is dangling limply. Below it is a sharp knife.
I’ve never seen a dead body before, except on television. This doesn’t feel like I’m watching a show, and I have no doubt that Declan Salaway is dead. But I also don’t feel shocked, sickened, or even sad by what I’m staring at.
“Go back to the house,” Syn tells me. “We’ll take care of this.”
“Like hell I’m letting you cover this up,” I say as I turn to him, knocking his hand away.
“Cover this up?”
“If you don’t call the cops, I will.”
Syn looks from me to Declan, then back to me. “You think I’m going to cover this up?” When I fold my arms and arch an eyebrow at him, he lets out a long sigh. “I just didn’t want you to have to stay around this any longer than you need to.” He pulls out his phone, taps on it a few times before turning the screen to me.
Calling… 911
As the call connects, he brings the phone to his ear. There’s a moment’s pause.
“911, what’s your emergency?”
III
Tori
“Thank you, Miss Reynolds.” The cop clicks his pen before sticking it and the notebook he’s barely written in into his pocket. “You can go.”
I don’t move. “That’s it?”
Officer Sullivan turns slightly to nod at his colleague at the door. As the other officer opens it, Sullivan looks back at me. “We have your number. We’ll call you if we need any more information.”
“Declan tried to kill me.”
I don’t miss the roll of his eyes as he stands, staring down at me. “Yes. And you also said he was alone. Mr. Salaway is dead. What do you want us to do? Arrest a corpse?”
It took the cops about forty minutes to arrive at Rainer House. From the mutterings I overhead of them complaining, they’d had some difficulty arriving because of the snow. I’d refused to leave Declan’s apartment, standing by the window that overlooked the main entrance of the building, while Peter and George sat glaring at me from the couch, like I’d been the one to kill their roommate.
