Page 51 of Dead Girls Don’t Forget

I stopped listening. My attention wandered to the door frame behind her. Steel-reinforced, probably. I wondered how many pounds of force it would take to introduce the back of her skull to it.

"—and I'm going to figure out what it is. Every secret. Every—"

I thought about the pen clipped inside my bag. I imagined pulling it free with my left hand and driving it up beneath her jaw, the point punching through the floor of her mouth and into the palate.

"—I am going to pull it apart piece by piece and put it on a table in front of Jackson."

I pictured her expression changing from smug certainty to the blank look of someone who hadn't yet realized they were already dying.

Naomi had stopped talking.

I blinked, the daydream dissolving.

"Well?" she snapped. "Nothing to say?"

The girls behind her shifted aside as students began piling up behind us, forced to squeeze around the blockade.

I sighed. "Honestly, Nancy, I'm still trying to figure out which medication you're supposed to be taking."

Her face flushed with anger. I didn’t wait. I shouldered past her hard enough that she had to take a step back, grabbed a tray, and headed for the table by the window. I took my usual seat with my back to the wall.

Four bites later, Cassidy slid into the chair opposite me with a tray piled high.

"So I've been thinking about the murders all weekend," she said, unwrapping a sandwich.

"That is not weird at all."

"I know, I know. But they officially linked them. Police press conference was yesterday."

"Okay."

"The Black Industries guy was on the news too. Thomas Black?"

"What about him?"

"Apparently Richard worked for him. Colton too. People think it's too big of a coincidence."

"Give people two facts and they'll invent the rest."

"True. Still nothing on the witness. I've been refreshing the subreddit like a psycho."

"Sounds restful."

"It was a whole weekend thing and I also did homework. I'm a complete person." She chewed. "The theory now is that it's someone the victims knew. Local. Not a drifter."

"Why?"

"Because of how the scenes looked. Both in their own houses, no forced entry. It takes planning. Somebody who knew them well enough to get close."

I took a pull of water. "Makes sense."

"Right? I should be a detective."

"Please don't."

I already felt him before Cassidy’s eyes flicked past my shoulder. “Oh.”

Jackson came to a stop beside the table. "Can I sit?”