Page 164 of Vexatious Queen

Blake took a photo with his phone before closing the file.

“We’d better go, the guards are due for rounds in five minutes,” he said.

Blake unlocked the door and pulled it open. I noticed a piece of paper taped to it. We all looked at one another before Blake grabbed it, read it, and handed it to Myles.

The sound of guards talking and their boots could be heard, and I saw their flashlight beams at the end of the hall. We only had seconds to spare before they turned the corner and caught us.

Blake signed. We need to go now. They randomly check offices.

Myles and I moved out of the way so Blake could lock the door again. He tapped my shoulder, and the three of us ran quietly in the opposite direction, not stopping until we reached our floor. I was panting hard when we burst out into the seniors’ hallway from the stairwell. I bent over with my hands on my knees to catch my breath.

I held out my hand as I stood straight.

“Let me see it.”

Blake unfolded the paper and handed it to me. Myles stood behind me like a warm support as I read the chilling words.

Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the blade,

You crept through the office, so brave in your charade.

Two at your shoulders, whispering plans,

Touching things with trembling hands.

Run little Queen, try hard to be clever,

You’ll never catch me. Not now. Not ever.

Hey diddle diddle, the game has begun,

You’ll fall before you find me—this ends when I’ve won.

I shuddered, and Myles wrapped his arm around me.

“Alright, this fucker has gotta die,” he growled.

FEBRUARY 25 – WEDNESDAY 2:43 PM

Nash

Two questions kept running circles in my mind. Who was in the school late at night, who would have seen or heard us, and who would have known to follow Ren? Who would want to scare her? I kept coming back to the same two assholes…Sabastian and Vicky.

Vicky certainly had motivation to hurt Ren, but she was an in-your-face personality, not the sneak-around-in-the-dark, sending cryptic messages type.

There was no one else with a motive. And despite what people thought, you needed a motive to want to kill, terrorize, or even just frighten someone else. There was always a core reason why a person would go to those lengths.

I’d sat down with Theo and Liam and pored over the list of every student and teacher in the school. Zigzag had even provided, with a little persuading, of course, bank account information for the tiny suspect pool. There were no unusual lumps of money or activity.

The only one who had proven to have a shady background time and time again was the asshole whose father had plotted against Ren’s family for years. Someone who knew how to create willing worker bees to do his dirty work…Christov. And I didn’t believe for one second that Sabastian didn’t know his father’s plans.

He could play the innocent card with Ren, and she might believe him because she had a good heart, but not me. My heart beat because of Princess, but it was still as black and cold as ever when it came to threats.

“So let me make sure I understand what you’re telling me,” Dean Henry said, pulling me from the dark thoughts swirling around faster than the snowflakes outside his window. “You’ve received not one, but two threatening messages, and instead of coming to me, you stole a teacher’s keys and broke into his office because…why?”

Ren shrugged. “Mr. Sharpe has been acting really strange lately. He’s always been tough, but this seems personal.”

Dean Henry’s eyebrow rose, but he didn’t say anything.