Page 67 of ’Til You Break

I reach for my phone to call my clean-up crew and notice something lying in the pool of Brian’s blood. My briefcase. It still contains every dollar I gave Brian a few nights ago. Not a single bill is missing.

“City morgue?” a voice answers. “You kill ’em, we chill ’em.”

“Need a carpet cleaning at the Lamen’s abattoir.” I end the call.

Avoiding the blood as best I can, I crouch down beside Brian again. His skin is still warm. But the bruises are days old.

As his body slowly turns on the hook, the pieces begin to fall into place. They kept him alive. Tortured him. Then brought him here to die.

It’s a message, but what are they trying to tell me?

The answer comes as Brian sways again. An eight-inch knife with a dark wooden handle is buried in his back. It’s pinning something to him.

My pulse slams to a halt. It’s a Polaroid. A photograph of Hannah standing in the back garden. Across it, scrawled in Brian’s blood—

She’s Next.

I sprint back the way I came. Gun raised. Expecting an ambush every second.

None comes.

I reach my car untouched.

Somehow that feels even worse.

I fumble with the touchscreen as I speed through the abandoned streets, calling Hannah.

“Hannah!” I barely give her time to answer.

“How’s your stakeout going?” she asks lightly, as though everything’s perfectly normal.

Relief floods through me.

They’re not there.

Not yet.

“You have to get out of the house, Hannah.”

There’s no time for explanations.

“They know who I am. They know who you are.”

“What?”

I can’t imagine what must be going through her mind.

Only a few hours ago we were lying in bed together, talking about the weekend.

“Listen to me.” I force every word out as calmly as I can. “You have to leave the house. Now. Take one of my cars and drive as far away as you can, then get a taxi the rest of the way to our parents’.”

“What about you?” Even now... she’s worried about me.

“Just go, Hannah. I’m not far away. I’ll call you as soon as this is over.”

At the speed I’m driving, I should be home in under fifteen minutes.

It’s still too long. More than enough time for—