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SOPHIE ORTIZ
RYDEN
“There is no Jonah Pfifer,” I said, dropping onto the couch beside Yara.
We were at Yara’s house. Irene came home with us yesterday, and stayed.
The closer we got to Yara’s birthday, the tighter the knot in all our chests grew.
It should have been a happy time. The Strangler… Patty had turned it into a countdown. Every passing day was a day closer to a deadline. A literal deadline.
“Are you sure?” Irene asked.
“I am.”
“Why would he lie?”
Yara stiffened, and I could see the wheels in her head turning, trying to fit the puzzle.
“You’re not going anywhere with him,” Yara said, shaking her head. “What if he is like Logan, and what if Patty is using him to get to you?”
“We don’t know that!” Irene said, but she didn’t look very eager either.
“What? He lied about his name. Why would he do that if he wasn’t hiding something? I’m right to be careful.”
“You are, you are,” Irene relented. “Maybe I misheard the last name… it was too loud.”
“Maybe you didn’t.”
“You know I live with you two, and I can easily recognize the evil ones.”
“No, you can’t. Even I can’t,” Yara said. “Even the cops can’t.” She frowned. “Look at us, and we still work with them.”
“But why would he lie?”
“You said you met him at Onyx.”
“We know the owner,” I said.
“CCTV,” Yara said.
“CCTV? I don’t know,” Irene said with a reluctant frown. “That sounds too much.”
“I don’t like that he lied,” Yara said. “You have amazing people in your corner, but what if you hadn’t. You’d have called him.”
“Let’s not create a whole crime novel in our heads, alright?” Irene said. “Maybe he didn’t want to call me again, and he was being polite. So he lied.”
“I don’t know.” Yara hummed. I could see the wheels turning. “I still propose we stalk him. It is such wonderful way to find things.”
“Like you found his underwear,” Irene said, but I could see she was warming to the idea. “So, what? We stalk him and find out why he lied?”
“Yes. It’ll be fun.”
“Yes. While other families go for a picnic, we stalk a guy I met at a club only once. So very fun!” Irene said with an exaggerated cheer as I sent a quick text to Enzo asking him for the CCTV recording for that particular night, and to be discreet about it.
He sent me a text asking if I was hunting a new one.
