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A gruesome image flashes through my head before I can stop it—twisted metal, shattered bark, Amber caught somewhere between the two, her entrails sticking out. Just blood and gore and…
“Jesus, Sienna. I’d rather not have that image in my head before breakfast, okay?” I blurt out, hating that I can picture it so perfectly.
Cursed imagination.
“Well, that’s what happened.” She sits back in her chair. “The good news is Amber’s murder finally has Chief Neptune seeing a pattern. Took him long enough.” She scoffs, only to pause when she notices my face. “You look pale.”
“How do you expect me to look? Thrilled that someone else from our class is dead? It’s not exactly something I take joy in.”
Sienna shrugs, not looking the least bit disturbed by Amber’s death. If anything, there’s an unsettling spark in her eyes.
“How can you be so nonchalant about this?”
“People die every day, Max. Forgive me if I don’t shed a tear over a few dead Reds.”
“They’re still human beings.”
Sienna arches a brow. “Debatable. Human beings usually have souls. Those bitches never showed any evidence of having one.”
“Sienna.”
“What?” She lifts her coffee. “You want me to pretend they were good people just because someone killed them? Death doesn’t rewrite history.”
I can’t help but cringe at how her words actually resonate with me. Especially since I can’t summon even a bit of sympathy for either one.
Turns out getting murdered doesn’t magically make someone a better person. It just makes them dead.
“And would you stop looking at me like that?” she adds. “Good thing Chief Neptune isn’t here, because you look guilty as fuck.”
“Sienna…” I start.
I should tell her that I saw Amber yesterday. That she forced me into her car and then left me stranded on the side of the road.
Maybe even the same road where she was killed.
Oh, my God. What if it was? What if she died on the same road I left her?
Was he watching her the whole time? Was he watching me too?
The thought sends my mind somewhere even worse.
Am I next? Or is he only targeting the Reds? Or will any adjacent body do for the count?
Not knowing the answer to any of those questions leaves me a jittery fucking mess.
“Hey.” Sienna reaches across the table and takes my hands. “It’s okay. We’re going to get to the bottom of this. I know things might not look great for you right now, but—”
“For me?”
My thoughts come to a screeching halt.
“Why would you say that?”
Sienna’s expression goes carefully blank again, making her impossible to read.
“Sienna.” I tighten my grip on her hands. “Why did you say it like that?”
She lets out a sigh. “Chief Neptune made a list of possible suspects.”
