Chapter Twenty-Five #2
Even with the island gray-lit and dripping, the pattern was unmistakable. There were faint tracks in the dust beneath where Candy had been hung. It wasn’t footprints. It wasn’t drag marks. It was a kneel mark.
Vega’s expression sharpened. “Two impressions. One from the victim . . . and the other from someone facing her.”
Hale nodded. “This was close and intimate. There was no rushing for our killer.”
Mary overheard, making her breath hitch once before she regained her composure.
Torie looked like she was going to throw up.
Zach closed his eyes as his head bowed.
Harmony leaned in slightly, absorbing the shape of truth.
Vega noticed it all. He saw more than they could imagine.
“Staging a body like this takes time,” Hale said. “It takes time alone and uninterrupted.”
Vega rose slowly, his eyes narrowing. “Which means they picked a window when they knew no one would return.”
Durante rubbed a hand across his jaw. “The storm gave them the perfect cover they were looking for. They have to be very aware that the heat is on, and killing and displaying is going to get harder and harder. They clearly saw an opportunity last night and took it, needing to feed a sick hunger.”
Vega looked over the held witnesses once more. Disgust rested in his eyes. “Storms don’t create opportunities, people do. This person will kill no matter the weather. We’ll stop them. Until then, everyone is a suspect. Badge or no badge.”
Harmony then noted how Vega’s gaze shifted to the officers.
Tingles ran down her spine as she realized it wasn’t just them they were looking at.
These detectives weren’t ruling Avalon’s police department out as suspects either.
Fascinating! Could one of Avalon’s protectors actually be a killer?
That was a new twist she wasn’t expecting.
As the team continued to log evidence, Vega drifted away from the others with calculated casualness. Harmony sensed him heading her way before he arrived.
“Take a walk with me,” he commanded.
She nodded and followed him. They stopped at the back of the airport building, where tables waited, soaked from the rain. Wind tugged at Harmony’s shirt, carrying the scent of wet sage.
“You see a lot,” Vega quietly said. “You don’t blink, and you don’t flinch.”
Harmony shrugged. “I’m a writer. If I don’t observe, I don’t have material.”
He shook his head, and for the first time, Harmony felt uncomfortable.
She wasn’t used to being with a person who saw more than she did.
So many people moved through life not knowing the people next to them.
They didn’t notice the little things that made others unique, didn’t listen to the words beneath the words.
Harmony realized Vega wasn’t one of those people. He might even see more than she did.
“Observation isn’t your job, Ms. Blake, it’s your obsession.”
Harmony lost her smile. Still, though, she was enjoying the verbal battle. She liked being challenged. It didn’t happen too often.
“Is that flattery, detective?”
Vega leaned in just enough that she felt heat radiating off of him. “It’s not flattery, Ms. Blake. You should be concerned, though.”
“Why is that?” she asked, not heeding his advice. She wasn’t worried in the least.
His expression didn’t give away his thoughts, which frustrated her. It made her want to study him even more.
“Because, Ms. Blake, the killer is creating a story. They’re either writing it for you . . . or about you.” He paused for a long moment. “Or writing just like you.”
Her pulse skipped a single time. Vega caught it. Harmony wasn’t sure if she was scared, excited, or simply fascinated. She’d have to go over this entire event again and again to figure out which it was. She paused for long enough to make the air thicken.
“I don’t scare too easily, Detective,” Harmony told him.
“That’s a problem,” Vega murmured. “Killers love people who don’t scare.”
Before she could respond, Hale called his name. He stepped back, then started to turn. He stopped and faced her again.
“One more thing.”
Harmony tilted her head and waited.
“Whoever is doing this is enjoying the staging more each time,” Vega said, his voice lowered to a rasp. “That means escalation. That means confidence. That means proximity.”
“Proximity to what?” Harmony asked.
Vega held her gaze. Neither blinked.
“To the person inspiring them.”
He walked away, leaving Harmony standing there to digest his words.
Cass was waiting for Harmony when she returned, her cousin looking panicked.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Harmony said, though to be honest, she felt a tightness in her chest. “They’re just doing what detectives do.”
Cass didn’t look convinced. “I don’t know if I’ve seen this expression on your face before. You look like someone has just read your diary.”
Before Harmony could respond, her phone buzzed.
The signal was weak, but the message came through anyway.
It was a single image. Harmony tapped it open.
It was a photo of all of them at the airport. It was clearly taken from somewhere behind them, in the shadows, by someone watching.
The angle was wrong. Whoever had taken it had been closer than she would’ve dared. The scariest part was that she didn’t remember anyone standing there . . . and she normally remembered everything.
There was a caption beneath it, jagged, taunting.
You don’t need detectives. You already have me.
Harmony’s breath chilled.
A new message arrived.
The ending is the most essential part of the story. Don't let them ruin it.
Whoever had sent it didn’t just want attention; they understood structure. They understood endings. This wasn’t the voice of someone panicking. It was the voice of someone studying.
Vega’s words echoed in her head about the killer writing for her, about her. For the first time, she wasn’t entirely sure where observer ended and target began.
Cass looked at her. “What is that?”
Harmony turned off the screen and slid the phone into her pocket.
“Nothing,” she lied softly. She then looked her cousin in the eyes. “I think the story might’ve just changed, though.”
For the first time since this started, she wasn’t sure she was the one turning the pages. She’d thought she knew where the ending was headed. But someone else was writing in the margins now.