Chapter 25 Juliet #2
Lex and I exchange a glance and in a moment, he’s out of the car too, hitting the lock button and slapping the door shut behind him.
Together, we follow Gio to the aisle of cars.
We’d gotten to school fairly early, but we must have been in there for longer than it’d felt like because the parking lot is mostly full now.
A crowd has gathered towards the back of the lot. Students all huddle around one point and as we approach, I hear Nolan bark out a sharp “Get back” in an angry voice. Almost in sync, every single person surrounding him takes a big step away. It allows Gio, Lex, and me enough room to slip past them.
That’s when I see it. Or rather… her.
“What the fuck?” I jump forward, but Gio catches my arm. I whirl on him, mouth open and ready to demand he release me, but he cuts me off before I can speak.
“Don’t touch,” he says, lowering his voice. “The cops have already been called. We can’t disturb the evidence.”
“Evidence?” The word sounds foreign to me, though I know what he means. Slowly, I turn back to the scene before me and the woman splayed out on the pavement.
When I’d first approached, I’d assumed she were alive, but now, upon closer inspection, I know the truth.
Her legs are twisted in an awkward angle, one obviously broken. Her face is pressed into the ground and her skin is pale and almost… gray. The most disturbing piece, however, is the crown of bright, vibrant blue hair at the top of her head. Just like mine.
Nolan stands over the girl’s body with his arms crossed over his massive chest and a dark glare keeping everyone at bay. I glance around and realize that people have their fucking phones out, taking pictures. Whirling to face them, I growl low in my throat.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” A few of the onlookers who don’t have their phones out to snap pictures and videos look at me anxiously and shuffle back. They’re still here, though, not saying a word about how wrong it is. “Put your fucking phones away!”
One guy snorts and rolls his eyes at my words. “Oh, come on, it’s probably not even real,” he argues. “It’s just a dummy someone left out here—that wig gives it away.” He lifts his phone again, pointing the camera down on the dead woman. “But it’ll make for a good story on my page.”
No, it isn’t, but then again, I wouldn’t expect this asshole to know what a real dead body looks like. He probably hasn’t ever seen one that wasn’t on TV. I have and so have the guys. I exchange a look with Gio whose expression remains that placid, emotionless mask.
I take a step towards the guy. “Delete the photos and get lost, or else.”
He scoffs. “Like I’m going to take orders from you?”
Lex steps up to my back. “You will,” he states, but I don’t need his backup.
Darting forward before he can stop me, I snatch the guy’s phone from his grip and drop it to the icy ground. Then, with a smile, I lift my foot and bring it down hard on the screen.
“Hey!” he shouts, shoving forward, and several other people back away, their phones disappearing from view. No doubt, they still have the videos and pictures saved.
Ignoring them, I pick up my foot and stomp on the phone a second time. The satisfying crack of his screen echoes around us.
“Get the fuck off!” The guy looks like he’s about to pick me up and throw me, but Lex growls low in his throat and the dude freezes. His eyes dart to Lex and back to me. He licks his lips nervously.
“Come on,” he tries, tone wheedling as he looks at Lex. “It’s my phone, man.”
“You can have it back when I’m done,” I tell him.
With that, I continue to stomp on the device, slamming the heel of my foot down again and again until the entire screen is shredded with cracks. Several of the crowd peel off and slip away. By the time I’m done, I reach down and lift the phone, turning it over. The back has several cracks too.
Sinking my nails into those cracks, I peel away chunks of the hard plastic much to the guy’s horror.
He tries to say something to stop me again and Gio steps up next to Lex, shutting him up.
Ripping the battery out of the back of the phone, I drop it to the ground and stomp on that too.
Once that’s done, I find the flash drive and yank that out as well, pocketing it before I hold what’s left of the device out for him.
“There,” I say. “All done.”
The guy stares at the mangled chunk of hard plastic and bits of metal and glass with dismay. I smile wide, shaking it in front of him.
“You wanted it back,” I remind him. “So, take it.”
“It’s useless now!” he snaps back.
I shrug. “Good, then it’s just like you.” I toss it at him and he barely catches it, fumbling the thing with a curse before he lifts his hand and winces. He must have cut it on one of the jagged pieces sticking out of the screen.
“You owe me a new phone!” he yells.
“No.” There. Easy. Simple. I turn away and let my eyes move back to the girl on the ground.
There’s an angry growl behind me and Nolan moves around the body to stand between me and the guy. “Get. Lost.” His words are clipped and leave no room for misunderstanding.
I glance over my shoulder as the guy looks around as if seeking help only to realize that everyone else has deserted him. Swallowing, he scowls at us and turns around, practically jogging towards the school building. I wait until he’s a good halfway there before I refocus my attention on the woman.
He was right about one thing—her hair isn’t real. The artificial sheen to the blue strands is stiff and doesn’t stick to the back of her neck like real hair might.
“Juliet.” Nolan’s voice is a warning as I squat down to get a closer look.
“I’m not going to touch,” I assure him as I peer at the woman.
The wig is slightly out of place, twisted and actually much brighter than my own faded color. Still, it’s rather disturbing to find a dead woman with a blue wig in the student parking lot. My eyes scan from one side of her to the other.
It takes me a moment to realize what I’m not seeing. “There’s no blood.”
“No,” Gio agrees. “We think she was probably dumped here.”
“Did you find her?” I direct the question to Nolan, but Gio answers again.
“The guy you just chased away was the one to find her. He called some of the others over.”
“Why didn’t you stop him?” I rise back to my feet.
Gio remains silent, his gaze fixed on the girl now. Her legs are a crooked mess. Joints out of place and the right one twisted so badly that it’s no wonder that asshole thought she was a dummy. No living human could have their leg turned in such a way without screaming bloody murder.
Nolan blows out a breath. “I didn’t exactly want to encourage them to think it was real,” he says.
“Why?”
“Panic? Mass hysteria? People thinking there’s a serial killer on the loose? Take your pick of reasons, Princess. The less people involved, the better.”
“Then why let them come over anyway?” I narrow my eyes on him. “And why do you think they’d assume there’s a serial killer?” I gesture to the body. “It’s just one girl.”
Nolan’s dark eyes move to mine. “Silverwood is a small town, Jules,” he says, as if I need a reminder. “It’s uncommon enough for one person to be murdered—like Morpheus was. Another murder within several weeks of his death is definitely going to make people suspicious.”
With a grimace, I turn back to the body, eyes moving up and over the length of her. One person from Silverwood being murdered is a crazy occurrence, even if it hadn’t happened here. Two? Yeah, Nolan has a point.
My attention finds him again. “What do you think?”
He doesn’t answer for a long moment. “You need three people killed by the same person to be considered a serial killer,” is all he says, which, in itself, is both an answer and another question.
Will there be a third body?
If so, who’s next?