Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 114617 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114617 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 573(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 382(@300wpm)
“It wasn’t me,” Orion bellowed, thrashing in the handcuffs. Those were made by metal wolves too. Werewolf strength wasn’t going to break them. “I didn’t do it! I didn’t even know Dagem was dead! No one did. We thought she fucked off and abandoned us.”
“Save your lies for the interview room. Her body was in your closet!”
Gasps rang out—loud and shocking enough to end the denials flung at Arabella.
“I—I smelled her, sir,” the officer continued. “I was told he was a witness to the first death. I asked to interview him in his room, and one step inside, I knew something was wrong.” Arabella looked at Orion with absolute disgust. “He wrapped her in plastic and stuffed her in his closet like trash.”
“It wasn’t me! I was framed!” Orion latched on to me. “Framed by her! She did this! She’s behind everything!”
“Is she also behind you losing your sense of smell? It’s not possible for you not to have known a body was in your closet!”
“He’s right,” Badr sliced in. “Volana did this. She’s framing him to get back at him. She got one of her minions to kill Dagem, and then she made them put the body in his room. Question her. Arrest her!”
“If what you’re saying is true, then the evidence will bear it out.” Arabella held up an evidence bag. Inside was a bloody knife. “This was found hidden in the closet. It’s the murder weapon. I smell Makena’s blood on it. Have you ever handled this knife?”
“No! I’ve never handled it. I’ve never even seen it before!”
“You just stated in front of witnesses that you have no knowledge of this knife,” she said. “Then your fingerprints will have no business being on it, will they?”
“They’re not on it. I didn’t kill her.”
“We can settle this right now, then. You,” she snapped at Edric. “Bring me my case. I’ll fingerprint him and we’ll settle this. Do you agree or do you wish to wait for your counsel?” she asked Orion. “As is your right.”
“No, do it,” Orion said. “We’re ending this shit now.”
“You all are once again witness to him rejecting counsel and giving verbal consent to fingerprinting,” Costas said. She was clearly a by-the-book person. “Bring me the kit.”
Edric hesitated, glancing at me. I felt him probing around in my skull for a clue of what would happen next, and if I was behind it.
My mind was as blank and bland as my expression.
Costas barked at him again, and he gave in, handing over the fingerprinting kit. Silence like knives dug into our backs, digging deeper and deeper with every tense second, and then when there was no coming back—
“The prints are a match.”
—the twist.
“No, that’s impossible!”
Badr spun on his father. “Sir, you have to do something. She framed him! She killed Dagem! It’s all her!”
I slowly moved through the crowd, falling in beside a stiff, silent Cygnus. “I had nothing to do with this,” I said clearly. “I didn’t frame Orion, and I most certainly didn’t kill Dagem. I thought she was packed up and gone, but it seems the killer”—I fixed on Orion—“got to her before she could.
“I wish I could say I was surprised by this, but it all makes sense. That’s why you let yourself get caught smoking and thrown into detention. You wanted an alibi for when Mr. Hall died,” I said, watching Orion’s face drain of blood. “And Holly. Who knows why you killed her. Maybe she found proof that you were the one who burned Mason’s body to ash and flushed him down the drain.”
“What? Mason?” someone cried. “But I thought he dropped out.”
“He left a note in his room.”
“It was a fake?”
“He was murdered?”
“Not by me,” Orion roared. He thrashed in Arabella’s hold. “It was her! She killed him!”
I shook my head, sighing. “If I killed him, where’s the body, Orion? I don’t have the means or power to make a body disappear.”
“Is this true?” Costas shook him. “Who is this Mason? What do you know of his disappearance!”
Badr shoved out in front of him. “It’s not what you think. She’s twisting everything. There was an accident, but it was self-defense. Mason was a vile piece of shit who was hurting someone, and we had to stop him—”
“By burning him?” Costas sliced in. “Did you or did you not destroy the body and cover up your crime?”
Orion tried to twist free of her. “Yes, but—”
“Yes!” Costas shouted. “That’s all I need to know.”
“That’s not all! I did it to cover up her crime!” All eyes swung to me. “Volana killed him, not me.”
I rolled my eyes. “This is getting more and more ridiculous. Orion hates me. He’s made no secret of that, and believe me, the feeling is mutual. If I killed Mason, why in the hell would you help me cover it up?”