Page 33 of Twist Me

Micah scoffed and folded his arms on the table. “Yes, I can see as much as her breathing is labored from your overindulgent ass squashing her. I would say she’s not harmed at all!”

Goliath chuckled, and the sound made me vibrate with his laugh.

“You always were such a rule follower. Heaven forbid anyone defies the, ‘ohmighty god,’ Micah Quinn.”

With that, he got up, and I inhaled rapidly. Quinn rose from his seat and helped me up, glaring daggers at Goliath the whole time.

“What happened between you guys?” I said, watching their hatred rolling off one another in waves.

“Traitor,” they spat out the same poisoned word in unison at each other.

After that lovely useless encounter,my day consisted of tidying up around the study, walking the halls, and finding a church. It felt strange being back in a church after practically growing up in one back home. My papi was a religious man, and I, too, believed in a god. I just didn’t know about the organization of religions. It seemed they all had something in common: manipulation. Christianity was based on the death of the pagans unwilling to convert from their god.

I sat in one of the pews, mostly talking to myself and asking for advice. I always used churches to speak to my mama and her memory. I never knew her, but I was told a lullaby she had sung to me when I was a baby. My papi gave me a jewelry box, and along with snuggling Motto, my stuffed hippo, every night, I fell asleep to my mother’s lullaby.

“Once upon a September….” I hummed, liking the quiet in this area, nothing like the smells and constant chatter everywhere else. I will come back here.

“Do you find comfort in god’s presence?” I jumped a mile high before turning to meet Quinn’s eyes.

I guess he had stayed after visitation to use one of the pews for prayer.

“I…I like the quiet here, and I was raised in the Catholic faith,” I said.

Micah nodded and sat beside me, staring forward at the large altar. The mass amount of burning candles around it created a pleasant flickering light at the head of the podium.

“I come here sometimes to feel my sister’s spirit.”

So that was why he was weird at the diner. He had lost a sister?

“I’m sorry for your loss, detective.”

He smiled, but his eyes looked haunted by his memories. “Life is fragile. Young or old, one decision leads us to live another day or close our eyes for good. For some…the final choice is made for them.”

That was oddly poetic and cryptic, but as Micah stood and gave me one last smile, I knew I wasn’t going to get any more information from him. What happened to his sister wasn’t my business, even though my curiosity nagged at me.

“Have you heard any news about Jillian?” I said, keeping my tone ‘church quiet’ like a good Catholic.

Quinn looked thoughtful for a moment. “This kill was different. The victim was found in a lake not too far from the facility, but the autopsy reports show her neck was broken beforehand, and her body was laid out with her hands over her heart.”

I pondered that. The Reaper always sliced the victim’s neck. Why would the killer switch up their MO?

“We aren’t sure what game the killer is playing, changing the cause of death or staging the drowning and using internal decapitation as the actual means of death. It’s all unsettling, to say the least.”

I shivered. I agreed that this was the most troubling information so far, and I didn’t have crap to go on. My only research had been on the triplets cases. I hadn’t even been focusing on The Reaper.

Ugh, I needed to get my head back on what mattered.

“I look forward to hearing about your progress on the investigation, Officer Lavita. Until then, please be safe. And, for the love of god, stay away from that monster, Goliath.”

I nodded and watched Micah complete the sign of the cross before he exited the Chapel. I thought about Micah’s request. I didn’t think Goliath was going to stay away from me…and I wasn’t sure I wanted him to leave me alone.

Watching the church archway, I was absolutely livid to see Quinn saunter out in all his fucking good-boy glory. My Little Lamb had ‘the ovaries’ to be all bitchy when catching me with a whore, but yet she wanted a little prayer boy?

We’ll fucking see about that…

“I thought you liked the taste of sin, Little Lamb.”

Ezello jumped a mile high like the skittish rabbit she was. Her piercing brown eyes glared up at me.

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