Page 82 of Diem

Since I haven’t heard from Penny, I go straight to her. Let her try to avoid me when I’m standing on her porch.

She frowns when she opens the door but steps aside so I can enter.

“What happened?” I ask and she shudders, gesturing toward the stairs.

“C’mon.”

I follow her up the stairs and into her room, just one door down from Dixie’s. I pause at the threshold to stare at the closed door. Are all her secrets hidden away in that space?

“Close the door,” Penny says, and I step inside before doing as she asked.

She glares at the wall behind my head before I whisper, “Penny?”

With a sigh, she turns away. “It was nothing. A bunch of assholes partying and getting wasted.”

“Okay, that’s…good, I guess.” I mean, they weren’t killing anyone, so that’s a plus in my book. But why is she acting so damn weird? “Did you recognize anyone?”

She shakes her head and I study her. Why is she avoiding my gaze? What’s going on?

“I didn’t see anything really and I got tired of standing around, so I came back…”

“And…” A chill slithers down my back.

“And…on the car, when I got back…under the wiper…it was a rabbit’s foot.”

“I’m sorry, what?” I fall back, hitting the wall, where my fingers scrabble over the surface. A rabbit’s foot, something I would have never known is the fucking calling card of a serial killer if I hadn’t googled it.

She nods, her face ashen and I drop to the floor, clutching my knees. So, I wasn’t alone out there. Someone saw me, someone watched me. Why?

Fuck.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers, and I look up at her, wiping my eyes.

“Why?”

“I don't know. I guess…,” she trails off because what could she say anyway?

How did I get caught up in this? Did Dixie mention me? Did Penny?

Eyeing her carefully, I murmur, “He didn’t mention me, to you…right?”

She shakes her head vehemently and I sigh. What now?

When she drops before me and grabs my hands, I suck back a sob as she says, “We need to find out who he is, before…”

“Okay.”

It’s the only response I have because what choice is there? Wait until it’s too late?

∞∞∞

Diem

Maeve’s insistence on playing fucking detective follows me throughout the day. I don’t know what the hell she thinks she’s doing but fuck me, I have to talk her out of it. The problem with that plan is I’ve spent the last few weeks being a complete douche to push her away.

Now what? At least I know Frank can’t fucking hurt her but he’s not the one who killed Dixie, he’s been gone too long for that. So, who was it?

Ramsay hasn’t found anything to indicate it’s his dad and Mr. G while a fucking prick has only ever fucked his students, as far as we can tell. Shit, I have my doubts about the man killing a woman anyway…he’s too fucking, I don’t know…weak.

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