Page 160 of Pretty Poisoned

"Don't put them on yet—drop them just outside the door, and then slip your feet into them. Try not to step in any blood."

I look down and realize the others have plastic booties covering their shoes. Luca moves toward the door, and only the one masked man follows. The other two seem to be waiting for something else, standing over Heidi's sister's body.

"Luca, I love you," I tell him. My lower lip quivers, and I bite it, hoping to hold back the tears.

"I love you, too. Don't worry—all right? It'll be okay."

I watch him drop the shoes outside the door and slip into them as instructed, and then the masked man follows him out, removing the plastic from his shoes and leaving it behind.

Once the door closes, one of the masked men clicks his tongue until I look at him. Cold, dark eyes stare at me from behind tiny circular holes in the gold surface. He points at the body and then holds up one finger on his gloved hand and waves it at me in a 'no' gesture, the way you might scold a child.

It's bone-chilling.

The third masked man takes a few steps forward until only centimeters separate him from River.

"You two are next," Declan says. "Everything off."

"Declan," River pleads, looking instead at the man beside her. "I don't want to. I'm not even that bloody; it's not on my clothes."

"You two have to move through the hotel. We can't risk bringing DNA through there—you need to be clean."

"But Declan—"

"Riv, you can do it now and make it easy, or you can make this hard, and I'll let them undress you…after I make you watch how they get that body to fit into"—he pauses, pointing at a small, black plastic carry-on suitcase—"that bag. Then, you'll be picking pieces of whatever-her-fucking-name-is out of your eyes. Take. Your. Fucking. Clothes. Off. Be naked by the time I step back in here."

Wait…what?

He turns to the door and then sighs, turning back to the man looming over River. "Give her a little bit of space," he says. "She's afraid of men."

He takes a step back, gesturing between River and Declan.

"No, not me," Declan says. "But most other men."

I almost throw up when he disappears out the door, leaving us alone…with them.

The man to her right leans against the bathroom stall and snaps his fingers, and she cries as she slowly undresses. The one who wagged his finger at me kneels beside the body, assembling something from inside his bag.

I've never seen one before, but I'm pretty sure it's a bone saw.

That's how they're going to get her in the plastic box.

"I'm sorry, River," I tell her as I remove my own clothes.

She doesn't reply, keeping her eyes fixed on the floor in front of her.

We're both fully naked when Declan steps back inside the bathroom, dragging a hose behind him.

"Quite frankly, Riv, I'm offended that you think I'd let anything happen to my girls. Teagan, you're familiar with this," he says. "Want to go first?"

I shrug and step in front of him. At least it's not freezing in here.

But it doesn't feel good. It takes much longer to spray me down than it did that night in the woods. I stare at my feet, watching the bloody water run down my body and then to a drain in the floor until he moves on to River.

My heart aches watching her cry through the entire process, head down with her arms crossed over her chest, and plead with any cosmic force that might be listening for it to be over soon.

When he's finished, he turns off the lights, and the masked man standing with River takes out a blacklight and runs it over our bodies. Declan cleans away any lingering blood stains and then stops on my nails.

Of course, it's caked under every single one.

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