Page 46 of Nemesis

He glares at me. “Wasn’t he found with a bomb below Bow & Arrow, Artemis?”

Ugh.

“He disarmed it,” I point out. “He saved Bow & Arrow.”And everything under it.

“He could’ve planted it for all you know. Disarmed it because he knew how he made it.” He points at me. “Dangerous. After all you went through…”

His phone rings.

I look away, my face heating. Vittoria reaches forward and squeezes my arm. She’s going to say something about how he isprotective of me like a fourth child, one whohasn’tleft Sterling Falls. One who he rescued so long ago…

“What?” he chokes out.

I tune in to his conversation, twisting in my chair. His hand is over his mouth, and his gaze flies back to me.

“Okay. We’ll be there.”

“What?” I demand as soon as he hangs up.

“There are…” He winces. “There’s a dead body outside of Bow & Arrow.”

Well.

That’s not good.

“You can’t be here.”

I duck under the crime scene tape, rolling my eyes at the sheriff. “Pretty sure you can’t give orders like that when just a few hours ago you were telling Jace this guy left town of his own free will.”

He has a better poker face than to look surprised—but he doesn’t have a reply either.

I put my hands on my hips, staring up at the body. Only one, notably, even though there were two who went missing. I tuck away that piece of information. One shoe dropped—but there will be another.

Antonio downplayed the situation. It’s not justoutsideof Bow & Arrow—it’s been pinned to the wall over our heads. It being a bloody, bloated corpse.

One of Wolfe’s informants, I’d imagine. What they need to be informed of, I have no idea. Why the murderer chosehere, also no idea. Or how they got it up so high.

My head hurts.

Also, most importantly, he’s missing an eye. In all the gore and blood coating his skin, it’s almost easy to miss.

The sheriff steps in front of me, blocking my view. “Go home, Artemis.”

“I’m not squeamish,” I counter.

“I know that.”

“I’m not sentimental.”

“Obviously.”

“I’m not stupid enough to dirty your crime scene.”

“Naturally.”

“And I’m not fragile.”

He frowns.

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