Page 44 of What's Left of Me

As soon as we were all settled in the living room, Noel stood in front of the room, and there was no hiding his discomfort. No one was going to enjoy this.

“Right.” Noel cleared his throat. “So, I’m not going to read this all technical like, just facts, quick. Aziza has thoughts, and maybe we can figure something out.”

“Good idea.” JJ smiled.

“As we know, the other victims were strangled, bones broken postmortem. In Brady’s case, it appears he was strangled, and his bones were broken while he was still breathing. Cause of death was actually blood loss because the bones punctured through his skin and no attempts to stave off bleeding were done.”

“Jesus,” someone whispered.

“I don’t understand.” Four was reading the report while Noel spoke. “This Brady, did he take him, knowing this method would be pointless? Because here’s the thing. If he took Brady for the sole purpose of doing this and leaving a message then, okay,success. But if he wanted him to be a replacement to a rebirth of himself, why would he do any of this?”

I looked at Aziza because if anyone had an idea why, it would be her.

“A spiral,” she answered. “His intentions are very unclear. What we know is, he has said he’d do this again unless Phoenix is returned—which he won’t be, and for that I can only guess he’s killing violently to anger us, to make us feel the discomfort he feels with his plan being interrupted.”

“And the live flowers?” Mason asked.

“It’s about opposites. The other victims were preserved, made to look like dolls, form his rebirth. Life taken from flowers leaves dead flowers. Brady got live ones since his death wasn’t a rebirth but a punishment, a message. He wasn’t dressed pretty. His face, according to the report, was almost unrecognizable. It in no way represents Adonis,” she answered.

“So warped.” Gabe sighed. “And what’s it looking like the feds are doing?”

Noel shrugged. “Rose signed off on the report, so he knows, but other than that, I don’t see him doing anything.”

“Why do you think he hasn’t brought the recordings?” I had to wonder what was going on there; it seemed like an easy thing to do.

Aziza shook her head. “That I’m going to find out today. He’s not working with us very well, which makes it harder to help you and catch him and end this.”

Noel smiled at me. “You doing okay, Phoenix?”

“Yeah. I mean, no, because I know him, and he’s going to keep his promise, find someone else and kill them just as terribly as he did Brady. All because he wants me.”

“And don’t even think about being a hero here, Nix.” Hazel narrowed her eyes. “No, like, sacrificing yourself or being bait.”

My eyes widened. “Hazel, I actually do have self-preservation. I have no desire to step off this property until he’s caught, no matter how painful it is listening to what he’s doing to these other people.”

“I’m relieved to hear you say that.” Aziza grinned.

“I have to go down to the shop. With the shit that happened with Brady, we were closed and I promised Lizzy I’d be there.” Shep stood.

“I’ll go with you.” Four followed him out as did JJ.

“Want to watch a movie or something?” Hazel asked me.

I glanced at Noel, who was talking with his brother. I really wanted to go back to his room, hide under the covers with him, and distract myself from everything going on around me, but the hopeful look in Hazel’s eyes had me agreeing to hang out with her.

I was sure Noel had a million things to do anyway. I’d just gotten to my room with Hazel when a text from him came through.

Have fun with your sister, tonight your ass is mine.

I chuckled.…He’d get no argument from me.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Noel

While Phoenix was hangingout with his sister for the day, I was scouring every part of the web I could. I hacked into the train station where he’d dropped off the truck and tried to see if I could get a location where that train had been going. Of course it wasn’t an express and had made eleven stops that night.

Fortunately, most stations had cameras, and CCTV was always the way to go. What was unfortunate was, this guy wasn’t dumb. He entered the train but as I went through hours of footage, I never saw him exit.

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