Page 56 of Warped Minds (Boys of Briar Hall 4)

Corvus lengthened his strides to keep up, the three of us walking through the atrium, scattering students milling around between classes in our wake.

“Mind explaining why we’re back here. I was on my way to Lennox when I got your text.”

Rook punched the elevator button and then leaned against the wall, waiting, rolling a coin over his knuckles. “What do you mean she might’ve left a gift?”

I sighed. “I think Jericho is AJ’s stalker.”

No point in dragging it out.

“Jericho’s dead.”

“Is he? Becca said she made herself look at every face on her way out of the Docks. He wasn’t there.”

Rook shrugged, but I could already see his mind working behind the blasé gesture. “Then he died in the attack on Sanctum.”

“I don’t think so.”

Corvus pinched the bridge of his nose, upper lip curling. “I’ll ask you again, Brother, what the fuck is this about?”

“It was something he said in the recordings,” I explained, ignoring my brother’s misplaced hostility as we rode the elevator up to the third floor. “It made me think we weren’t his only target. Think about it. He was asking about AJ. Wanting Becca to find out where she was.”

“To get to us,” Corvus said, but the conviction in his voice was gone. Even he was starting to see it.

“Maybe. Maybe not. Becca didn’t have any pictures of Jericho, but she’s an artist. A fucking good one. I asked her if she could draw him for us.”

Rook glared after me when I walked out of the elevator. I could feel his wrathful gaze boring holes into my back. “You didn’t think you should mention this sooner? Give her a protection detail?”

“I did.”

“Axel was fucked,” Rook argued. “He wouldn’t have been able to stand up to a strong wind, never mind this sadistic motherfucker.”

“I didn’t know if I was right,” I admitted, keeping my eyes trained ahead. “I still might not be.”

Corvus dragged me back with a rough grip on my shoulder. “You should’ve fucking told us.”

This time, I did meet his stare. “I know.”

Rook knocked Corv’s hand from my shoulder, giving him a warning glance before turning his black eyes back to me. “You fucking tell us if you think you know something. I don’t give a shit how stupid you think it is. Hear me?”

“Yeah, Bro. I hear you.”

“So.” Corvus sighed. “You think she managed to draw him before he got to her?”

I shook my head. “Not draw. Paint. But no, I didn’t think she had. Not until I went to check on her at the hospital and found dried paint on her palm.”

I could see the same hope I felt mirrored in their tired expressions.

Rook all but ran past me, clearing the distance to AJ and Becca’s room, not wasting another second.

We followed him into the apartment, through the living room and across to Becca’s room. He shoved the door in and set to work.

“Paint,” he called after tearing back the comforters on her bed. Smudges of varying colors stained her light duvet. Dirty paintbrushes scattered to the floor.

I lifted a pad of watercolor paper from the floor, fingering a torn bit at the top. “A sheet’s missing.”

“Fuck!” Corvus kicked the side of her espresso finished dresser, denting in the wood. “He took it.”

I shook my head. No.

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