Page 44 of Never Letting Go

Grayson rubbed his temples. “We’re all on edge.”

That didn’t answer the question, but Damon let it go. He formed a circle with the chairs then asked everyone in the room to have a seat. Most complied, some reluctantly, and a few left the room not far behind Trey.

A headache was starting to form behind Damon’s eyes, but he tried to ignore it. A headache was the least of anyone’s problems. Not only did they have a dead groomsman, but someone in the building was the killer.

And he might be preparing to strike again.

Damon clapped to get everyone’s attention. “We’re all stressed, but we need to focus.”

“Focus?” A woman who looked a lot like Rita, but older, glared at him. “We need to protect ourselves.”

“And to do that, we need tofocus,” Damon said.

“With a killer running around?”

“Yes! Think about it — there are over fifty of us. We far outnumber the killer.”

“Or killers!”

“Right,” Damon agreed. “But unless there are more than twenty-five people involved in Mateo’s death, we still outnumber them. By a lot. If we want to survive until the person is caught, we need to work together.”

“It could be one of us sitting here.”

Everyone looked around with varying degrees of nervousness and suspicion.

Damon drew a deep breath and turned to Grayson. “What do you think we should do? You’re an investigative journalist.”

“I usually deal with corporate crimes. This is outside my expertise. If one of us was laundering money, I could get to the bottom ofthatpretty easily.”

“Did you kill Mateo?” asked a voice from behind.

Trey loomed in the doorway.

“Me?” Grayson asked.

“You stand to gain the most from his death.”

Grayson’s mouth fell open. “How does losing one of my best friends benefit me?”

Trey marched closer to the circle but didn’t take a seat. “You tell me.”

“I have no idea.” Grayson’s voice cracked. “I’m barely holding myself together. If you’re going to accuse me of something, don’t play games. Just say what you’re thinking!”

“You’ve always thought you’re better than the rest of us. Mateo looked up to you. You were his hero. While everyone else wanted to be some celebrity,hewanted to be you!” Trey moved around the outside of the circle slowly, still not sitting.

“How does that make me a killer?” Grayson demanded. “He was myfriendmore than my cousin. I never wanted any harm to come to him!”

Trey continued making his way around the chairs. “So, friends are more important than family? Is that what you’re saying?”

“I barely know some of my cousins,” Grayson said. “And I’m starting to doubt how well I ever knew you. Maybeyouwanted Mateo dead!”

A few gasps sounded around the room.

“Me?” Trey gestured wildly. “Why would I?”

“Why wouldIwant him dead?” Grayson rose from his chair. “You’re the one who has always been jealous of the three of us being close. You even had a nickname for us.”

“The three muskrats,” Trey sneered.

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