I stopped breathing.
Anchor pushed off the floor in one swift motion and stalked toward the front deck.
He didn’t bother closing the door behind him.
That’s how I knew it was bad.
“Another one?”he said, voice sharp and disbelieving.
My breath punched out of me.
Another body.Someone else was dead.
Pearl’s eyes met mine, wide, terrified, and resigned.This had become normal.Too normal.
We sat there silently, listening even though we knew we shouldn’t.
“We need info.Anything that ties this body to the others.Call Doc.And don’t move the skeleton until he gets there.”
He went quiet, listening.
“Keep me updated.”He hung up.
My heart hammered in my ears.
Whatever Prime had found, it wasn’t good.
Anchor let out a long, low curse, the kind that said he’d just been hit with something he hadn’t expected.Then his boots thudded against the wooden deck as he paced.
He didn’t come back inside immediately.He stood there for another few seconds with his fingers raking through his hair and his shoulders tight and stiff.
Finally, he stepped inside.
His face told me everything I needed to know.
Pearl stood the second he walked in.“Another one?”
Anchor pressed the heel of his hand to his forehead.“No.”
I blinked.
What?
Pearl frowned.“But… you asked who found it.”
“Yeah,” Anchor muttered.
“So what did they find if it wasn’t a dead body?”she asked.
Anchor looked between the two of us, like he hated every second of this conversation.“Fuck,” he groaned.“I wish you two didn’t have to be a part of this.”
Pearl stepped toward him, and her fingertips brushed his arm.“What is going on, Anchor?What did they find?”
He exhaled hard through his nose and stared at the floor.“A skeleton.”
The word landed like a punch to the chest.
Pearl gasped.I felt my skin crawl.
