Lost stood across from me, arms crossed and jaw tight.He hadn’t said much since we’d found the skeleton.This had been surprising to all of us.
I moved closer as Doc shifted the skull.He turned it gently, checking the eye sockets, the jawline, and the remaining teeth.
“Everything looks intact,” Doc said.“No obvious trauma.Though, again, I’m not the coroner type—” He twisted the skull a little more and the jaw suddenly popped open with a sharpclick.
All of us froze.
Something fluttered out onto the table.A small, folded piece of paper that had been wedged between the teeth.
Doc stared at it.“Well now… this doesn’t look to be as old as the skeleton.”
“No shit,” Vin muttered.
Doc picked it up with two fingers and held it like it might bite him.Then he handed it to me.“Think this must belong to you.”
I took it carefully.The paper was crisp.Clean.Not yellowed or decayed.Someone had put this here recently.
My stomach tightened as I unfolded it.
Three seconds later, my blood ran cold.“You’ll all pay for the sins of the club just like he did.”
Silence filled the room like smoke.
Skull swore under his breath.“Motherfucker.”
Vin pushed off the wall.“Who the hell is ‘he’?”
Doc straightened and took off his gloves.“Well… that’s my cue.”He tossed the used gloves into his bag.
I looked up at him.“Cue for what?”
Doc chuckled and grabbed his bag from the floor.“For me to get my ass out of here.Knew it was a good choice not to join you guys all these years.”
I blinked.“Really?”
“Oh yeah,” Doc said and slung the strap over his shoulder.“This?Notes stuffed inside skulls?Bodies popping up outta nowhere?No thank you.Lead me out, Lost.”
Lost grabbed the three bottles of whiskey he’d brought earlier, Doc’s unofficial payment every time he was dragged into our mess, and nodded.
They headed toward the door with Doc humming like he was leaving a grocery store instead of a room full of bones.
As soon as the door shut behind them, silence settled again.
Me.Skull.Vin.
One skeleton.One note.
And a hell of a lot of questions.
I blew out a slow breath.“Alright.Let’s talk about what the hell this means.”
Vin rubbed the back of his neck.“It means the guy’s changing shit up.This isn’t like the other bodies.”
“Nope,” Skull agreed.“This is different.This is deliberate.”
“Pretty sure the four dead bodies before were deliberate, too,” Vin snickered.
Skull flipped him off.
