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When it came to Ciaran, there was a lot I didn’t know. I probably never would, and I think he preferred it that way. Yet another thing we had in common.
“Are you bothered by the names of where we need to go? By any of this?”
I genuinely cared how he felt, which was throwing me even further off kilter.
He shrugged in response.
I waited for him to explain, but that’s all he gave me.
“What do you think of all that’s happening?” he asked, deflecting the spotlight onto me.
I took the moment and answered honestly.
“I didn’t really know what to think. I still don’t—I can’t think of any reason why someone would do all of this to a random group of strangers. This took a shit-ton of effort. I mean, there are people out there riding around in an ice cream truck.”
“And a motorcycle, you can’t forget about the badass biker.”
I coughed to disguise a laugh, looking back to make sure Margo didn’t hear him. “That was so wrong,” I hissed.
“Yet, you almost laughed.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“You’ve got a dimple that pops in your chin any time you remotely smile.”
I reflexively brought my hand up to cover said dimple. I already knew I had a few minor issues, but clearly this guy did too. That’s where the connection stemmed from—I’d discovered a kindred spirit. I hated it had to be under these circumstances.
“Okay, so we’ve got the purge squad roaming the city, and we’re the only people around to be purged.”
“How do you know they’re strangers?”
Pushed into a state of confusion, it took me a second to respond. “Who?”
“The people in this room.”
“I already asked if anyone knew each other, remember?”
He thumbed his chin, looking thoughtful. “Maybe they don’t know that they do, but there’s no way that this is random.”
I agreed that this didn’t seem all that sporadic. I’d assumed as much when I saw all our names listed together back at the Visitor’s Center. Not to mention how strategically put together everything seemed to be.
As for his other theory…
I toyed with my necklace as I considered that angle, flipping the pendant between my fingers.
“You mean there’s a connection they aren’t aware of?” I contemplated aloud.
He didn’t answer right away, his eyes trained on what I was doing. He lifted them to mine after a few seconds. “That’s exactly what I mean.”
I tucked the pendant beneath the collar of my crop-top and turned to face him. “How do we figure that out?”
He raised his brows. “We could just ask.”
“Oh, duh.”
He smiled down at me, causing my stomach to flip. I swept my eyes over every inch of his gorgeous face before bringing my gaze back to his. He’d stopped smiling, an expression I couldn’t decipher now obscuring his features.
Ciaran had a darkness to him for sure, I could sense it in him as easily as I could tell when it was day or night. I was the cat curiosity couldn’t kill, eager to explore all his hidden depths.
“If you be Watson, I’ll be Sherlock,” he said after a minute passed with us simply trying to figure out the other.
“Please, I’m always Sherlock,” I scoffed, brushing by him to go play detective.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Ten minutes was all it took to prove his theory correct.
Kind of.
It’d taken longer to get Margo and Abby to join us at the table without physically moving them there ourselves.
I took a sip of water, almost moaning as it watered my dry throat.
Gracelyn had found some newly packaged crackers and placed them between us to share. It wasn’t a fry up, but it was better than nothing.
Ciaran was sitting directly across from me, adjacent to Mel, with the straw of a boxed apple juice wedged between his pink, plump lips.
“So, what was everyone doing at the resort?” I asked, trying not to stare at him.
“Susan had—Susan was,” Margo corrected, drawing in a deep breath. “Susan was recently diagnosed with dementia. This was our last hurrah. We wanted some final memories.”
There was a brief lull. I’m sure this wasn’t what either of them had in mind. I could tell she was holding out hope that her aunt was alive. I wouldn’t crush that, but I think everyone else knew better.
It would be better if she were dead.
If she wasn’t, the amount of agony she’d be in right now had to be unbearable. We’d have to put her down once—if—we found her. Like the farmers did their wounded or sick livestock.
“Heather and I were attending a seminar for work,” Abby divulged, sniffling.
“I took a pleasure trip to celebrate my retirement. I was a P.O,” Leonard said.
His made sense. Abby’s too, I guess.
“You know why I was here. I got kicked out of a bachelorette gathering. That was two days ago, if time is relevant. I stayed to enjoy the trip already paid for. It was the least Mama could do for getting hitched to some creepy asshole,” Selena stated.
