Jude’s eyes widened in shock.
“We need to get you into protective custody,” Jude said, his entire tone shifting into serious mode, the kind of focus he usually saved for a microscope. “This isn’t good, Ella. Not good at all.” He adjusted his black-framed glasses on his nose. “You should never be alone. Seriously. Do you know that? You should go live with Oscar.”
I almost laughed at the thought. Oscar kept his tidy three-bedroom home about a mile from the lake, deep in the woods, in pristine condition. There wasn’t a speck of dust anywhere in his house, and his lawn was perfectly evenly cut because on the weekends he got out there with a magnifying glass and a pair of scissors. If I lived there and even left a dirty coffee mug in the sink, he’d have a fit. Plus, I would not be responsible for what might happen if I had to live with the continual smug comments. If we lived together, we’d both end up dead, and the Canceled Killer wouldn’t have to lift a finger.
“I can’t live with Oscar. He’s a neat freak.”
“This is your safety we’re talking about,” Jude said. “You need someone with eyes on you who you can trust. If this really is the Canceled Killer, then we can’t take any chances.” He paused. “How do you know you’re being targeted?”
I sighed. I didn’t want to talk about theReady or notmessages. But I could tell by the stubborn bent of Jude’s chin that he wasn’t going to let go of this bone until I came clean. He studied me through his black-framed glasses.
“I’ve gotten messages from CanceledKill as well,” I admitted. I showed Jude my socials and the skull emojis. His eyes widened behind the lenses of his glasses.
“What’s Oscar doing about this?” he demanded.
“He’s looking into it,” I said. “He’s checking with one of his Marine buddies. A federal agent?”
Jude nodded as he scrolled through my social media.
“These trolls are all real assholes,” Jude said as he thumbed through all the horrible comments. “I’m sorry.”
I shrugged. “Yeah. But, anyway, Russo is here now.” Russo was probably my best hope at staying safe. Except he seemed to have a habit of disappearing when I needed him most. “We’re going to catch the Canceled Killer together.”
A light burned in Jude’s eyes as the Tetris pieces clicked into place.
“By using you as bait?” I didn’t deny this claim fast enough, and Jude pounced. “Of course he is. I knew it.” Jude groaned. “That’s dangerous. That’s too damn dangerous,” he said, his voice growing uncharacteristically heated. “No one should be putting you in that position…”
Jude actually sounded… agitated. He never sounded agitated. He never lost his cool. He barely even let on he had feelings about anything. But Russo got under his skin somehow.
“You don’t like Russo?”
“No. I don’t like anyone who’d play games with your life,” he said. His dark eyes flashed with something sharp. He didn’t look like a calculating, bloodless scientist right then. He looked morelike a wolf, ready to defend his pack. “Especially not some Gucci-wearing bro with skin-tight pants and no socks.”
“Sounds like you’re jealous of his drip.”
“Not jealous. I just know Russo’s type. He reminds me of every guy who ever bullied me in high school.”
“Who bullied you in high school?”
“Everyone, when Oscar wasn’t around. I was the only blerd in school.”
“Blerd?” I asked, confused.
“Black nerd?” Jude spelled out.
That did explain why he wore all those Naruto anime shirts back then.
But looking at the full-grown man in front of me, it was hard to remember the skinny, rail-thin little kid with the oversized glasses who used to rattle off dialogue from episodes.
“You saved me once,” he said.
“I did?” No memory of that whatsoever.
“I was nine. I think you’d just turned six? This group of jerks was playing street hockey right before I got to your house to play Xbox with your brother. They were taunting me. You were up in a crab apple tree.”
“That tracks. I loved climbing trees as a kid. Mostly to hide from my mother trying to feed me burnt biscuits.”
“You saw what was happening and you got mad. You threw crab apples at them until they ran off. You hit one right in the forehead.”
