“Shhh,” I hushed him, but Jude was taking pure delight in this. “Mateo?” I called again as I turned the latch of the door and found it unlocked. I swung open the door and hopped up the step, just in time to kick a pillow on the floor that I hadn’t left there.
I glanced around and realized the trailer was a mess, and not the kind of mess I made, either. Pillows sat torn on the floor, stuffing pulled out of them. All the blankets of my bed had been pulled off and lay crumpled on the floor, the bare mattress extended up so the cubby beneath was revealed. A mug was broken on the floor by the sink.
“What the—” I growled, stepping into the mess. My duffel sat upside down on the table, its contents strewn across the floor. The intruder even left the refrigerator door open, which Jude cautiously stepped around me and closed.
“Wow, I guess Spider-Man didn’t take the breakup news well,” Jude remarked dryly. Then he glanced at me, worried. “Or do you think this is the Canceled Killer?”
“If this was the Canceled Killer, then he didn’t allow his usual three days after leaving the skulls for me,” I said. “Then again, if he took Allen Gordon, he’s been breaking his own rules lately. He’s antsy.”
“What does it mean if he’s antsy?”
“Nothing good,” I said, dread pooling in my belly as I glanced at my trailer. The hands that made this mess weren’t cold and calculated. They were upset and angry.
And that was bad news for me.
Very bad.
I couldn’t shake the feeling he’d come for me. That he’d grown impatient. My time was really running out.
Ready or not?
I wasn’t ready.
Fourteen
The tenth victim was the founder of a startup promising the cure for PTSD in the form of a specialized tanning bed, but it was based on junk science. Thousands of veterans invested in the company, only to realize their shares in the company were worthless. The Canceled Killer electrocuted the CEO in one of his own tanning beds.
—Crime Hivepodcast
Oscar glared at the mess of my trailer, took off his sheriff’s hat, and ran a ragged hand through his hair. Mom, Dad, and Olivia were also standing in the Zen garden, concerned.
“What the hell…?” he said, glancing at the furious mess the Canceled Killer had left behind. “Is everyone okay?”
“We’re all fine,” Mom said.
“Can I clean it now or…?” Olivia could barely help herself. She was itching to clean up the shards of glass and torn pillows.
“Not yet,” Oscar said. “It’s a potential crime scene.”
He put his thumbs in his gun belt and shook his head.
“This is just like thatDateline,” Mom began, excited. Despite it being late at night, she still sported the perfect red lip. I think she slept with lip stain on. “The one where the abusive ex-boyfriend comes back and terrorizes this poor woman…”
“Mom, not helpful right now,” Oscar said, pinching the bridge of his nose. He glanced at the mess again. “Why would he do this?”
“I was asking myself the same question,” I said. The Canceled Killer never let emotions get to him, but this scene,thishurried angry mess, screamed meltdown. And that made me nervous. More than nervous. Borderline terrified.
He was getting emotional. It made him more dangerous.
“I told you the killer is getting sloppy,” I snapped. “This isn’t how he usually behaves.” Cold, calculating? All day. Angry fits in Airstreams? No.
“Maybe he was frustrated you weren’t here,” Jude suggested, adjusting the frames of his glasses on his nose.
“And that’s just the problem.” I shuddered. If he was this mad that I wasn’t here, I didn’t want to imagine what he would’ve done to me if he’d found me.
“Or maybe he was looking for something,” Dad offered. Since he hardly ever spoke, we all pivoted to look at him.
“Is anything missing?” Oscar asked me.
