Page 45 of Dead Girls Don’t Forget

I adjusted the strap of my tank and took a small step back. "I should head back."

He nodded once. “Goodnight, Harper.”

“Goodnight, Jackson.”

I turned and walked into the trees. A few minutes later I felt him moving through the woods behind me, keeping his distance. He didn’t come close. He didn’t make a sound. He simply followed, a silent shadow making sure I got home safely.

He’s protecting me from the killer.

The irony burned.

I let myself in through the back door, locked it, and went to my bedroom. I dropped onto the edge of the bed and reached for my phone on the nightstand.

Three texts from Cassidy, all in the last hour.

Cassidy: omg did you see the news

Cassidy: they found a body in town. another one. ppl are saying its the same person

And twenty minutes later:

Cassidy: also apparently there was a witness this time??

I read the last line twice. Then a third time.

My cat, purring moments earlier, went completely still.

A witness.

Did someone see me?

I sat on the edge of the bed in the dark and made myself breathe. Once. Slow. Then again. Then I reached for my laptop.

Chapter 18: Probably Isn’t Certainly

I wrapped the blanket around my shoulders and settled against the headboard, the laptop balanced on my thighs. Its glow cut through the dark room in a single hard rectangle of light.

I typed fast, opening tabs across the browser. The earliest article had gone up three hours and twenty minutes ago. The police press release it quoted was only forty minutes older than that. Four hours. Not enough time for real reporting. The articles were thin—little more than a headline and a paragraph or two. The internet was only just starting to catch up.

There was a limit to what tonight could tell me. I worked with what there was anyway.

Local news had two short pieces, nearly identical, lifted straight from the release.

Body found in a residence. Possible link to the earlier death. Investigation ongoing.

The regional paper had added only a sanitized paragraph about Richard, hometown, age, employer, and nothing else. No mention of a witness. The police bulletin was the same: tip line, case number, and a careful absence of any public reference to someone having seen something.

I would have been surprised if there had been. Police never announced witnesses in public statements. They kept them close.

I moved to social media next. The local subreddit already had three threads running. Town Facebook groups were buzzing. Even the Discord server a girl from my Criminal Procedure class had shared was churning with speculation. The same rumor threaded through all of them.

"I heard there was a witness."

"Where did you hear that?"

"Someone said it on Reddit."

"My cousin's friend works dispatch."