Page 52 of Cocky Brutal Sinner

She keeps it tight. Just Cat, Maura, and Brinley.

My stomach feels heavy with dread. It’s the first time Brinley’s name has been mentioned in a Peppermint conversation. No one has even come close to accusing her, but it feels like a bad omen. A reminder that it’s only a matter of time.

Brinley’s not the only person to get called out in the messages.

Luke

@Beau where are you, man? I know you’re on your pilgrimage, but we’re making moves on this.

@Beau, did you catch up with the chat yet?

@Beau, what do you think? Please weigh in.

Ryan

I think he got eaten by a flying spaghetti monster.

Luke

Hope not. I want his opinion before we move forward.

Shit. I missed all Luke’s messages, because I was in a villa on the Italian coast with the person they’re hunting.

Without me there to steer conversations away from Brinley and throw out red herrings, the guys made real headway. Every message I scroll past hammers home how much ground I lost by leaving. Three days of freedom with Brinley may have cost us everything.

I have to reply eventually, but I have no idea how to lead them any further away right now.

Beau

Damn, you guys made a ton of progress.

Luke

He lives!!! Come meet me in the gym if you’re home, I’ll catch you up.

I rake my hands over my face. I wasn’t planning on going to the gym this morning, but maybe it’s good. I can take Luke’s temperature on the Peppermint hunt without the other guys there to poke holes in my theories when I try and direct him away from Brinley. I drag myself out of bed and mindlessly put on the first workout clothes I grab from my dresser. It’s not until I’m already in the elevator that I realize I’m wearing one of Ryan’s poker merch shirts, with his smiling face plastered across the front.

“Thanks for the moral support, Ry,” I tell him.

Down in the gym, I find Luke lying on a weight bench, doing chest presses. He grins when he sees me. “Hey, man! Feeling refreshed after your big trip?”

“Not really. Jet lag.”

“It’s the worst. But I think I’ve got some news that’ll perk you up.”

“Oh yeah?” I grab some dumbbells and set them on the floor by the next bench. “What’s happening?”

“We think we found Peppermint’s fanfiction account.”

“What?” I burst out laughing. “What the hell? How did you find that? And how’s it even helpful?”

“Hear me out. I found this guy who traces verbal patterns with large language learning models. He’s been running all of Peppermint’s articles through his program, trying to find stylistic matches. He told me not to be too hopeful, because the Internet’s a big place, and we might not find any matches. But last night, he had a breakthrough.”

“A fanfiction breakthrough,” I say dryly.

“Exactly. This account, Nightingale99, published a bunch of Hunger Games fanfiction ten years ago that closely matches Peppermint’s style.”

I grin. I have no doubt that Nightingale99 is Brinley. She would have spent her preteen years scribbling stories about her favorite book series. Frankly, it’s adorable. I can’t wait to tease her about it later. I doubt Luke will be able to connect those dots, though.