Page 44 of Coveted

He hands my phone to me. “I was bringing you this.”

“Thanks.” But my mind is on the killer’s words. “Lucan, I⁠—”

“Yes?”

I swallow. “He killed Hannah.”

Lucan seems to stop breathing. “He said that?”

I’m going to make you beg like Hannah did.

“Yeah,” I say.

Lucan doesn’t need to know the gory details. None of his family do, because it would be too cruel.

“Good to have it confirmed, I guess.” He sighs. “Parker was right all along.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Not half as sorry as I am.”

A shiny black car rolls to the curb. Lucan opens the back door while O’Connor stays in the driver’s seat.

“Come on,” says Lucan, holding the door. “We’ll drive you back to Darkbloom.”

I consider arguing, but a ride-share with a total stranger is more than my nerves can handle at the moment.

“Okay,” I say.

Holding my skirt, I awkwardly lower myself into the car. Lucan closes the door securely and gets in from the other side.

“Good evening,” says O’Connor to me in the rearview mirror.

“Hello,” I say with a bashful smile.

The car pulls out. My hands shake and I clutch my phone, wishing this night were over.

“We should call the police,” I say.

Lucan’s tapping a message, his thumbs flying over the screen of his phone. “On it. I’ll have them send a female detective to take your statement back at your dorm, after you’ve had a chance to shower and change.”

“The police do as you say, huh?”

His expression remains serious. “I’m just being efficient.”

“No arguments there.”

Lucan finishes typing the message, pocketing his phone. He takes a thick wool blanket from a compartment under the seat, handing it to me. I wrap myself in the soft fabric, my heart rate finally slowing.

“The car’s plates were missing, but I gave the make and model to the police,” he says. “My family’s private detectives too. We’ll find the vehicle’s owner.”

I frown at my bag. “Did you steal my phone at Altar? The zipper on my bag was closed, I’m sure of it. My phone can’t have fallen out.”

“I didn’t steal it, I borrowed it.”

“Why? You can’t do anything with a locked phone.”

“You can’t.”