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“Shit, man. That’s not good.” Eric breathes.

My phone rings, an ominous sound in the destroyed room. We all look at each other.

“Hello?”

“Agustus, Officer Burrows.”

“I was getting ready to call you.”

There’s a shifting on the other end of the line. “Oh? Well, if it’s regarding the break-in, I’ll grab the case file. But before we get to that, there’s something I need to tell you.”

I take a breath and decide to put the call on speaker.

“Go ahead.”

“After you stopped by yesterday, I decided to do a little digging. I’m afraid Cordelya Holland isn’t exactly who she’s led you to believe.”

The world bottoms out beneath me. As I’m reeling, Officer Burrows continues.

“Her name is Cordelya Meadows. There was a missing persons report filed on her over a year ago by her fiancé, Chad Clark. Apparently, she was a no-show at their wedding. But there’s some conflicting information.”

“Oh?” I wheeze as my world continues to spin out.

She’s engaged. She was supposed to get married.

He makes a humming noise. “It seems when they interviewed her mother and friends noted as estranged, there were implications of an unhealthy relationship. The fiancé was described as manipulative and controlling. Several people speculated that she may have fled to escape him.”

Something sharp snaps inside me.

That’s it.

She’s in hiding.

That’s why she triple-checks the doors and windows. The reason she’s always looking for the exits and looking in shadows.

It’s why she’s terrified.

She knows this is her ex. And I’d put money on him being behind all of the other things that have happened.

“Fuck!” I bellow.

“Augustus?” Officer Burrows calls.

“I’m here. Listen, that blanket with the scent I dropped off? I can smell the same scent here in my house. I’d bet my job on it being this Chad asshole—nd that he flooded her first apartment and broke into her next one and the others. He’s found her and is fucking with her.”

“That makes sense,” Evren says.

“Well, if that’s true, something has made him escalate from making her paranoid to the violence at your house. She may be in danger.”

That horrible feeling that has been gnawing at me all day intensifies. The worry and dread morph into utter terror.

“Send units to the Twisted Broom. Cordelya picked up a shift,” I say, marching to the door.

“I’ll have units sent to your house as well. If this man is a jealous ex, you may be in danger as well.”

“Don’t bother, I won’t be here.”

“Where are you going? I strongly advise against leaving the house.”