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“Shit,” she hisses. “Okay. Well, no one was ever arrested. There was a suspect, but he wasn’t formally charged. There wasn’t enough evidence, I guess.”
I don’t even want to ask the question. I don’t need to. I know who did it. Still, I force the words out. “Who was it again?”
“His name is…” Noelle trails off, shuffling through something on her end of the phone. The seconds pass by torturously slowly. “There it is. Rodion. Rodion Karnovsky.”
I’m so shocked Noelle didn’t just say Timofey’s name that I jolt.
Timofey’s chair shifts behind me. Of course he noticed. He notices everything. And now, he’s paying even closer attention to me.
I play it off by toeing my shoe into the tile floor. “Right, I remember that.”
“You know him?” Noelle gasps. “Are you saying you know Rodion?”
“We met once or twice.”
She curses again. “Well, he’s been on Timofey Viktorov’s payroll for years. Whoever Timofey has managing his PR does a good job of keeping him out of the papers, but it’s there if you look hard enough.”
“I’m sure,” I say. What I really want to say is,He doesn’t have a PR guy. He has a gun and zero inhibitions about using it.
“Apparently, the police aren’t closing the case just yet. They’re still asking for tips,” she says. “Maybe they’ll get caught.”
I don’t even give myself the chance to feel hopeful. Timofey has probably intimidated every cop and reporter in the city at least once. I’m still not sure why he didn’t just hold a gun to my head like he no doubt did to all of them.
It wouldn’t have worked. I would have stood my ground. And then Officer Rooney would have been charged with cleaning upmycrime scene. But still… why is Timofey wasting his time convincing me? Why is he feeding me dinner when he could be burying my body?
I turn slightly, glancing over my shoulder.
Even before our eyes meet, I know he’s looking at me. His gaze is icy. I feel it like a drip down my spine.
I give him a wild, uncomfortable smile and spin back around. “Well, I should probably get—”
“I’m not done yet,” she says. “Rodion isn’t just Emily’s suspected killer. Rumor has it he is a hitman.Timofey’shitman.”
Rodion had a sea of black marks on his arm.One for every person I’ve… killed. I didn’t need him to finish the sentence. I can figure the rest out for myself.
Timofey pays Rodion to kill people for him. Maybe even his last girlfriend, if the locket with a picture of Timofey and Emily inside is any indication.
And I was justkissing him.
We weren’t just playing tonsil hockey and dancing on the line of professionalism; I was playing with my life, risking my continued existence just because the man has a nice jawline and pretty blue eyes.
“Makes sense,” I mumble. With every passing second, I’m losing my ability to seem casual. I feel nauseous. The five-star pasta in my stomach is turning into a five-star brick.
“She was killed a couple months ago. Recent. Not like that matters, I guess. Murder is murder no matter when it happened. But still. Whoever did this to her, Rodion or whoever, they’re more than capable of doing it again.”
“I know.” The words lodge in my throat, but I choke them out. “Thanks.”
There’s a long pause before Noelle speaks again. “Be careful, Piper.”
I feign a smile and turn back to face Timofey. “Will do. Talk to you later!”
The forced cheer in my voice sounds beyond fake to me, but I hope Timofey doesn’t know me well enough to realize I’m speaking several octaves higher than normal.
My screen turns dark and I shove my phone back in my pocket. Having Noelle on the line made me feel less alone.
Now, there’s nothing to hide behind. No one to cling to.
It’s just me and the monster in front of me.
