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”That could’ve been vodka,” Jace said with a smile when Grayson handed it back.
”I wouldn’t have turned that down either,” Grayson replied, then turned to look at me again. ”So anyway, I realize her mouth is sewn shut. And he’s been placing these orchids in their mouth so it’s not that hard to follow what he wants me to do next.”
”And you did it?” I asked.
Grayson looked at Teo again. This time, it was for longer, then Teo nodded again. Grayson pinched the bridge of his nose.
”I did it because he’d written something on her chin,” he said. ”He, uh, he wrote your name, Sof. And he drew an arrow toward the victim’s lips.”
I paled, the world suddenly swimming in and out of my vision.
Teo was instantly by my side, his arm around my shoulders as he helped me to steady myself. ”It's alright,” he murmured, his voice low and soothing. ”We're going to figure this out, Sofia. We won't let him hurt you.”
I nodded, grateful for his presence. I glanced around at the others, noticing that Victor looked like he was going to be sick. Jace had a grim expression on his face, his fingers flying over his keyboard as he typed up notes. Grayson looked like he was in pain, his eyes dark with emotion as he looked at me.
”What else?” I asked softly, focusing back on Grayson.
Grayson took a deep breath. ”Her name is Amber,” he said. ”We found her ID on her. She's a local college student, works part-time at a coffee shop downtown. It seems like she was out here on her own. Family had disowned her, that kind of thing.”
”How do you know that?” I asked.
Grayson tilted his head toward Jace, who looked up at me, still wearing the same dark expression on his face.
”Did she have any connection to me?” I asked, my mind racing with possibilities.
He didn’t look to Teo for permission before he answered. ”Yes,” he said. ”She’s your barista.”
”What?”
”Yeah,” Grayson said, shaking his head. ”She works at the coffee shop you go to every morning. The one near your apartment.”
I felt the world tilt on its axis. My mind couldn’t process what was happening. This killer had been watching me. Watching me enough to know my daily routine. Of course he had; he had broken into my apartment to kill me and I had just gotten lucky. The gang might be protecting me now, but when it was time for me to go back home–and that time was going to come–I was truly fucked.
And this poor girl. This poor girl who’d done nothing wrong except be my acquaintance. I tried to place her, thinking of the young students who took my coffee orders in the morning.
I tried to look at their name tags, but I was frequently frazzled, and I couldn’t remember a single one of them now.
I couldn’t place this girl. This girl who had died because of me.
”This isn’t your fault,” Teo said as if he was reading my mind.
”I don’t understand,” I said, ignoring him, my voice barely above a whisper.
”And that’s not all,” Grayson said, looking at me intently. ”There’s something else.”
I felt my heart drop into the pit of my stomach. ”What?” I whispered.
Grayson hesitated, then reached into his pocket. He pulled out a small, black envelope. ”This was in her pocket,” he said, handing it to me.
I took it from him, my hands shaking. I could feel the weight of everyone’s eyes on me as I opened the envelope. Inside was a small piece of paper, with a single line of text scrawled across the back.
Tick-tock, Sof. Your time is running out.
That, with the note telling me I would get what I wished for, almost made me throw up right then and there.
I felt my breath catch in my throat. I looked up at the others, feeling the tears welling up in my eyes.
”We’ll catch him,” Teo said softly, his hand resting on my shoulder.
