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PROLOGUE
My heart feels like it’s one beat away from bursting through my skin. It’s so distracting that instead of listening to the men around me, I’m desperately trying to recall my training from the academy on what to do when someone goes into cardiac arrest.
I wipe my palms on the thigh of my jeans and try to take a deep breath.
I can’t.
I feel like I’m suffocating.
Tears well in my eyes. Grinding my teeth, I push them away and pick a spot on the white plastic table to center myself. A muted coffee ring stain that looks like it’s been there for a year.
Focus.
Slowly, the agents’ voices begin to penetrate the haze of adrenaline coursing through my veins.
“…there’s a plug-in over there,” one says to the other.
“Okay, hang on.”
Then, I hear the click of a tape recorder, followed by a second of silence while they stare at me.
The tension in the room is stifling.
And then, it begins.
My hands begin to tremble.
“Mrs. Velky.” Agent Zeal speaks. “Do you understand why we just arrested you?”
A bead of sweat rolls down the side of my face.
“Cora Granger was found in her home, brutally beaten to death…” Zeal pauses, a strategy I have used countless times while interviewing suspects, “among her extensive injuries, the letter X had been carved into her skin. Our crime scene techs found DNA on her body and also at the scene of the crime. This DNA is a statistical match to yours. As you know, this is more than enough to give us probable cause to make an arrest… Do you care to explain why your DNA was on the victim’s body and at the scene of the crime?”
My jaw clenches, my body trembling in fury at the uncontrollable tears gathering in my eyes. I cannot cry—I will not.
“Mrs. Velky,” Agent Briggs says, “as I’m sure you are well aware, this is pretty much a slam dunk case. By denying legal counsel, and by your continued silence on the matter, you are basically admitting guilt. Do you understand that?”
“Yes.”
“So are you admitting guilt?” Zeal asks. “Did you kill Cora Granger? Would you like to make a confession right now?”
“Yes.”
A moment of shocked silence fills the room.
I look up, my teary eyes as cold as ice.
“I killed Cora Granger.”
ONE
ROWAN
One week earlier
My stomach sinks at the sound of the garage door opening.
I sit taller against the pillow and glance at the clock—11:23 p.m.
