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“He was just hanging there and…shit, it was horrible, and I just wanted to get out, but then I heard a car and…I was scared of getting caught, so I hid under a bed…and when I got my chance, I ran.”
The sequence of events made sense. But there were other questions.
“You didn’t see anyone else?”
Jacob shook his head.
“Nothing out of the ordinary?”
“I don’t think so…” He broke off. His eyes filled with tears. “Shit, this is such a mess. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”
“What wasn’t, Jacob?”
“Just…everything.”
Barbara leaned forward. “Does the blood-dealing have anything to do with Dalton paying you boys to fake the video of Marcus being attacked?”
Jacob stared at her in shock. Then he threw a panicked glance at Jess.
“I already know,” Jess said wearily. “Stephen talked. And what you boys did was damn stupid.” She gave Barbara a sharper look. “But Marcus didn’t deserve to die for it.”
Barbara kept her focus on Jacob. “It’s you in the video, isn’t it?”
He nodded slowly. “Yeah.”
“The fangs?”
“Just fake ones from a shop.”
That explained the bit of pink plastic. It must have broken off the fake teeth.
“I was supposed to scrape his neck up a bit, make it look like he’d been attacked but managed to escape. Me and Stephen would leave, and Marcus would stay behind and follow later.”
“So he never went back for his phone?”
“No.”
“When did you realize something was wrong?”
Jacob swallowed. “We expected the police to come around after Marcus got home and told his mom and dad, but they didn’t. The next morning Marcus’s mom called, asking if anyone knew where he was. That was when we knew something was up.”
All of this tallied with what Stephen had said. But it was good to corroborate their stories. Check for inconsistencies.
“Why didn’t you come forward then?”
“I’m sorry. It was stupid. We should have said something, but we were scared.”
Jess scowled at Barbara. “Can’t you see he’s cut up about this?”
“A boy is dead, and Jacob and Stephen have seriously hampered a police investigation—”
“What does it matter? A vampyr killed Marcus, whatever else happened.”
“Inciting a cull is a criminal offense.”
Jess rolled her eyes. Barbara turned back to Jacob. “How did you get involved with Dr. Dalton?”
He cleared his throat. “Through Marcus.”
