Casey’s bedroom was neat but chaotic with pictures of her friends strung up on twine above her bed, posters, a laptop, a Squishmallow collection that would make Noah weep, and stacks of well-worn books. She had a scrapbook with her dance recitals, starting from when she was young, a vanity with Dollar Store makeup, and a backpack full of notebooks and folders.Everything one would expect to find in a thirteen-year-old girl’s room.
Amy’s bedroom was tidy as well, except for a battered desk—similar to the one Nico and Mal shared—sitting in the far right corner. On the surface of the desk was an ancient sewing machine with several leather samples beside it and a cookie tin that Nico knew even without looking would contain needles and thread.
It was a mom thing.
Even his mother, who could barely sew a button on a shirt, had a butter cookie tin filled with sewing supplies. Maybe they gave it to every woman who left the hospital with a newborn?
Other than her work corner, everything else in her room was meticulous, almost staged. Her jewelry box sat neatly on her dresser, beside it a small wooden box and bronzed baby shoes. In the top drawer of her nightstand they found a bible with little colored flags, a half-empty bottle of hand cream, a book full of brain teasers, a bunch of highlighters, and a small bottle of allergy medicine. Her bottom drawer showed a stack of receipts neatly clipped together and a checkbook that looked like it hadn’t been touched in years. There was a thin layer of dust on it.
He closed the drawer, then bent down to look under the bed. There was a floral box beneath with black and white photos and a clear plastic bin with clothing in it. There was nothing in her dresser that stood out either. Nico was almost ready to call it a total bust when he saw it—a ribbon sticking out from under the mattress. Adrenaline shot through him, something in his brain screaming that this was…something.
Nico’s pulse kicked into high gear as he slid his hand between the mattress and the box spring, expecting to find a book or journal of some kind. And he did. A leather bound book in a deep maroon color with the wordjournalembossed on the front with shiny gold letters. But that wasn’t all he found.
Nico set the journal on the bed, then pulled the other object free. A gun.
He turned to where Mal was on his knees, looking inside Amy’s closet. “Hey, uh…check this out,” he said, showing him both the journal and the gun.
Mal stood, walking the short distance to where he stood. “Where’d you find those?”
Nico gazed up at him, his heartbeat stumbling. Looking up at Mal from on his knees did something to him. When Mal frowned, Nico remembered he’d asked him a question. “Stuffed under the mattress. Old school.”
Mal nodded. “Maybe we’ll finally get some answers.”
Nico’s gaze returned to the gun. It stood out like a snake on Amy’s colorful quilt. It just…didn’t belong there. “I know this is a bad neighborhood and all, but does Amy strike you as the type of person to keep a gun in her house? Especially with a kid in it?”
Mal shrugged. “I don’t really know. But Casey obviously didn’t know about it or she wouldn’t have used a knife to stab the guy who attacked her to death.”
“That’s true.”
Nico held his breath, afraid when he opened the book, it would just be a sea of blank pages like the hundreds of journals his mother had bought over the years. His stomach twisted at the thought of his mother, but he shoved it back. He had a job to do.
He took a deep breath, then cracked it open in the middle, elated then disappointed so fast it made him dizzy. It wasn’t empty. In fact, it was almost entirely full. It was also written entirely in Chinese.
Nico’s shoulders sagged, defeated. “Well, fuck.”
“Don’t suppose Felix also reads Chinese?” Mal asked.
Felix. Yes, Felix would help them. He snagged his phone from his pocket. Felix answered on the third ring.
“You never call me in the middle of the day,” Felix answered, sounding grumpy.
“Hello to you, too?” Nico said, pretending to be hurt.
“Seriously, what’s going on? I’m assuming my brother is okay since nothing dire has hit the feelings faction group chat. So…what’s up? You’re not calling to tell me you broke up with Mal or something, are you?”
Nico’s face heated up, his gaze jerking to Mal’s face. “What? No. Shut up.”
“Oh, am I on speakerphone?” Felix asked, voice full of mock innocence. “Oops. Hi, Malachi.”
“Hey, Felix,” Mal said.
“So, if you haven’t sabotaged your love life, why are you calling me in the middle of the day? Some of us have jobs,” Felix said.
“His mother married an Ecuadorian carpenter and is now on her way to spend a week hallucinating in the jungle for her honeymoon,” Mal called, just loud enough for Felix to hear.
There was a long silence before Felix said, “What?”
“Can we put a pin in that for now?” Nico asked, glowering at Mal. “We need your help. Are you busy?”
