“Sure, as long as you have the ingredients.”She barely contained a smile as they went to the kitchen.
I plopped on the couch and decided to flip through channels for something live and fun.“This looks exciting.”I settled on the local news.
An entire block was roped off, surrounded by a few police cars and multiple news anchors. Not to mention a bunch of nosy people standing around trying to see past the barricade.
“This is breaking news,”a woman was saying.“What we’re about to show is extremely graphic. Viewer discretion is advised.”She ducked beneath the caution tape and motioned for the camera to follow.“The mangled remains of a body were discovered less than an hour ago. The victim’s severed head was found several feet from the body. So far, no witnesses have come forward and police have no leads on a suspect, despite what authorities are calling one of the most gruesome crimes this town has ever seen—”
“Eww.”I scrunched my nose as the woman worked her way around blood, debris, and what looked like charred pieces of skin.
“It appears the victim’s throat was slit with this silver cross.”She paused to give the camera a chance to zoom in on something left on the ground several yards away. One end was distorted, while the other was drenched in blood.“It’s unclear whether the victim was killed by decapitation or died beforehand. No other weapons were found at the scene.”She pressed a hand to her earpiece, turning away from the camera as it moved to something unimportant.
I half-stood to get a view of the whole scene. And then I realized that was impossible and sat back down. They need a better camera holder,‘cause right now I can’t even see the dead person. This angle sucks.
The camera got shaky for a moment before it zoomed back to the woman.“We’ve just been informed the victim was also burned in several places. Police have said this was likely a targeted attack due to…anatomicallocation of the burns, as well as signs he was skinnedpre-mortem.”She looked on the verge of being sick.“The victim has been identified as this young man.” The screen changed to a familiar face. I gasped and shot up from the couch.
“What?” Aricame into the room right as it returned to the crime scene. “Ew!” She recoiled and covered her face.
“It’s Kiro!”I pointed frantically.
“He’s dead?”Sean walked in and took one look at the screen, then started laughing.
“How is this funny?” Ariscreeched.
“So many ways.”Sean grinned.“I’ve never seen him do one this bad.”
“You’ve never seen who do whatthis bad?”I asked.
“No one,” Sean said. “Forget it.”
“This is so gross,”Ari whimpered. She peeked through fingers as they pannedthe crime scene, then smacked Sean’s arm when he cracked up laughing again.
“I’ll be back.”I walked down the hall, heading straight for the last door. I ran a nervous hand through my hair and knocked.
“Come in.”
I entered and closed the door.“Did you kill Kiro?”
“I ran into him a few hours ago. He annoyed me.”Dennis was leaning against the dresser, arms crossed and expression unreadable.
“Be honest. You went looking for him, didn’t you?” My voice came out more confident than I’d expected.
“Maybe.”
“You killed him because of what he did to Mateo…?”
“If that was why, I would’ve done it a long time ago,” he said. “You’re really not used to this, are you?”
“Used to what?”I went tosit in the chair across from him.
“Do you really think I’d kill him for something that happened almost a year ago?” he asked.
“No,”I said quietly, shifting under his steady gaze.
“I don’t give a shit about the other stuff. We both know he wasn’t gonna leave you alone.”
“It would’ve been fine. I don’t need protecting anymore.”
Dennis sighed and uncrossed his arms.“Why do you find it so unfathomable that someone might care about you?”
