Leaning over to my side table, I pulled out the file. “Wells sent me this. Apparently, he found out about the police investigation and wanted to give me the heads up.”
Beck took the papers, his face hard and unreadable. Dylan leaned over to read on one side and Jasper on the other. The three of them were silent, and when Evan lifted his eyebrows at me, I just shrugged. He eventually got up and stood behind the couch to see as well.
A tic started high in Beck’s jaw. Dylan’s too, if I was being honest. Jasper looked sick, and Evan was pale, his eyes wide as he stared down.
“You should have given this to me straight away,” Beck said softly, that menace in his undertone his scary one. “I figured the papers you threw were to do with school or something unimportant. Not a fucking dossier on this rose killer.”
I shrugged. “Sorry. I just … the nightmares.”
I’d needed a break from the nightmares, and Beck had given me that.
A knock at the door sounded, and we all startled. Our whole crew, Eddy included, was already inside my apartment ... so who was knocking on the door? No one should have been able to even get to our floor without the appropriate access keys, Evan had ordered the elevators rewired to block access from the rest of the building.
“I’ll get it?” Eddy yelled, moving out of the kitchen where she’d been making a snack, missing all the drama.
Dylan was on his feet in an instant. “Sit down,” he snapped as he stalked over to the door. He took a moment to peer out the peephole then swung it open to reveal ... no one. A chill of fear ran down my spine, which quickly turned to ice when he bent to collect something from the doorstep.
That act had all three other boys bursting out of their seats and doing all kinds of shit that I barely even noticed. Beck pulled a gun from God knew where and darted out into the hall with Evan tight behind him, Dylan tossed the package to Jasper then slammed the door shut and flicked all my deadbolts. He then disappeared with a gun of his own in hand, checking all through the apartment then winding up at the huge living room window. He stood there for a while, peering down at the street below before giving a faint nod and tucking his gun away in the back of his jeans.
“Here.” He held his hand out for the package, and Jasper handed it back over as he came over to where I still sat. Totally frozen.
“Riles, you okay?” Jasper asked, touching my hand where I clutched the edge of the table. My grip was so tight my knuckles were white, nails biting into the wood varnish.
I blinked a couple of times, trying to shake myself out of the shock I’d sunk into. “Yeah,” I replied in a hoarse whisper. “Yeah, just open it.” I nodded to Dylan, who held the small package in his hands.
He gave me a nod, lifted the lid of the shiny gift box, then frowned.
“What is it?” I asked, trying so freaking hard to hide the panic in my voice. “Is it...?” Any number of horrible things crossed my mind, fueled by the crime scene photos of Cordelia June’s murder.
Dylan didn’t reply, just held up a flash drive then tossed the box—and the rose—onto the table. “Jasper, pass over your laptop,” he said.
“What if it’s a virus?” Eddy suggested, right as Dylan was about to plug it in. “What if this is some, I dunno, Huntley ploy to hack your computers? Even if it doesn’t immediately do anything, it could be a Trojan horse designed to lurk and gather info every time you use your laptop.”
Both boys paused, then Jasper rushed out of my apartment, returning a few tense moments later with a brand new, still in its box, tablet. “Smart thinking, sis,” he complimented Eddy as he ripped the packaging open and powered up the device. Dylan passed him the flash drive and he plugged it in, propping the screen on the table for all four of us to see.
“Video file,” Dylan murmured, and Jasper tapped the icon to open it.
When the file began playing, I was too shocked and dumbfounded to do anything but stare in horror.
“Whoa,” Eddy murmured, but even that didn’t cut through my stunned disbelief. “Girl, is that...” On the screen Beck flipped me over, pressing me into the couch as my legs circled his waist and—
“Turn it off!” I shrieked, finally breaking out of the trance and slapping my hand over the screen. “Oh my god. Oh my god. He has a camera in here.” Nausea twisted my stomach, and I swallowed hard.
Jasper and Dylan were already scouring my living room, searching for the hidden camera while breath rushed in and out of me with increasing speed.
“Hey, come on, girl,” Eddy said, rubbing my back, “you’re okay, just put your head between your knees for a minute. You’re about to pass out.” Helpless to do anything else, I did what she said.
Thankfully, it only took a few seconds for the fuzziness to fade and my breathing to slow, because the slamming door almost startled me into a heart attack.
“What’s going on?” Beck demanded.
“Got it!” Dylan announced, pulling the tiniest little speck of technology from the decorative light fixture over my kitchen island.
Beck’s whole body turned to stone, and his eyes fixed on thethingon the end of Dylan’s finger. “Is that what I think it is?”
His friend gave him a tight smile, then walked over to the table and dropped the micro camera into Evan’s beer.
“Show me,” Beck demanded, his voice like the crack of a whip. Even I flinched a little.
