Haze’s presence gave me a sense of peace and calm, shooing away the darker thoughts of my past, and I found myself getting right into the show, trying to guess what the ending was going to be. They had four suspects that they’d been tailing across multiple states, all of whom had contact with the sisters before they were abducted.
“Oh, it’s the postman for sure,” I murmured, not realizing I’d said it out loud until Haze made a disparaging sound.
Turning my gaze toward him, I saw he remained in the exact same position, though he was a little more relaxed.
“You think it was one of the others?” I asked.
His lips twitched, and when he turned to meet my gaze, I wondered why my chest tightened as I stared into his eyes. His expression remained neutral, but I always saw so much in the dark depths of his gaze. “It’s the cop.”
Swinging back to the show, I gave it all my attention as they started to wrap up the final days when they uncovered the girls buried in shallow graves at the back of the old log cabin in a national park an hour from where they had last been seen. Sure enough, by the time it was finished, it was revealed that the cop who’d been first on the scene to investigate was the serial rapist and killer they’d been searching for all along.
He’d never left his state but had accomplices in other states, making it seem as if the killer was a transient drifter.
“Holy shit. How’d you know?” I whispered to Haze, staring at the small smile tipping up the corner of his mouth. “Have you seen this before?”
He shook his head. “Nah. But it was enough to guess after those first interviews. He gave himself away more than once, showing more of an interest than just that of a cop passionate about his job—he was into it. He was getting off on it.”
The series had shown old recorded footage of interviews done by all manner of law enforcement as they hunted for the girls. Apparently if Haze had been partaking in the interviews back then, it wouldn’t have taken them six months to figure it all out.
“What did you say your family did?” I asked him suddenly, trying to figure out this enigmatic man. Was there any truth to what Nina had said about him being wanted for espionage in other countries?
His low chuckle took me by surprise; Haze wasn’t really the chuckling type. “If I told you, I’d have to kill you.” When his laughter died off, I couldn’t figure out if he was serious or not.
He turned back to the TV, where the next crime show had started, and I wondered if he was about to disappear into his room again. Despite how downright scary he was, it was comforting having him close, and to my relief, he didn’t move.
“I’m going to guess this one right,” I said, mostly to myself but also as a small challenge to the giant scary guy on the couch.
I could feel his gaze on me and wondered if he was smiling again. Even though I was too chicken to find out, I’d pretend he was and that for tonight we were friends.
I felt like Haze Michaels could be a useful friend to have in more than one situation.
Even if I wasn’t sure trusting him was good for my overall health.
But hey, I should have died six months ago, so I was already on borrowed time.
Might as well enjoy whatever extra was gifted my way.
15
EVELYN
Idrifted off during our third true-crime story, and when I woke up, I was instantly reminded of my nightmares and how awkwardly Andrew had been trying to comfort me. More than that, I wondered how long this would go on before one of the guys demanded to know why I was a bit messed up in the head.
Unless they already knew, which would explain why none of them pushed me for more information. At least, if they knew, we were all on the same page ofnot talking about it.
Not keen to chat about the night, I ducked out of the house before anyone else was up, and when Ethan asked where I was in the group chat, I made up a lame excuse about working on my assignments.
Not that I was about to head for the library, which wasourplace, so I decided to camp out in Nina’s room for the day. She was heading off-campus to go shopping with some of her friends but was more than happy to lend me her desk.
In the morning, I worked on my assignments and even read ahead in several classes. I grabbed an early lunch at the dining hall and took it back to Nina’s room, then spent the next fewhours reading a book on my e-reader, with my phone turned off.
Nina came back in the early evening with pizza and sodas, and we ate on her floor while she told me all about her day, then showed me her stacks and stacks of new purchases. The girl had a closet to rival theVoguemagazine wardrobe, I was sure of it.
“What time is it?” I asked when I was so full of pizza I could barely move.
Nina grabbed my phone off her desk, then frowned. “Why’s your phone off? Did you need to charge it?”
“No, I just…didn’t want to be bothered while I was reading.” I shrugged, like it was a totally normal thing and absolutely not because I was embarrassed to face my hot housemates.
