Nash and Landon appeared from the darkness. Both of them were frowning.
“No sign of anyone,” Nash murmured.
We moved deeper into the space. That’s when I saw that there were large photos hung on the metal posts, all at evenly spaced intervals.
I sucked in a breath.
The first picture was an image of Tawnee and Jeff. Their dead bodies slumped on the bloody bed. The photo was in black and white, except for the red ribbons on their wrists.
“Fuck,” Bastian clipped.
My chest tight, I walked to the next one.
A murdered family. A mother, father, and two children. More red ribbons.
Bile filled my mouth.
“What the fuck is this?” Bastian breathed, walking ahead of me.
The next one wasn’t a death picture. It showed a happy couple on the street, ice cream cones in hand. Love radiated off them.
In the next image, the same couple was on the floor, their throats slashed. Red ribbons on their wrists.
I locked my emotions down. There were more posters, stretching away into the darkness.
“It’s a damn trophy room,” Nash muttered.
“He’s showing off.” Bastian’s voice was hard.
There was a faint sound and I jerked around. Alessio and Cole appeared, faces set like stone.
“No one in the back,” Alessio murmured.
Cole crossed his arms. “This is fucked up.”
Turning away, I forced myself to look at the next picture. I stared at the red ribbon on one victim. A young boy who’d deserved to live.
Ed had done this. Nothing would ever make that right. There were more happy pictures, as well, where Ed and his accomplice had stalked their victims. And there were more death shots.
“This wasn’t a RRK murder.” Bastian gestured at a murdered family in a car. There were no red ribbons.
Frowning, I studied the next image. No red ribbons. I made myself keep walking. So many dead.
“They were his solo kills,” I whispered. “The ones this guy did without Ed.”
The images got older. Clothes and hairstyles changed. The kills were messier, with different wounds and weapons used.
How long had he been doing this?
“These are his earliest, practice kills,” Landon murmured. “He must have run into Ed at some stage, and they evolved into their red ribbon killings.”
Then I saw the next image and jerked to a stop.
A roar started in my ears.
“Lark?” Bastian’s voice came from far away.
I pressed a hand to my chest. I couldn’t breathe.
