And she hadn’t. Adria had just left her and this house to rot.
“Let me guess,” Elena said from behind her. “This is Fran.”
Adria didn’t say anything. She didn’t think she could take any more of Bryson’s sister’s accusations.
There was bruising around Frances’s neck, and her mouth was open. Her body frozen in a silent scream.
Adria knew she couldn’t touch her, but she wanted to close the girl’s eyes. Wanted to cover her.
To even, postmortem, save her from this life. A life Frances had no business being involved in.
“Do you have any other contacts, anyone else with connections to Franny here?” Elena asked.
Adria stood up, fury gripping her. “Her name was Frances.”
Elena didn’t flinch at her anger. “Frances is dead. Let’s hope my brother isn’t.”
The reality of it all came crashing in and an overwhelming sense of helplessness engulfed Adria. How could she have missed this? What had she overlooked? How could she have been so careless with…everything.
Adria shook her head. “Frances was Loretta’s contact. I don’t really know anything about her.”
“And Loretta is?” Elena asked.
“Dead.” Adria’s throat was dry.
Elena threw up her hands.
Adria’s mind swirled with how and why this would have happened.
“Bryson must have had enemies. Maybe instead of pointing the finger at me, you could help me understand more about your family and the dynamics,” Adria said.
Elena whirled around. “You want to put this on the Winters?” She stomped over until she was right in Adria’s face. “This happened on your watch.”
Elena pointed to Frances. “Right under your nose. This is your contact, whom you say you know nothing about. You want me to believe you wouldn’t hurt Bryson, but it’s all pointing to you.”
“I have texts.” Adria held up her phone. “I can prove I asked for the three of them to be sent to you. Prove I didn’t know anything about this.”
Elena crossed her arms. “Texts you sent to a dead girl. Easy to fake, even easier when the recipient is dead.”
Adria opened her mouth but then snapped it shut. It did look bad.
The air pushed out of her lungs as she felt like she had been punched.
“Someone has her phone,” Elena said. “Can you trace it?”
Adria brightened. “Maybe.”
Pulling out her phone, she sent a text to X, and it didn’t take long before she got a response.
X: It’ll take a few days.
Fuck, they didn’t have a few days. The implications. The set up.
Adria was suresomeonewas going to kill Bryson, Seth, and Kaydon to get to her.
But they hadn’t yet.
Adria didn’t know if it was delusional thinking or gut instinct. She just knew they had to still be alive.
