Jenna stepped into the hallway and answered.“Jake, what’s up?”
“Hey, Jenna.”Jake’s voice came through clear, if somber.“I hope Piper’s homecoming was a good one for everyone.”
“It has been,” Jenna confirmed, keeping her voice low.“We’re just...catching up.”
“That’s good.I hate to pull you away, but...”He paused, and Jenna could hear the reluctance in his voice.“We’ve got another murder, and it’s a strange one.”
Jenna closed her eyes briefly, already anticipating the end of this family reunion.“How strange?”
“Very … or at least it would be for anywhere else.”He hesitated, then continued, “I can send you photos but at some point we’ll need to go over it together, and I’d rather tell you in person.”
“Where are you now?”
“About to head back to the office.”
“I’ll meet you there,” Jenna told him.
“Are you sure?”
“I’ll be there in a few minutes,” she promised, ending the call.
She returned to the bedroom, where Piper seemed more composed, though still pale.“Are you okay?”Jenna asked.
“I am now,” Piper replied.
“What did that mean—the words you just said?”
When Piper just looked confused, Jenna added, “You said, ‘Red is for Rage.’”
“I don’t know.Nothing, I guess.”
“I have to go,” Jenna explained.“There’s been an incident that needs my attention.”
“A murder,” Piper said softly.
Jenna nodded, unsurprised that Piper had intuited the nature of the call."I'm sorry to leave like this.You're sure you'll be okay?"
“We’ll be just fine,” Mom assured her.“I’ve made Piper’s favorite soup—at least, what used to be her favorite.And there’s so much more to talk about.”
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Jenna promised, bending to kiss Piper’s forehead.“And then maybe we can talk more about what you just experienced?About what ‘red is for rage’ might mean?”
Piper nodded, though a shadow crossed her face.“Be careful, Jenna.”
She squeezed her sister’s shoulder one last time, then headed downstairs and out to her car.
As Jenna drove toward the office, her mind wrestled with the strange coincidence: Piper’s cryptic message—”Red is for rage”—delivered just before Jake’s call about a murder.
She couldn’t shake the feeling that the two were connected, that Piper had somehow sensed this violence before Jake’s call had come through.
CHAPTER FIVE
Jenna stepped out of her car into the police station parking lot, squinting against the glare of late morning sunlight.The brick building stood solid and reassuring, a constant in a world that seemed increasingly unstable.As she made her way to the entrance, her sister's words—"Red is for rage"—echoed in her mind, the phrase lodging in her thoughts like a splinter beneath skin, impossible to ignore.
The station hummed with the familiar sounds of ringing phones and muffled conversations of officers comparing notes over their coffee mugs.Jenna nodded to Officer Ramirez at the front desk, who was balancing a phone receiver between ear and shoulder while scribbling furiously on a notepad.She caught Detective Wilson’s eye as he hurried past with a manila folder tucked under his arm, his tie already loosened though the day had barely begun.
Jake was waiting in her office, leaning against her desk with his arms crossed over his neat blue shirt.When she entered, he straightened and said without preamble, “Derek Sullivan is dead.Strangled.Found early this morning in the old textile district by someone walking their dog.”
Jenna exhaled slowly, absorbing the information.“Derek Sullivan,” she repeated, settling into her chair.“Can’t say I’m entirely shocked.”
