Page 86 of East

“I don’t know.” She shudders. “I had no idea there was someone else in the house with me that night.”

“You’d have been dead asleep. Sleeping off the shit Wick spiked your drink with.”

“Technically, it was Kin who spiked the drink.”

“Because Wick told him to. You said yourself, he directed him to make it ‘Blackwood style.’” I pace around her. “The cops pinned Kin’s death at around three. This guy came by Wick’s an hour before. It must be connected.”

“Either way, I’m still fucked over.” Thea paces the length of the bearded guy’s porch. “Someone entered at two a.m. and left ten minutes later. The footage isn’t clear, so it could very well be me leaving. We’re back to where we started.”

“Not necessarily. We know someone came by at two.” I pull out my phone. “Maybe there’s more to the video.”

I look back to my phone. I scroll to two a.m, watch the guy enter and leave. Then I keep scrolling.

Three a.m. The hour Kin died.

Nothing.

I keep scrolling.

My breath catches in my throat when I reach the four a.m. mark.

Another dark figure. Possibly the same as the first one, or someone new. It’s hard to tell.

“Holy shit,” Thea breathes. “That means there was someone there an hour before I left.”

I keep scrolling. No one leaves the house until five.

“Not only that,” I add, “but he was there when you left.”

Thea widens her eyes and shivers. “Oh my God.”

“It can’t be Kin. He was dead by four,” I continue.

“Not only that, but as far as the cops know, the shadowy figure… It could be me.” She runs her hands through her hair. “Two of us walked in at midnight. One additional person came at two, and then left ten minutes later. We assume it’s the same person but it’s too dark to tell. The cops will think it was me who left at ten past two and returned.” The color drains from her face. “I’m fucked. Totally and completely fucked.”

31

THEA

“No, you’re not fucked.” Aus wraps me in his strong arms. “We’re going to figure this out.”

I lay my head against his hard chest. “But how? What’s our next move? So much evidence stands against me—the shoes, the camera footage. I was drugged by the same man who was murdered that night. I mean, talk about motive.” I can’t help a soft sob.

Aus squeezes me. “It’s all circumstantial.”

I look up. “What if I did do it? If I was drugged, maybe I blacked out.”

“There’s no way.”

I whip myself out of his embrace. “How would you know? You barely know me.”

“Because I’ve seen true evil, Thea. You’re not it. You’re good and kind.”

I let out a sigh. “I wish I were as convinced as you.”

“Come on.” Aus grabs my hand. “We’re going to pay another visit to Wick.”

“Didn’t you already speak to him?”