Page 98 of Girl, Fractured

‘You fell asleep watching,’ – Ella checked the TV – ‘CNN, apparently.’

‘Have you tried watching TV at 5 AM?It’s either this or Ancient Aliens.’

‘How about bed instead?’Ella scrambled for the TV remote on the couch.‘Edis has told me to stay off until Monday, so-’

She froze with the remote pointed at the TV.The screen glowed with CNN’s sterile blue backdrop.A woman with copper hair stared directly into the camera, but the volume was too low to make out what she was saying.

However, she didn’t need to, because the ticker at the bottom of the screen burned into her retinas with terrible clarity:

BREAKING: SPORTS PERSONALITY SHOT DEAD IN CA.

Something cold and electric slithered through her veins, replacing blood with dread.The statistical improbability of coincidence calculated itself in her mind, producing a number so vanishingly small it might as well have been zero.

Ella dismissed the idea.She was projecting, surely.There were a million sports personalities in California.

With a shaking hand, she turned the volume up.The newscaster spoke again.

‘Police are reporting a shooting outside a venue in Boyle Heights, California last night.The building had hosted a pro wrestling event, and the reported victim of this shooting was a Mr.Ben Carter, a local performer.’

‘No,’ Ella breathed.‘No, no no.’

‘Ell?What’s wrong?That’s Cali.A million miles from here.’

Then the photo appeared in the top right corner of the screen.That face she’d spent a hundred nights with.Eyes that had looked at her with everything from desire to disappointment.The man who’d taught her that leaving could be an act of love.The man whose career had carried him west while hers anchored her east.The man whose name she hadn’t spoken aloud for as long as she could remember.

Ben Carter.

‘Ell?’Luca grabbed her arm.‘You know that guy?’

She’d been so focused on the people she had to protect in D.C., that she’d forgotten about the rest of the country.

‘Yes,’ she said.‘He’s my ex.’