Page 81 of Marked By Shadows
“He’s had some self-harm attempts,” Manning admitted.
“Could he have hurt Byrony then?” I asked.
“We’re pretty sure he did, just not set on the motive yet.”
“Motive,” Alex said. “She’s dead?”
“She is. I’m sorry. I know neither of you knew her well.”
“Wow,” I said, feeling a cold bit of numbness settle in my gut with the confirmation. “I guess I didn’t know him at all, but wouldn’t have thought he’d do something to her.”
“There’s still a lot to learn,” Manning said. His stoic façade made me wonder how many bodies he saw in his lifetime to make him that cold. I barely knew her and suspected she was dead, but still found myself shocked by the announcement being official. “You don’t seem all that surprised Mr. Caine.”
I glanced up at Alex, his expression wasn’t much different than Manning’s.
“I’m an ex-military man,” Alex said. “Seen my share of bad. And that girl has been gone a few days. I follow the news enough to know that’s never a good sign. I probably would have been more surprised if you had found her alive and partying somewhere while her boyfriend had a breakdown. I guess I just don’t have as much faith in humanity as Micah does. You wouldn’t be here still asking questions if it were a simple partner abuse case.”
“No,” Manning agreed. “We do see those all too often.” He stared at my face, and I knew he was seeing the bruises and the stitches but recalling other people. At least I hoped he was.
“You know how I got these,” I said. “Car in the woods.”
“Why was the car out so far? Was that even on the GPS?” Alex looked at me.
“I don’t remember seeing anything.”
“Service road to get to coordinates to see the ‘Rake,’” Manning said. “Mr. Thomas’s phone was plugged into the GPS much like yours was. They were a little off location, but not far. Must have stayed in the car longer, possibly looking to spot anything from the safety inside the vehicle.”
“Do you think there’s something out in those woods, Detective?” Alex asked. “A Rake?”
“Mythical monsters, no. A human one, sadly, yes.”
What did that mean?
“Anyway,” Manning pulled a wad of paper out of his back pocket and unfolded the mess, trying to straighten it out. “If I show you a conversation we pulled from social media, can you tell me if you recognize the names?” He was looking at me.
“Um, sure. I don’t spend much time online, but I can look at it.”
He held the stack out. They did appear to be stuff taken from both my group and the cosplay group. I glanced over the names first. One from my group was one of those random photos people took that could show something spooky or not, and this one did look like a section of woods. Nothing obvious about the photo screaming it was of some undiscovered cryptid, but when I read the comments I got clues where to look. In one of the distant corners there was something slightly paler than its surroundings. Humanoid with shoulders and a head, but lanky, proportions off. I frowned at it, trying to recall if I’d seen it before. Whatever was in the picture could be a Rake, or at least fit the description of one. The poster was one ‘CosplayGambler’ whose avatar picture seemed to be of Gambit from the old X-Men comics. Dozens of people responded. Neither Alex nor I had, as we both went by our normal names. And none of my admins had either, as the poster must have stayed with the rules to the group.
The stuff CosplayGambler shared to the cosplay group was pretty standard low-level cosplay stuff. Pictures of outfits he or she wanted to make, non-gender specific, questions about materials, comments on other people’s posts. Nothing set off red flags. Other than the odd Rake photo, which they claimed to have snapped themselves while out in the Texas woods.
The last few pages were messenger conversations. One a group chat with Byrony and Joe, both using their regular names. They were talking about the photo and what the location had been. It wasn’t until then that I realized Joe had been in my group. He’d responded to the original photo. So while Byrony was blocked, her boyfriend had stayed, to what? Spy on me? Because the spooky content was so great?
“Well obviously Byrony and Joe. Though Byrony was not allowed in my group. Apparently Joe was in it though I don’t know why. I don’t recall having him in a tour previously, and most in the group have attended one of my tours at some point. I don’t know who ‘CosplayGambler’ is either. I can send a message to my admins and see if they know,” I said, handing back the papers. “You think this person might be involved?”
“Let’s just say that they’ve been around a while. Had conversations with two other former members of your cosplay group that you’ve mentioned before, Sarah and Amanda,” Manning said. “Did you know both girls were reported missing some time ago?”
I blinked at him while those registered. “Like how long ago?”
“Like since they left the cosplay group. At this point we’re going over both of your groups with a fine-tooth comb.”
“The cosplay group isn’t mine. It’s Freya’s. She might know who that is.”
“I plan to ask her. We will be talking to everyone in the group today.”
“Did you find more than just Byrony out in those woods?” Alex asked. He must have picked up on something I hadn’t. But his brain worked that way.
“Why would you ask that?” Manning asked, seeming surprised, but also not answering the question.