Page 70 of Our Darkest Summer

I sat back, chewing my lip, my thoughts storming. I needed paper and a pen before I went mental. I pushed myself up fromthe armchair and ran up the stairs. My notes from a few days ago were lying on my nightstand. I didn’t know how he knew, but when I returned, Thomas had already cleared the coffee table.

I dropped everything down, and he leaned forward, his forearms braced against his thighs, as he watched me. I scanned over my notes, then started adding more information to them.

“So you don’t believe the witnesses really saw your mom?”

A hint of amusement flickered in Thomas’ tired eyes as I glanced up at him. He shook his head, leaning back in the chair.

“I don’t.”

I scribbled it down, along with Lizzie feeling like she was being watched.

I licked over my lips. “Why?”

Thomas cocked his head. “Why what?”

“Why don’t you believe they saw her?”

He watched me for a moment too long before speaking. “I don’t think she would’ve left and never contacted us again. She left everything behind, out of nowhere… anyone can buy the word of witnesses. It cost them nothing to say they saw something that wasn’t really there.”

That wasn’t really there.But what if it was there… it just wasn’t really what they thought it was? My eyes skimmed the notes again, the words blurring together. Then, something clicked.

There was something else we hadn’t considered yet.

I slid my notes about the UnSub to Thomas. “I profiled him as a lower-class man. Though it might not be true,” I said. Profiling was tricky and controversial, but it could also be useful. “The threats, the handwriting… it just made the most sense.” I lifted the note we found on the windshield.

“But this—” I tapped my pen against the table. “The handwriting is more delicate. There’s no aggression, even though the letters are almost shaky, like it was written in a rush… or in fear.”

Thomas exhaled slowly, his brows furrowing as he leaned even closer.

I swallowed. “What if we’re looking for a team, and one of them is trying to warn us?”

Chapter Thirty-Two

Kinsley

The library looked exactlythe same covered in shadows as it looked in the middle of the day. But something still felt different. The small hairs stood up on the back of my neck as Cora opened the large wooden entrance with her mother’s keys. The eight of us slipped inside, the darkness swallowing us whole. Something about this felt too easy. Shouldn’t it be harder to break into a government building? I turned on my phone’s flashlight, scanning the empty hallway.

“Are you sure you jacked the cameras?” I asked from Braxton, and he cocked his head.

“Doubting me, are you?”

I rolled my eyes before letting them drift back to our surroundings. There was something peaceful about a library at night. I actually liked it even more this way. The silence, the scent of old books… the idea of a secret book club held after hours crossed my mind for a second, before snapping back to reality.

“So, we just go in and then out?” Cora whispered, her voice barely above a breath, but it still echoed from the tall walls.

“Something like that,” I moved ahead, careful with my steps. “We’ll watch the tape first. Then we leave.”

She dipped her head. “I’ll wait for you guys outside.”

That made me pause. “Why?”

She glanced nervously toward the entrance. “I’d feel better keeping an eye out.”

“She’s freaked out her mom will find out,” Aaliyah murmured, pursing her lips.

“If Bob Marley were here, she could be our lookout,” Kevin chimed in with a grin. “I trained her to alert me if someone was coming when I wanted to play video games instead of doing my homework.”

Connor snorted. “If she were here, Kinsley would be the one staying behind.”