Page 26 of What’s Left of Me (What Left #1)

As the first week of March bleeds away, I run out of patience for the FBI’s grand plan.

Sterling put too much stock into how Alastair would feel about us after all these years.

I doubt he said shit to the person who’s out there killing with his M.O.

and the copycat probably just did a lot of research to learn the things he knows.

The longer we’re in Florida the worse off Jo becomes, and the nightmares that haven’t plagued her for years return with a vengeance.

I refuse to watch the dark memories destroy her mind again, and if Sterling is through threatening to send agents to our club to find us and uproot our way of life, I’m finished playing this game.

I’ve looked up flights from the nearest airport and let Emeric know we might be back soon.

He didn’t seem to be in any rush to have us back, which is a nice change from last month when he kept asking if we wanted to add another manager to the mix to help him get Serenity to relax.

If we end up back home soon maybe we can see how that spectacle is going.

My phone goes off again, and I glance over to see the new messages. There’s very little holding my attention here in Florida, but my family is one of the only reasons we haven’t hopped on a plane yet.

That, and Jo is hung up on Alastair. I don’t blame her, we both had a lot tied up into him, but she’s my priority. Everything else has to fall in order around her.

So texting my sister, who isn’t a big fan of my wife to begin with, makes me question what the point of all of it is.

If she can’t even try to warm up to Jo after all these years there’s no hope.

Jo didn’t really meet her when we were in high school, and we left soon after to begin our lives in Colorado.

At least now my sister Echo is willing to speak with me, and hearing from her again so soon is fantastic.

VINNY

Do you see anything strange happening at CGU?

ECHO

Wow. No texts from my big bro for years and now two chats in two days? Is this you trying to be a better brother?

I wince. It’s not that I don’t care for my sister.

I do. But she took my decision to leave the family and embark on my own path personally.

I was the brother who was the nicest to her when she was young, and she hated me for leaving for Colorado when she was eight.

She’s barely in her twenties now, and we never really mended things.

Xeno passed her number off to me, and I’m ashamed to admit I didn’t even have the new one in my phone.

I can’t exactly blame her for giving me some attitude.

At least in years past I remembered to message her for her birthday and holidays.

ECHO

I only heard you’re in town from Xeno, and Mama wants me to get you to come to dinner.

VINNY

Is Jo invited?

ECHO

Do you want her to leave alive?

I sigh. Echo is more than aware of the murders that took place and resulted in my departure from Citrus Grove, but she was a kid when it happened.

It’s real to her in a sense that people died and it’s probably mentioned at school, but that’s it.

She didn’t live it with me, and it shows how little she likes my wife despite none of it being her fault.

Since she’s not really giving me a lot to work with, I decide to jump into the root of why I’m messaging her.

VINNY

Are you friends with any of the students who go to the penitentiary? We’re just here until things settle with this copycat killer. We haven’t heard any updates for a few days, and if we aren’t needed here we’d rather go back to Colorado.

I wait for her text, and to my surprise she calls instead. Echo hasn’t called me in years. I clear my throat, answering the call with more confusion in my voice than I prefer. “Echo?”

“Vincenzo,” she replies, and she sounds so grown up. I’m suddenly regretting not going to see my sister at the university yet, but I didn’t need to show up and cause a scene if she isn’t interested in seeing me. “You haven’t heard?”

“Heard what?” I ask uneasily.

“There’s this new professor everyone’s raving about,” she explains.

I’m not sure where this is going, but even as a kid Echo loved gossip so I’m sure she’s heard lots of rumors since we arrived back in state.

“Rowth… something. She’s not one of my teachers so I don’t really know her name.

She’s doing this huge study on psychosis and the student body is eating that shit up.

She’s even gotten a few of the nurses and doctors to come over from the penitentiary.

I know Jace is part of it. He’s the grad kid that gets to go on all the visits, but the program’s never been more popular than it is right now.

Everyone’s all gaga over the Citrus Grove Slayer again. ”

I have to resist the urge to groan at that. “No one needs to be fantasizing about Alastair.”

“ Oh. ” Suddenly the attitude is gone from her voice, and she sounds amused. “Does that bother you V? You don’t wanna think about my friends wanting to fuck the guy you used to date?”

I glance to my right, but Jo is distracted between a show and her phone.

She only glances up for a moment and offers me a smile before looking back to the TV.

She knows I’m talking to Echo, and I appreciate her giving me the space to do so.

I stand, heading to the kitchen. “Echo, that’s not what happened. ”

“No?” she mocks. “Well sorry Vincenzo, but it’s not like I knew that much about your life. I heard all these rumors from everyone but you never told me anything.”

“What rumors?” I bark.

She sighs. “Don’t go and be all offended now. It’s old news, right?”

“Who told you these rumors?” I press. My parents were enraged after I chose to leave, and I can just imagine them painting a shady story for my younger siblings. Xeno knew too much to be fooled but the others were all under ten and it would be easier to convince them of my sins.

“Mama was the first,” she admits. “Then in school as I got older. There used to be a group of girls who were all about your friend. They were part of a group called the Slayers.”

I cringe. No one ever mentioned that, and I did my best to not look into rumors about Alastair once we left Florida. I knew there were fanatics who obsessed over him, but giving themselves a name feels like a step too far. “What happened to those girls?”

“They grew up. Serial killers are a big thing in highschool. You know, kids like the darkness and all that shit. There was some author writing these stories inspired vaguely by the CGS and some of the Slayers turned themselves into a book club just to have an excuse to read it.”

Alright, it still creeps me out but sounds slightly less horrible. “A book?”

“Oh yeah, it had a bunch of news reports in the pages and details from the OG case. It wasn’t online for very long. The book got banned and just sold off the author's site for a while.”

“Did you have a copy?”

Echo grows quiet, and I can’t quite wrap my head around how to feel about that. “I just wanted to know what the big deal was. Don’t freak out - you and your wife weren’t really in it. It was all about the Slayer killing for his love.”

Well, that’s not accurate. Jo is considered Alastair’s obsession, not his love, and there’s all those conspiracy theories out there about why he tried to kill both mom and daughter at the same time.

He never confirmed and Jo didn’t have anything to say on the matter.

Anytime I’ve heard my wife referred to as his love , I think of the times in high school when we thought we’d be together forever, just the three of us.

I shake my head. We’re way off topic. “What does this have to do with the professor?”

“Huh? Oh, Rowths whatever has some copies of the book! She’s keeping it under wraps ‘cause of the whole copycat thing, but she offered to bring the books after she has the opportunity to speak with Alastair if people are interested. I think she told the Dean she has a couple signed copies. I guess the author died like five years ago..”

Weird. “Are you sure she’s a professor?”

“Oh yeah. I’ve seen her in the halls and she just brags about her work with inmates. I guess she has a personal connection to damaged souls .”

I smirk at the sarcasm in her voice. “I can tell you believe all that shit, hmm? What’s the book called?”

“I think it’s Love in or Love After something. I can text Mama and she might be able to find it. I still have the book up in my room.”

“That’s okay Echo,” I tell her, rubbing the bridge of my nose. My fingers automatically smooth out my facial hair, a habit I picked up from Jo smirking and doing it herself plenty of times. “I don’t really want to read a love story inspired by Alastair.”

“Suit yourself. I’m surprised you don’t know about it already. Wouldn’t your FBI friends be able to find out about it online? I would assume they would know.”

They should be able to, but Sterling never mentioned it.

My fingers itch to search for the book myself.

Even if it’s out of print, wouldn’t they have some sort of knowledge about that?

It feels like one of those things Sterling would want to rub in our faces to get us mad enough to talk to Alastair. “They should be able to.”

Echo hums, and for a moment it’s all but silent between us. “I’m glad you called V, even if it was only to ask questions about the school. You’re in town for a while still?”

I think of the tickets loaded up on my phone, waiting for me to pay so we can go home.

I look towards Jo, and wet my lips. She encouraged me last week to reach out to my siblings, but according to Xeno, Lorenzo and Viggo are too far down the coast now in the middle of something for Papa to head back.

Echo is close, and Jo wanted me to reach out to her. “We can stay a couple days longer.”