“Don’t fret, Chuck,” Tobias says, putting his hand on the top of my head. “We all just confessed our undying love and devotion to you. You don’t get to be sad.”
“I’m not sad.” I look up and make sure that he can see in my face that I’m telling the truth. “How could I be, when I have you guys looking after me? Fuck the cult. I just can’t wait until this is all over.”
“It won’t be much longer,” Tobias says with a nod and an exhale. He looks up and across the length of the bed to where Micah’s standing. “Give Church some time to look into things, and he always figures it out. We’re just the brute strength on the force, not the brains.”
“Don’t sell yourselves so short. You remembered my birthday when I ran into you at the boardwalk last year. You saved my shitty day and turned it into one of my best. Church is good at mysteries, but that doesn’t make him better than you. You’re all stripes in my rainbow.”
“Stripes in your rainbow?” Micah echoes, and then he grabs me under the armpits and drags me onto the bed, pinning me to the mattress with an arm on either side of my face. “Now that’s a cute phrase. I could get used to that.”
“Say it again, Chuck,” Tobias agrees as he lays down beside me, trailing his fingers across my collarbone. “If you do, we might give you something you’ll really like, and that your dad will really hate.”
“Are you trying to bribe me with sex?” I whisper, pretending to be scandalized.
“Yeah, pretty much,” they agree in unison, and I squeal as Tobias grabs me and pulls me close, leaving Micah to jog over to the door and kick it closed.
The lock flicks into place, and we’re in business.“With the list of missing yearbooks from the library,” Church begins, glancing down at the iPad in his hand. “Spencer and I were able to find out the names of either Adamson or Everly Academy students that went missing, committed suicide, or were murdered. There’s no obvious pattern, no correlation between each incident other than that they only happen every few years.”
“Okay, so nothing we didn’t already know?” I ask, lying on my stomach on the bed and watching him through the screen on my phone, wishing he were here to sing ironic Christmas carols about snow while the sun beats down on LA like a curse. Mom goes to spin class, and juices now, it’s weird as hell. The twins sit on either side of me, their backs to me, but each one with a knee pulled up onto the bed, arms wrapped around it.
“Except,” Church continues, and he smiles, this sharp, clever little smile that says he knows how damn smart he is, “for the ages of the children in the families with lineage that goes back to the original abbey. If there’s a student at either school that matches one of those family lines, then at some point during their enrollment, there’s always an incident.”
“What about Libby?” I ask, thinking of Selena’s older sister. Jack told us it was Rick who killed Jenica, but if our theory holds true, then Libby should’ve left a victim behind as well.
Micah snaps his fingers before Church can respond.
“The kid in the park, the one that used to work at the antiques shop.”
The smiles that curves Church’s lips says that he’s nailed it.
“I think we’ve solved our mystery,” he says, turning the iPad around and showing off the copious notes that he’s taken. “Selena, Gareth, Aster, and Mark are the hoodie-wearing dicks. Eugene and Jared were killed as part of their initiation rites into the Fellowship, and Charlotte is next on the list. The only things we don’t know are who the fourth victim is, or why Eric Warren’s daughter was chosen by the cult.” Church pauses briefly. “Or why Ranger wasn’t invited to join.”
“What about Mr. Dave and Nathan?” I ask, lowering the volume on the phone, just in case Ian’s listening in.
“They’ve got no records, nothing of interest in their background checks. But the information Ranger got from that private investigator is too clean. Nobody leaves such little evidence on paper. My guess would be that they’re cops, FBI, something like that.”
“What are they waiting for then?” I snap, getting irritated and digging my fingers into my hair. “Eugene and Jason are dead. Are they just waiting for me to be next?”
“I imagine they have to be careful about how they collect evidence or how they approach the Fellowship. Otherwise, their lives could be in danger. That, or the members might scatter or cover up their trail.”
I nod, but I’m starting to get frustrated anyway.
“We’ll see you in a few days then?” Tobias asks, and Church nods. My heart flutters a bit at the idea of seeing him again. Ranger and Spencer, too. Being apart from them sucks.
