Page 9 of Secrets and Lies
“You,” Hazen says immediately.
“Excuse you.” Connor tosses his brother an incredulous look. “I’d totally be a better serial killer than Ant.” He flips his attention to Rath as he sits next to Hazen on the couch. “Who do you think would be a better killer between me and Ant?”
“Ant,” Rath says, not skipping a beat.
“Nope.” Connor shakes his head. “I’m gonna need some explanations before I accept your answer.”
“You have the patience of a toddler and the impulse control of a puppy with the zoomies.” Hazen gives Connor a sidelong look. “Do those sound like qualities that would be assets for a serial killer?”
“Think of it this way,” Rath says, glancing at Connor. “Ant is the guy who spends five minutes trying to decide which toppings he wants to put on his burger and can sit still in a quiet room for hours. Those are the qualities of a good serial killer.”
“So what I’m hearing is that Ant would be the better serial killer, but I’d be the better spree killer,” Connor says.
Hazen and Rath nod.
Connor grins. “Okay, I’ll accept that.”
“Why are we talking about serial killers?” Rath asks, glancing between the three of us.
“No clue,” I say.
“Ant was in the dark again when we came over,” Hazen says, like that explains anything.
“Watching the cams?” Rath asks, glancing at me.
I can’t blame any of them for assuming that I was tuned into the house security cams since I spend an inordinate amount of time watching them when I’m alone in my room. But that wasn’t what I was doing.
“Editing.”
“Can we see it?” Hazen asks. “Or are you going to spend the next few days obsessing over every detail until your perfectionist heart is happy with it?”
“Shut up.”
Hazen grins, but before he can say anything, my phone pings with a text.
Absently, I reach for my phone so I can check my notifications as the guys start ribbing me for my perfectionist ways and my editing habits.
Liam: thought you might want to see this
A video loads in our text thread, and from what I can tell, it’s from one of the security cameras in the back hallway of the house.
The guys flip to talking about what they want to do tonight, but I’m only half listening as I play the video.
Nothing happens for the first five or so seconds, it’s just a wide shot of an empty hallway, but then a panel in the wall slides open like a pocket door, and a figure dressed all in black with a hood up over their head steps out from inside the literal walls.
“What the fuck?” I mutter under my breath, my eyes glued to the screen as the figure quickly slides the panel in the wall shut, then checks something on his phone as he hurries down the hall.
The figure stops in front of another part of the wall and bends to touch or press on a part of the baseboard. He must hit some sort of release button, because the section of the wall in front of him pops free from the ones beside it, and he carefully pushes the panel aside so he can slip back into the walls.
The video ends as the panel closes behind him, and I quickly type out a reply.
Anthony: who else has seen this?
Liam: just you
Anthony: do you know who that is?
Liam: no clue
