Page 42 of Rune
“A break-in, a breakdown, and a drive-by.” She shook her head and knocked on her door, then slipped inside when Sofia opened it.
I watched her disappear before heading down to my bike to get my change of clothes, then inspect my room. It was similar to the girls’ room, just smaller.
I took a shower, changed, then sat down on the bed to text my brother.
Chances are, they would be partying and distracted. But with him being suspicious, chances were he would look for me eventually. If he found me missing, he would likely track me and show up instead of just texting me. Better to get out ahead of that.
Once that was done, I threw myself back on the bed and tried like hellnotto think about Vicky’s last moments, of the screaming, the bloodshed, the violence, her crying, her pleading, the second she realized she wasn’t going to live through it.
I failed miserably.
I couldn’t stop myself from falling into old, toxic patterns of thought, going over every minute detail of that whole day, week, month, year, trying to trace it back to the moment where I could have done or said something to change that outcome.
But it all came back to the same frustrating truth: there was nothing I could have done. I had been working with the information I had at the time. There was no way I could have known how sideways things would go.
I didn’t know how long I lay there.
But eventually, there was a soft knock at the door.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Carmen
“I feel guilty for ordering two entrées,” Sofia said as she shared a small piece of her burger with Hammy.
“Don’t be.” Clearly, if Rune could afford two fancy hotel roomsandspa packages, he wasn’t going to sweat a room service charge. “One is for celebrating and one is for comfort. I feel like today needs both.”
“You’re not wrong about that. I still can’t believe there was a shooting.”
“Promise me when you move to California, you will live in a safer neighborhood than we do here.”
“I haven’t even thought about that yet.”
“Oh, please. I bet since the day you first saw the listing, you have been looking up all the different neighborhoods, apartments, and public transit.”
She shot me a guilty little smile.
What can I say? I knew my sister.
Which was how I knew that after we ate, fed Hammy, then took her out, she was going to want to take a long bath, then pass out hard.
I tried to get an early night myself, but my mind refused to settle. All I could think about was what Rune said in my room before the bullets started to fly.
That he hadn’t shot Vicky.
But he’d been there.
He’d seen it.
That meant, if I believed him, that he would also know who’d done it.
And if I’d been wrong, if I’d been chasing the wrong man all along, that meant Vicky’s killer was still out there. He was still walking around, smiling, laughing, spending time with friends and family, maybe falling in love. All things Victoria would never get a chance to do again.
It was wrong.
He had to pay for it.
I waited for Sofia to curl up with Hammy and pass out. Then I grabbed my key card and quietly made my way out of the room and down the hall.
