Page 46 of Brutal
I feel tightness in my chest. “That doesn’t sound like an accident.”
“I didn’t say it was.” He shrugs. “I told you. It felt like it was going to happen no matter what.”
His gaze shifts again, over my shoulder this time, lingering a fraction longer.
“What else?” I press.
He looks back at me, but his focus isn’t fully here anymore.
“It happened too fast,” he says. “Like it was already going to happen. Like nobody was surprised by how it ended.”
“And the others?” I ask. “You said there were more than one.”
“There were always more than one,” he mutters.
“That night.”
A pause.
Then—
“One of them moved,” he says. “Came in fast. Not to help the guy. To—” He cuts himself off, shaking his head. “Doesn’t matter.”
“It does to me.”
“Yeah,” he says quietly. “I can see that.”
He looks beyond me again.
Something in my stomach drops.
“What?” I say.
“Another one stayed back. Seemed to just watch, you know?”
“Watch what?”
“Nothing,” he says too quickly. “You got what you came for. You should go. You shouldn’t be here alone at night.”
“It’s early yet,” I say.
“Still. You should go.”
I don’t move. “Why are you looking over my shoulder?”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
He exhales. “Lady…”
I turn, look out the front windows.
A black SUV sits across from the bar, pulled over almost onto the sidewalk. No one is getting out. No movement inside that I can see.
It’s just sitting there.
As if whoever is inside is watching this place.
