I have to stay calm and focused here.
Maxx is … he looks okay right now. Maybe Chas was right? Maybe we should’ve told him?
“You’re not going to tell anyone anything, right?” I repeat, and even though his nostrils flare, he nods once.
“I would never do anything to hurt Parrish,” he tells me, looking directly into my eyes. Somehow, I feel like he’s telling me more than one thing in that moment, giving me a secret that he’s only just found out about himself.
It’s a secret that’ll take me a few more days to figure out.
But when I do, I’ll hate myself even more for it.
That’s Justin’s goal, right? To destroy my character. If so, he’s doing an admirable job of it.
The Schaeffers’ house is dark when Chasm and I pull into the driveway. I’m sitting in the passenger seat of his car, listening to the Emerald City Murder Podcast—because clearly, I am a masochist. Maxx has left to join the search party, helping me field texts and phone calls from Tess.
Yes, I’m with him. Yes, I’ll be home by ten. Yes, I’m safe.
He takes my Tess-given phone with him, too, so that if Tess tracks it, it’ll be exactly where it’s supposed to be.
“Do you trust him?” I ask Chas as he turns off the ignition and I stare down at my Maxine-provided phone. Maxine. Oh god. What have I done?
“I …” Chasm starts, cursing in Korean again. “I do. Like I said, he has strict morals. They’re not always what you think they’d be, but he doesn’t lie. If he says he won’t tell anyone, he won’t.” Chas glances over at me, his amber eyes catching the light from the car’s screen and turning them gold. “But we will have to give him a full rundown.”
He looks back toward the house as I check my phone one more time. Danyella isn’t responding to calls, texts, or social media messages. This is a last resort.
With one last deep inhale, I open the passenger side door of Chas’ sportscar and climb out. He stays right behind me, a comforting and simultaneously confusing presence at my back. I hate that I’ve realized I have a crush on him while Parrish is missing. It’s a weird feeling, crushing hard on two people at the same time. How do I deal with it? As of right now, I guess I just … don’t. Parrish is my only concern at the moment.
We knock on the front door and wait. Knock again. Chasm hits the doorbell several times.
“She isn’t home,” I realize with a sinking feeling in my gut.
“Don’t give up that easily,” Chasm tells me, gesturing with his chin toward the gate that leads to the backyard. “Come on.”
He guides me through the yard, reaching up and over the fence to grab the latch. The gate swings open and we slip through, getting drenched once again by the unrelenting downpour. Oh well. We were both soaked to the bone anyway, so what does it matter?
From the front, it really did appear that the house was dark and empty. From back here, I can see that Danyella’s bedroom light is on.
Huh.
Chasm doesn’t skip a beat, climbing the steps to the deck and brazenly grabbing the handles on the French doors that lead into the dining room.
They’re unlocked.
He makes a frustrated sound under his breath.
“Fucking serial killer in town and the door is unlocked? Come on.” He shoves the doors open, but I’m not quite so comfortable with breaking and entering into my friend’s house. I figure it’s best if we just call her name now so that she knows we’re here.
Chasm reaches out to grab my arm, squeezing hard and stopping me before I can say anything.
“What the hell did you want me to do?!”
It’s Lumen. And she’s pissed. And also … scared? Frustrated, maybe.
The faintest murmur of another voice drifts down the stairs, and I figure that must be Danyella.
“Yeah, well, he didn’t exactly offer that up as an option, now did he?” she growls out. “I don’t have a lot of choices, Danyella.”
The sound of footsteps on the stairs makes my stomach bottom out, and the urge to run is overwhelming. Chasm holds his ground, waiting as Lumen appears in the kitchen, swiping tears from her face and snatching a bottle of liquor from Danyella’s parents’ stash.
She takes a huge swig before her eyes drift our way and widen. She chokes on the alcohol, sputtering and coughing as she swipes an arm over her mouth.
“What the hell?” Lumen asks, looking between me and Chasm, both of us soaking wet and standing in Danyella’s dining room. “Um. Did you guys just break in?”
“Did you just ignore us hitting the doorbell a hundred times for fun? I know you saw us on the doorbell cam. Just didn’t give a shit that we really needed to talk to Danyella?”
