“Wait!” I scream, finally forcing my body into action. I turn and follow them, catching up as they reach the front door. They step outside, and I’m right behind them, my heart slamming against my ribs so hard it’s making me dizzy. “Wait!! What the fuck are you doing? You can’t just take her! Let her go! You can’t just take her like this!”
Detective Dunagan moves between me and the other officers, who still have a firm grip on my mom. “Miss, you have to back away. Step back.”
“No! I won’t fucking step back! That’s my mom! What are you doing? Why did you—”
“Low, it’s okay! It’s okay, sweetheart.” Mom’s voice is low and choked, but she shakes her head, trying to put a smile on for me. I don’t buy it though. I can still see the fear in her eyes, the disbelief. The utter confusion. “It’s okay. I’m sure it’s just a misunderstanding. I’ll go with them and get it sorted out, and I’ll be back before—”
“No!” I launch myself at Detective Dunagan, and he raises his hands, catching me by the wrists before I can scratch him or punch him or do anything.
A second later, strong arms are pulling me away from him.
Dax.
The muscled boy keeps his grip on my waist even as I struggle in his embrace, trying to wriggle free, to reach my mom. To reach the detective.
No. No, goddammit, no! This isn’t right. He can’t fucking do this.
“I’m sorry, Detective, but what grounds do you have to arrest this woman?”
Mr. Black steps forward, his voice hard. A few people have followed us outside, although most of the party guests didn’t. All four of the guys are gathered around me though, helping Dax restrain me as I continue to struggle.
“We received an anonymous tip that placed Penelope Thomas at the scene of the crime and have found credible evidence to support that tip,” Detective Dunagan offers smoothly. “I can’t disclose more at this point. We have a warrant to search her car and parts of your home as well.”
Samuel looks livid at that, and I’m sure he hates the idea of anyone going through his house. But all I can focus on are the words “credible tip”. Someone told them my mom did it? Why? How?
“That’s not true!” I scream, finally breaking out of Dax’s grip as he loosens it a little in surprise. I charge back toward the detective, brushing right past Mr. Black in my fury. “That’s a lie! How could you believe that? It’s insane! My mom didn’t fucking kill anybody!”
Dunagan shakes his head. “Miss, I can’t—”
“I’m telling you, it’s not true!” Adrenaline is roaring through my body, like a fight or flight instinct on steroids. I hardly know what I’m saying—I just know that if they drive away with my mom in the back of a police car, part of me will die and never come back. This can’t be happening.
He presses his lips together as the officers surrounding my mom start to pull her away. “Miss—”
“I know it’s not true!” My voice is a raspy, broken cry. “I was there. I saw. I saw Iris die. It wasn’t my mom, it was a man in black. He had a black mask and drove a dark car. He—he hit Iris on purpose. He killed her. Not my mom. It was him! Find him! The man in the mask, he’s the one you want.”
Detective Dunagan gives me a look that’s almost pitying, and live snakes seem to twist and writhe in my stomach.
Please, God. Please, no. Don’t let this happen.
“I’m not lying!” I gesture to the four boys behind me, turning to face them quickly. Their expressions are all grim as they stare back at me. “Ask them! They were there. We all saw! It was a man. He killed her on purpose. He checked the body.”
The tall detective sighs, transferring his focus to them with a slightly raised eyebrow. My chest burns, and I can feel tears tracking down my cheeks.
Fuck. I know we don’t have much evidence. But maybe we can still convince Dunagan. Maybe we can show him the pictures Lincoln took and at least get him to realize he needs to keep looking, that there’s someone else he should be trying to find.
“You all saw something?” the detective asks, his voice almost weary.
Lincoln glances at me, and something passes across his face—a look I can’t quite read. His amber eyes smolder like banked fires as he pulls his phone out of his pocket, tapping in his password and swiping across the screen a few times. Then he looks up and meets the detective’s gaze.
“No, sir. We didn’t. I don’t know what she’s talking about.”
The breath leaves my lungs like a crushing weight just descended on me. My chest heaves, but I can’t pull in any oxygen.
“No. I didn’t see anything,” River says quietly. “I’ve never heard about this man before.”
“Yeah, I dunno what she’s talking about,” Dax mutters. His jaw twitches as he says it, and when Chase echoes his words, the copper-haired twins both look almost angry.
What?
“They’re… lying,” I force out.
My voice doesn’t sound like my own, and I’m starting to feel that same numbness in my fingertips I did after we saw Iris die—like my body is becoming a foreign entity, something strange and uncomfortable my consciousness is trapped inside.
Detective Dunagan sighs, scrubbing a hand over his chin. “Miss Thomas, I know you’re worried for your mother. But making up stories won’t help her.”
“I’m not! They’re the ones who are lying!” I run toward Lincoln and pull the phone from his grip before he can stop me. “He took pictures. Look! Look! We have pictures of the man who did this! It’s not—”
My words break off. My finger swipes desperately over the screen again and again.
There are no pictures.
None at all.
Every single photo on the phone has been erased, wiped out with a few taps of
