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She blinks. “Then how⁠—”

I press my keys into her palm. “Take my car,” I continue. “Straight back to campus. Don’t stop, and don’t talk to anyone. When you get there, you text me.”

She looks down at the keys, then up at me. “And you?”

“That’s not your problem.”

She frowns. “You can’t just⁠—”

“I can,” I cut in. “And you’re going to let me.”

Her fingers close around the keys. “How are you getting back?” she asks again.

“I’ll handle it.”

She studies my face like she’s trying to find the crack, the lie, the place where she can argue. But she doesn’t.

“Text me,” I repeat. “The moment you’re inside.”

“Text me too.”

“Okay.”

She hesitates once more, then turns toward the path up the cliff. The rocks make it slow, dangerous so I watch every step until she’s far enough that I can breathe again. Only then do I turn back. The body hasn’t moved. The tide is still coming in.

I take out my phone and hear the sound of the car starting. I wait, five minutes, looking around the body, that’s when I notice the marks around her neck.

And then I called. It rings once, then twice, before someone actually answers.

“Emergency services. What’s your location?”

“I’m reporting a deceased individual,” I say. “Possible homicide.”

“Sir, what’s your name?”

“This is Special Agent Caldwell, FBI. Badge number, three-nine, eight, five.”

Another pause, longer this time. “Are you in immediate danger?”

“No.”

“Is anyone else with you?”

“No,” I repeat, as I look back toward the shoreline.

“What’s the condition of the individual?” the dispatcher asks.

“Early stages of decomposition. Female. I haven’t touched anything.”

“Understood. Where exactly are you located?”

“Southern cliffside shoreline, below the east access road. I’m sending my coordinates. And I’m wearing plainclothes.” I drop the pin and look around.

“We have units coming,” she says. “Local police and medical. Do not disturb the scene.”

“I’m securing it until local units arrive.”

I end the call and dial Kyle's number. He answers quickly, his voice half-buried as if he were still asleep. “Damien? What's going on?”