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I replied with: It might be more.

A day later, Enzo sat in the living room with the CCTV footage and a frown on his face.

“That’s him. Jonah,” Irene said.

“That’s not Jonah.” Enzo glared at the man on the screen. “I know him. That’s Grant’s brother. Noah. Noah Mercer.”

“I did not know Grant had a brother.” I frowned.

“I think he was adopted.” I stared at the face on the screen. The smile was innocent, but something in my head was ringing alarm bells, and I rarely ignored my instincts. It had brought me this far.

If it wasn’t for my instincts, I’d be dead by now, in some abandoned alley or rotting in a sewer.

“Why did he lie to Irene?” Yara asked. “I don’t feel good about him.”

“You’re going to stalk him,” Irene said.

“It’s decided,” Yara said. “I don’t want to ignore this pesky voice in my head that’s saying something is certainly amiss.”

“Pesky voice, my ass,” Irene said. “But go on ahead.”

“Thank you.”

“Like you would have stopped if I hadn’t agreed to it.”

Yara rubbed her hands together. That glint in her eyes… it was familiar. It was the one she often had when she was hunting her next victim.

“First we find what he shows to the world. Next we find what he doesn’t,” I said.

Noah Mercer.

“He has no online presence, no social media, at least none tied to his name,” Yara said. “And that’s curious.”

“I don’t use social media. That’s not a big red flag.”

“You don’t, because you’re hiding from a serial killer. And he doesn’t because he’s hiding something too.”

This was a strange way to spend time with family, but I had gotten used to the strangeness. I loved it even.

“Let’s call Reah,” I said.

“Oh,” Yara said, straightening. “Also, Ryden, Reah knows about you, or at least has some mild suspicion.”

“WHAT?” Enzo stood up.

“What? She’s someone who finds secrets for a living. Do you think she wouldn’t have found something about you? She has been working with you for a long time. Even if you have been careful, she might have connected the dots. I’m shocked that you haven’t already thought about that.”

I frowned.

I had thought about it and then dismissed it.

“But…”

“But she’s keeping your secrets.”

“Why would she?”

“I don’t know the whole story, but when law only goes so far. We are—especially women who have lost because of the misogynistic system that locked them in place—we are looking for something else, something more. And maybe she found it in you.”