14
The tiny bathroom’s sickening floral perfume turns both hot and solid. My stomach shrinks to a pinpoint. Sweat erupts along my back. I can feel the whole funeral home, the whole world, twisting around me like my mind is suddenly the Earth’s axis of rotation.
Father was murdered?
I knew the murderer? Worked for them?
And Beaks.
Nobody in Malacaster knows that name. I’d only adopted it after I started freelancing.
The switchblade is sticking out the other side of my fist. I don’t remember switching it to fighting position.
Who knew enough to find me here?
Laser-printed envelope and letter. No handwriting that I might recognize. I hold the sheet up to the light, but there’s no watermark. It could have come from any printer in the world.
I force myself to breathe deeply and slowly,
