CHAPTER 52

Kyle curved a hand over the door, talked through the glass. “Hey Quinn.”

“Shouldn’t you be with Bo?”

“He didn’t need me, cut me loose.”

“What are you doing here?”

He smiled. “I was just drivin’ by, saw you were still here. Thought I’d keep you company. You shouldn’t be alone right now.”

“I’m fine. The front door’s locked, and Bo will be back soon.” 

He clamped his fingers together on the sides of his nose, whipped his head back and sneezed. A round pendant dangling from a chain around his neck thrust forward, the circular-shaped metal close enough for her to see.

Time slowed to a screeching stop. In the center of the pendant was a lion. Paws up. Crown on his head.

Her name was grunted from behind. Her head made the slightest movement to the left. Felicity’s eyes were propped open wide enough to toss a large coin in. She’d tilted the notebook just enough for Quinn to notice her fingertip pressing onto a sketch of a man Marissa had drawn on another page of the notebook. The man was Kyle.

Marissa’s secret relationship wasn’t with Rowdy. It was with Kyle.

“Felicity,” Quinn whispered. “Take my cell phone off Marissa’s desk, go into Evie’s office, lock the door, and call Bo. Do not dial 9-1-1 or call the police. No matter whatever happens, do not come out.”

Felicity froze.

“Go, Felicity. Now!”

Kyle’s head shifted left, then right, peering inside the office, around the room. “Is someone else here with you?”

Quinn did her best to compose herself. “Kyle, I think I can hear my phone ringing. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

In a flash, his face screwed itself into a shape reminiscent of the sadistic clown in Stephen King’s It.

It was too late.

He knew she knew.