Page 8 of Ruthless Riches
“So… are you going to tell the detectives about this Harry guy?”
I licked my dry lips. “Yeah, I guess I have to. But I really, really don’t think it’s him.”
“Better to be safe than sorry.” She leaned forward and patted my hand. Then she looked at Nate. “Do you agree?”
Nate nodded. “If Harry is innocent, then he has nothing to worry about.”
“Wait…” My brows lowered into a contemplative frown. “Did you see him at the party while I was being attacked? If you did, it literally can’t be him.”
“I’m not sure if he was still there,” he replied. “When you started screaming, the whole place was already pretty chaotic because everyone had just heard about the new bodies in the quad. Someone could’ve slipped outside without anyone noticing and sneaked through the bathroom window while all of that was going on. That includes Harry.”
I let out a sigh. “Okay. I’ll tell the detectives when they come back to talk to me again. But I really don’t think it’ll go anywhere. There’s no way Harry is a serial killer.” I briefly closed my eyes and rubbed them. Then I looked over at Sascha again. “You said you’ve been following the case. Do you know if they’ve identified the new victims yet?”
She nodded. “Yeah, they did. Two homeless people—Dawn Barry and Peter Wellings. According to their friends from the street, they went missing a couple of weeks ago.”
My stomach lurched. Guilt was eating away at my insides like acid on old pipes. I’d survived the copycat Butcher’s brutal attack, but four other people hadn’t been so fortunate—first Nessa and Claire, and now Dawn and Peter.
Why them? Why not me?
“God, it’s so horrible,” I muttered.
Sascha’s lips tightened. “Yeah. It’s fucked up.”
Nate spoke up again. “You know, before this killer came onto the scene, I honestly didn’t even know Avalon had such a high homeless population.”
“You aren’t the only one who was surprised by that,” I said. “Everyone just assumes that the whole island is rich. It doesn’t occur to them that there are people in shitty situations everywhere in the world, even in places like this.”
Sascha nodded, brows rising. “You know my art studio on Seventh Avenue?”
“Yes.”
“There’s a homeless guy who sits outside most days. Sometimes I give him coffee or food, and we’ve chatted a few times. He told me once that he thinks there’s at least 1500 people sleeping rough on Avalon.” She slowly shook her head. “It’s going to get worse, too. The economy is so fucked right now. People are losing their jobs all the time, and it’s not as easy as most people assume it is to just pack up and leave.”
I twisted my hands on my lap. “This new Butcher is taking full advantage of the situation. He obviously knows homeless people are more vulnerable, so they make the easiest targets for him.” I paused and let out a deep sigh. “Claire must’ve been too much of a struggle for him to take. She was the very first one, and she was also the only one so far who wasn’t homeless. So I think he changed tactics after her.”
“Sounds about right,” Nate said.
“Honestly, I wish I could find the guy before the cops do, so I can kill him myself for hurting you,” Sascha said in a low voice, hands balling into tight fists on her lap. “And the others, too.”
Nate’s face hardened. “I know exactly how you feel.”
I bit my bottom lip as I looked at him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sascha’s forehead crease. Then she abruptly stood up. “Oh, no,” she said, eyes flashing as she stared at me. “No way.”
“What’s wrong?” I asked, cocking my head.
“I know that look on your face. It’s the same look you used to get whenever you talked about your investigation into Dad’s case,” she said, shaking a finger at me. “You’re going to try to find this new Butcher, aren’t you?”
My stomach twisted into nervous knots. Sascha had always been able to see right through me, and now she’d recognized my exact feelings on the matter—the need for a resolution, for an end, how it would gnaw at my guts until I had all the answers I needed.
“The police on Avalon haven’t exactly done a great job in the past,” I said. “Half of them turned out to be corrupt, and it took me and Nate digging into everything to uncover all the stuff on the Golden Circle.”
“I know that, but they’re doing their best now. You really shouldn’t get involved,” she replied. “For one, you’re not actually a detective, even though you’ve been acting like one, and secondly, it’s way too dangerous. I mean, you got stabbed last night. What the hell is going to happen next time?”
“There won’t be a next time. I won’t let myself get caught like that again.”
“Oh, god.” Sascha sank back into her chair, head shaking as she stared down at her lap. “Please tell me you’re joking.”
I set my jaw. “I’m not. I found the first Butcher so I could prove that Dad was innocent. Now I want to find the copycat.”
