Page 7 of Dark Reasons

It hits me, then;hekilled Sanford, not me. I could report him to the police. I'd get away from this mess with clean hands.

This killer...

He's afraid of ME.

The revelation takes the tension from my muscles. He leaps at the opportunity, shoving me out the window. I fall onto the fire escape and it rattles under my weight. I'm about to scream, but his hand muffles my mouth. "I can tell you're thinking of trying something clever," he whispers in my ear. "My advice is to smother that unreliable sense of hope andclimb down this fire escape."

There'll be time to think of my next steps later. For now, I nod my head. He releases me, letting me grip the rusted handrails of the fire escape. Slowly I make me way towards the ground. The final rung hangs five feet above the pavement. "What now?" I ask.

"You fall."

Grimacing, I wring the bottom rung with both hands, crouching until one boot dangles freely in the air. The sensation makes my guts whirl around; I ignore it, trying to lower my other leg even as my brain screams at me that I'm going to die if I fall.

Something compels me to glance over at the parking lot. The girl from the booth line, the one I helped not lose her money to Sanford, gawks at me. I'm sure I'm quite the sight dangling as I am. The lot is full of cars and wandering people, but she's the only one looking.

Great! She can call for help and save me from this guy!

The second thought is sharper and heavier.

If he notices her noticing us, he might kill her in order to cover up his trail.He said he preferred being a ghost. Getting spotted by a random onlooker would ruin that.

Our eyes lock.Please,I silently plead with her, shaking my head,Look away. Pretend you don't see.

She twists her whole body around, pointedly staring in another direction as she weaves between the different cars until I lose sight of her. If she read my mind or just decided to stay out of it on her own, I've got no clue. All that matters is she's safe.

Releasing the rung, I land heavily, bending my knees to absorb the impact but doing a poor job of it. The hit man lands a second later. He's more graceful, his coat hardly flapping; he doesn't grunt like I did. "This way." He scoops my hand in his, forcing me to jog to keep up with him.

"The parking lot is behind us," I say.

"And?"

"Didn't you drive here?"

"Of course," he sighs. "My car is down this alley."

"Don't say it like that."

"Like what?"

"Your tone, it's smug and gross."

His eyes snap at me. "Did you park your car at the hotel?"

"No, I took an Uber and had it drop me off a block away."

He stops short, staring at me with a crooked grin. "All that effort to not leave a trail and you still got caught on those cameras."

My cheeks grow red; I rip my hand from his. "No one will recognize me. I'll dye my hair back to blonde." Ripping the tiny crown off my head, I throw it and the red cape on the sidewalk. "I was probably one of twenty girls dressed as Perona."

"Dressed aswho?"

"Perona, she's from an anime."

Curling his lip, he shakes his head. "What are you, six years old?"

"Why, you kidnap a lot of kids?" He actually looks legit offended. "I'm twenty-one, andyoustill haven't told meyour name."

"Do I have a reason to?" Hardening his eyes, he swoops an arm around my shoulders, pushing me into the nearby alley. Across the other side, on a cracked street with overloaded dumpsters butting against the loading dock of a restaurant, sits a silver Subaru. It's such an understated car that I don't grasp it'shisuntil he opens the driver's side door. "Get in."

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