Page 64 of What's Left of Me

“Love is blind,” Nick muttered, earning him the finger from Shep.

I clapped my hands together. “Who’s calling?”

“I think Mason should.”

We all looked over at Four, who’d suggested it.

“Me, why?” Mason was aghast.

“You’re smart, levelheaded, and you dealt with them perfectly when they showed up last time.”

Mason chuckled. “I don’t think they liked me very much. Shouldn’t it be someone who hasn’t pissed them off?”

“Haven’t you all pissed them off?” Hazel laughed.

I rotated my chair until I was facing her and grinned.

“Why are you smiling at me like…oh…I drew attention to myself, and now you want me to call them because I’m Phoenix’s sister and…yeah, okay, that’s fair.”

She looked at her phone and glanced at me. “What do I say? Exactly what Gabe did?”

“That’ll work.” I handed her Carmichael’s card. “There’s the number.”

She took a deep breath and called. She put the call on speaker and placed the phone on the desk.

“This is Agent Carmichael.”

“Good morning, Agent Carmichael, this is Hazel Briar.”

“Hello, Ms. Briar. What can I do for you? Did Phoenix think of something?”

“No, I’m calling because I’ve been watching the news.”

There was a pregnant pause. “Uh-huh.”

“You see…well, last time the broken body of a man that looked like my brother was found, there was a note. I’m not a moron; I’m sure there was one this time as well. Care to tell me what it said?”

“Ms. Briar, I know you’re scared and?—”

“Don’t presume to know anything about me, Agent Carmichael. Keeping information from me and my brother puts us in danger. We need to know what’s going on and what this maniac is saying.”

She was doing really well, and I shot her two thumbs-ups, earning an eye roll.

Carmichael sighed. “He’s angry, Ms. Briar. He kept to his timetable with the woman’s body. The boy?—”

“Jason Highland. I know his name; he was kidnapped a few days ago, and it was on the news.”

“Jason Highland, his body was almost unrecognizable. More so than Brady Cunningham. He took his time with her, but he was slaughtered, Ms. Briar, and the message he left was vile.”

“I understand that, but I still want to know. If you keep us in the dark, we can’t see anything coming.”

“Fair enough, Ms. Briar, but I’ll ask you not to share this publicly.”

“I promise.”

“‘You run, you hide, and this I can’t abide. You will make me do more monstrous deeds the longer you hold back my needs.Show yourself my firebird, or soon there will be a third. Their pain far worse than the one before, I’ll let it linger, I’ll give them more. Don’t delay, my little doll, or I promise you more will fall.’”

A tear slid down Hazel’s cheek but she was quick to wipe it away, and she took a deep breath.

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