Page 14 of Property of Bones

“She’s alive,” I say, which is the best I can give right now. “I’m parked across the street from the duplex apartment. Ain’t going anywhere ‘til daylight.”

Another beat of silence. Then, “Don’t let her out of your sight. If someone’s cleaning house and they suspect a witness, she’s next.”

“She’s not gonna be anyone’s damn target,” I growl. “I’ll put ‘em in the ground first.”

“Do you think she’ll keep quiet?” he asks.

“Yeah,” I answer truthfully. “Riley and Abby trust that she will, too.”

“Alright. Keep me updated,” Spike says before hanging up.

A gust of wind blows past, rustling the trees like whispers in the dark.

I don’t move.

If the killerisafter Sunny…let the bastard come.

They’ll find out real quick that you don’t mess with what belongs to me.

Chapter Six

Sunny

I take a deep breath as I climb out of my car and head toward the entrance of Marv’s Market. Riley thinks I should take a few days off, but honestly? I’m fine. I didn’t actuallyseeanything. I just… heard it. And maybe that’s enough to shake most people, but I’m a glass-half-full kinda girl. Always have been.

Sure, it’s heartbreaking that someone was killed. More so that I can’t even reach out to his family and offer my condolences. Riley told me that his name was Josh. He’d only been working here a couple of months. I remember him. Always polite. Always kind.

Tank said they have their own ways of handling things, and that they want to make it look like the murder happened somewhere else far from Marv’s. I know there’s more going on behind the scenes, but I’ve chosen to trust them.

Naive? Maybe. But that’s just the way I’m wired.

So here I am, heading into work like it’s any other day.

“New kid Josh was killed last night.”

I freeze, mid-step, as Marv’s familiar voice reaches me. He looks at me a bit odd. Almost like he knows I was there when it happened. But, I know that’s not true because he was writing reports in his office at the time.

“They’re saying it was a hit-and-run,” he adds. “Well… a shoot-and-run. Random, maybe. But it’s scary, Sunny. Makesyou think. Maybe you should come stay with me and Cheryl for a while.”

Okay. Too much.

I shake my head gently. “I’m not staying with you and your wife, Marv. That’s sweet, but… why would someone shoot Josh? There’s never been violence around here. Not like that.”

“You’re just blind, Sunny,” he says, eyes soft but voice firm. “You can’t see the evil through that overabundance of sweetness you carry around.”

“Iseeevil just fine,” I tell him quietly. “I just choose not to give it power. Acknowledging it… that’s what makes it real.”

Marv shakes his head, eyes creased with concern. “That’s not true, Sunny. Ignoring something doesn’t make it disappear. And acknowledging it?” He steps closer, voice low and honest. “That’s not giving it power. That’s how you take its power away. Pretending it’s not there? That’s what gives it room to grow.”

I don’t have a good comeback for that. So I just smile… tight and brittle… and step around him into the store.

“I see your point,” I call back over my shoulder. “But that doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

As I walk down the aisle, I make a mental note to visit Josh’s family in the next few days. I’ll bring a casserole dish, something warm and comforting, so they don’t have to think about cooking, at least for one night.

Maybe Marv’s right. Maybe ignoring evilishow it festers and grows. But I don’t think I can fully accept that someone out there, someone close enough to breathe the same air I do, could murder a young innocent man in the middle of a grocery store and walk away like it was just another Tuesday.

I’m not ready to believe that kind of unnecessary cruelty lives this close to home.

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