Page 52 of Flame
Chapter Thirteen
For what feels like an eternity, all I can do is stare straight ahead, desperately trying to process my emotions. Confusion. Terror. Shock.
He could be a suspect in Faith Wen’s murder.
The scariest part? Branden hinted at as much.
Was he lying to hide his own guilt, or is Rafe every bit the criminal Branden’s insisted he was from the start?
Turning to face him, I can’t tell. He’s an enigma, his eyes a stormy black, glowering into the distance. A tiny voice at the back of my mind warns that Branden is right.
I have no idea what he’s capable of.
Do I even have what it takes to find out?
“What do you mean?” I ask, taking a steadying breath. My voice shakes anyway, betraying any attempt to sound brave. “Tell me everything.”
The look he sends my way doesn’t ease my fears one bit. “I’m pretty sure I might be the last one who texted Faith before she went missing,” he says. “But I know for a fact that she had two phones.”
I feel my brow furrow. “I don’t understand. How do you even know that?”
He shrugs, but his eyes maintain that distant, elusive gleam. He’s hiding something. “Trust me, I know.”
His confidence triggers that niggling sense of jealousy again. I do my best to swat it aside and focus on the information at the forefront. Faith had two phones. A fact that even the police don’t seem to know. Liam hadn’t mentioned it either.
But why?
“What did you text her about?” I ask, scanning his face for any hint of emotion. Love? Lust? His jaw remains stubbornly fixed, giving me nothing—not that he has to. My brain skips ahead, wondering if they spoke about way more than her problems with Gino and DW. “Why would that make you a suspect?”
“Because I was trying to get her to meet me,” he says.
“About?”
His heavy sigh triggers another wave of unease I can’t suppress this time.
“Tell me,” I prod.
When he finally looks my way, he’s more cautious than I think I’ve ever seen him. Like someone judging whether or not to strike a match over a lit puddle of gasoline. In the end, I guess he has no choice.
“About—” He breaks off, his head swiveling toward the front windows. “Shit.”
“What’s wrong?” I start to ask, but then I hear it—loud, steady pounding coming from below. The front door?
Above the racket comes a voice, ringing with authority. “Police! Open up, Mr. Wei-Shen. We have a warrant.”
Rafe doesn’t look anywhere near as shocked as I feel. Without so much as flinching, he grabs my arm and shoves me toward the hallway. From the couch, he snatches my bag and tosses it to me. I drop my phone into my purse before wrestling it over my shoulder
“Get down the fire escape and get to the warehouse,” he hisses, already racing for the stairs. “Wait for me there. Go!”
“What…” My brain is slow to process everything at once. All I can do is stupidly ask, “Why are the police here?”
“I said go!” he snaps back without turning around. “Now. Trust me, they won’t knock again.”
You know why they’re here,a part of me whispers.Because Rafe is their number one suspect.
Or…
They’re here for the same reason Branden hasn’t come after me. Because, much like his planted cameras, he’s hidden another piece of cruel insurance…
