Page 153 of Of Heartbreak and Harmony
“Torren, this is Detective Amy Gallagher and Officer Stuart Draft.” When I bring my attention to Hammond, he’s frowning at me. “I need you to tell me if you recognized who that was in the video.”
When I don’t speak, Jonah scoffs, and I whip my eyes to him. There’s a slight mocking smile curling his lips, anger coming off him in waves. He sneers at me.
“You’re a fucking coward.”
“That video doesn’t mean shit.”
“Are you fucking kidding me, right now?” Jonah takes a step toward me. “You saw exactly what I saw, and I know who that was.”
I grit my teeth, my jaw popping under the pressure. “He wouldn’t do this.”
“That backpack—the one your deadbeat felon brother stashed behind the trash can—that backpack had fucking guns in it.” He steps so close to me that I can smell alcohol on his breath mixed with spearmint gum. “What the fuck is Sean doing with three guns at our show, Torren?”
“Back up.”
“You think it was an accident? Maybe he forgot to take the three fucking Glocks out of his bag, huh?”
“He wouldn’t...”
The defense dies on my tongue as my head starts to spin, and Jonah lets out a taunting laugh. I try my best to ignore him and turn my attention to Ham.
“How’d he get the guns in? There are metal detectors everywhere.”
“We’re still looking into that,” the detective says.
I drag a hand through my hair, trying and failing to get control of my errant thoughts. Sean. FuckingSean. He brought a gun to my show? Why? I know he resents how successful the band is now. I know he hates us for kicking him out right before we made it big. But a gun?Threefucking guns? What the hell was he going to do? Kill us? Kill our fans?
The realization makes me dizzy.
He brought three guns to an arena filled with nearly twenty thousand people. If someone hadn’t found that backpack...
“Do you know where he is now?” I ask, opening my eyes once more and setting them on the grim faces staring at me.
“We’re still searching. Now that you’ve made an ID, we can put out an APB. We’ve swept the hotel, and we’ve set up a patrol?—”
“You think we’re in danger?” I cut the detective off. “You think he’ll come after one of us?”
Jonah laughs again, and I scowl in his direction.
“He’s been fucking stalking Sav, Torren. He’s not just going to go away.”
“The fuck are you talking about? He hasn’t been stalking Sav.”
“God, you’re such a fucking moron. Use your fucking head, would you? Who else would hate seeing you and Sav dating? Who else would want to send Sav death threats anytime there’s even a hint that you’re fucking her?”
My eyes widen as Jonah’s image goes fuzzy around the edges. His voice wobbles as he speaks, my ears straining to hear him over my own labored breathing. The letters Sav got from her stalker...they always called her a cunt. Over and over. A cheating cunt. A lying cunt.
A cuntbitch.
My brother’s voice from my recent visit home blares in my head, and as I remember his words, I can see them written in the same font as Sav’s letters. Like it should have been glaringly obvious all along.
Not dating that cunt lead singer anymore.
You chose that cunt bitch’s band over me.
Still the cunt bitch’s lap dog.
The realization must show on my face, because Jonah claps his hands together. Once, twice, three times, until I’m dragging my eyes back to his sneering face.
