Page 65 of Cruel Abandon (Fallen Royals 5)

“I heard what happened.” He pauses. “I just wanted to see if you were okay.”

I sit up, and soapy water sloshes around me at the violent movement.

“You heard? How?”

“I’ve been keeping an eye on the case,” he admits.

“Of Natalie’s disappearance,” I confirm.

“Of the three missing girls.”

I squint. “There’s only been two. And neither are missing anymore.”

“The third has been kept under wraps from the summer,” he says evenly. “She hasn’t been found.”

Maybe I didn’t actually find Natalie.

Hope surges through me. It could’ve been the other girl—the one missing from the summer.

“Skylar?”

“Sorry, what?”

He sighs. “Jasmine was an international exchange student. Her parents only just now got clearance to fly into the country. There hasn’t been a big fuss because no one pushed for the police to give a shit.”

“How could that possibly be?”

“She has a history of abusing pain medication. No sign of struggle. No one reported her missing except her roommate.”

“Like Amber?” I ask.

“The only thing found in Amber’s blood was a strong sedative.”

I shiver.

The prick of a needle going into my skin is too real. I rub at my neck, trying to imagine away the pain. A sedative. That’s how the kidnapper—the killer—must’ve got her into his vehicle. Or maybe she went willingly, and it was only later that he drugged her.

“Are they checking Natalie for the same thing?”

“I can’t confirm…”

“Bullshit, Detective,” I snap. “Pretty sure this whole phone call is outside your legal operating procedures, right?”

“We had met,” he repeats. “I came to your house, and you were very upset. Do you remember?”

I squeeze my eyes shut. I’ve had enough remembering, enough traumatic thoughts, to last a lifetime.

“I don’t,” I say. “Thank you for the information. The school has already advised us to be vigilant, so I’m not sure what else there is to be done.”

He grunts his affirmation and wishes me a good evening.

I drop my phone to the bath mat and sink fully under the water.

Tomorrow, things will be better. The news will come out, and I won’t have to lie anymore.

I’ll go back to being insignificant and invisible.

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