Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 114775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 574(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 574(@200wpm)___ 459(@250wpm)___ 383(@300wpm)
It is still uncertain if they expect the victim to live.
I swallow back hard. Backing out, I go to another link.
Police are still searching for clues in the Haley Halliwell murder case. Authorities are appealing for anyone with any information to come forward.
All the reports seem to say the same. But there’s nothing about the other victim, if he or she survived, or if they caught the bastards who had done it.
Was the other victim Kas?
Bile rises in my throat at the thought.
I open another window and type in, Kastor Matis, Haley Halliwell, murder, 2009.
I scan the news stories, but Kas’s name isn’t mentioned in any. I delete the search and type in, Haley Halliwell, 2009, murder solved.
I click on the first link. It’s dated June 6, 2010.
A year later, police are still appealing for any witnesses in connection to the brutal rape and murder of Haley Halliwell to come forward. Halliwell, 17 at the time, had been attending her high school prom and then left with a friend to take a walk in Hyde Park. Her body was later found by a passerby. She had been raped and murdered. No suspects have been found so far in the horrific crime that has rocked the community.
They never found them. Her murder went unsolved. It was never mentioned if the other person lived or died. But I’m assuming that person lived; otherwise, they would have named him or her. It wouldn’t have just been known as the Haley Halliwell murder.
Kas knew and quite possibly loved a girl who was murdered in such a brutal way. And he might have also been with her on the night she was murdered.
My phone rings, startling me.
I scoop it up to see that it’s Jesse calling.
I take a few breaths to make myself sound normal. “Hey you,” I answer. “How are you doing?”
Things have been going well between Jesse and me since the shoplifting incident. We talk almost every day, and we text regularly.
“Hey, what are you up to?”
My eyes flicker to the laptop screen. I shut the lid down. “Uh, just watching TV. Cece’s working late. What are you up to?”
“Just got back from footy practice.”
“Yeah? How did it go?”
“All right.” I can just imagine him shrugging as he says it.
“What are your plans for the rest of the night?”
“Just gonna chill. Watch some TV. So…I was wondering…well, I was wondering if you’d fancy doing something tomorrow?”
My heart lifts. “With you?”
“Yeah.” He chuckles, and that laugh touches my heart and makes it soar.
“Of course,” I say, my voice pitching higher with excitement. “I would love that. What were you thinking?”
“I thought we could catch a train down to Brighton—you know, like we used to. Hang out on the beach, as the weather’s supposed to be good tomorrow. And there’s a fair on at the moment as well.”
“Sounds great.” I smile. My heart is close to bursting in my chest. “So, should I pick you up tomorrow? I can get a taxi to yours and then have it take us to the train station.”
“Sounds great.”
“What time?”
“What time are the trains?”
“Hmm, not sure. How about I check the train times, and then text you to let you know?”
“Cool. Okay, well, I’ll get off. See you tomorrow.”
“See you then.”
I’m beaming when I hang up the phone. I clutch it to my chest, happiness filling me.
Jesse wants to spend the day with me! He actually called me and asked me to spend the day with him!
I can’t wait to tell Cece!
Okay, so I need train times for tomorrow.
I open up the lid on the laptop, ready to look up times, and I pause at the sight of Haley’s picture alongside the news story I was reading.
My good mood instantly disintegrates.
She was murdered. And Kas might have been the one who was with her the night it happened.
The things he could have witnessed…
The thought makes me sick.
Even if he weren’t there, he knew Haley, and she was murdered.
Kas’s harsh, abrasive, angry ways are starting to make sense in my mind now. Because, if he witnessed what happened…and was hurt…
I close my eyes against the horrific thoughts.
I should talk to him about this. But what the hell would I say? I mean, how in the hell do you bring something like that up?
And, also, I shouldn’t know about Haley. That picture was among his private things, and I snooped.
Snooping aside, how in the world would I explain Googling her because I was jealous and curious?
I’d sound like a bloody stalker.
I should just pretend like I don’t know.
But how the hell am I supposed to look him in the eye and pretend like I don’t know that something terrible happened to someone he cared about?
And, if he were the other person there…then the terrible things happened to him, too.
I can’t bear to think of him hurt and in pain.