Page 53 of Shattered Silence Duet

“About what happened on Friday night?”

I shake my head again. He sighs, turns to me, grabs my hand, and strokes his thumb over my palm in a comforting gesture.

“A student, Lisa, was found murdered in the woods on Friday night.”

My eyes go wide, and my mouth drops open. A studentdied?No, not just died, but was murdered? With my shaky hands, I pull out my phone and type.

Me: Did they catch the killer?

He reads it, and his eyes dart to mine. He shakes his head.

I suddenly have a thought and type.

Me: Which woods?

He reads it but doesn’t say anything. He looks like he doesn’t want to answer. I grab his hand and squeeze, begging him with my eyes to tell me.

“The one behind your house. It wasn’t that close to your house, though. At least a half-hour walk.”

My breathing picks up. That’s still really close to me. I was laying in my bed Friday night while this girl, Lisa, was being murdered nearby. And the killer is still out there.

Me: Do they think it was a onetime thing? This isn’t like a serial killer or something, is it?

He looks at me with sad eyes. “They think it might be a serial killer.”

I want to know who Lisa is, so I do a search and find a result pretty quickly. Lisa Sanchez, seventeen, and...Oh. My. God.My eyes shoot up to Max as tears start to form.

Me: I know her.

He looks at me, surprised.

“You do? I didn’t know you knew anyone else?”

Me: She’s in my gym class. She talked to me. She seemed so nice. She...

“She what, sweetheart?” he asks, watching me as I type.

Me: I thought she looked a lot like me. Are there other victims?

He looks away, like he doesn’t want to answer, but I know how to find answers now, so I start searching for news articles about other murders.

“Mina, don’t,” Max says, placing his hand over my phone. I need to know, though. I pull it away and start searching. I find one other result of a murder from a couple of months ago in this town, Elsie. She has the same brown hair, green eyes and height as me, too. Then I remember last week hearing about a guy’s sister being murdered. I switch my phone off and try to contain my tears from spilling.

“Sweetheart?” I blink my eyes open and look up at Max, not even trying to hide my fear and worry. “Do you really not know anything about the murders?”

I shake my head rapidly at him. He seems to soften.

“Are you scared?”

I nod, and he wraps me in a gentle hug, softly rubbing the top of my back, near my shoulders—thankfully missing the lash marks.

“Shh shh, it’s okay, Sweetheart. We’re gonna take care of you. Nothing is going to happen to you, okay?”

I’m not sure how he can promise that, but I pretend, if even just for a moment, that he can do that and I give a small nod against his chest.

“I want you to remember that you can talk to me or my brothers about anything. You can tell us if something scares you, and we’ll chase your fears away, okay?”

I nod and pull myself together as Mrs. Pinkins starts class.