I recognized the wooden handle, the small engraved skull near its base.
It was Mark’s knife.
Did that mean Mark slashed my tires?
And if he slashed my tires, was he also the one that broke into my house? I flipped through the papers again, not finding any evidence that it could have been Mark, but I had wondered why someone broke in and didn’t actually take anything. I had been under the impression that I caught them mid break-in, but now I wondered if it was Mark. What had he been looking for?
I went back to Mia’s folder, my heart racing and palms starting to sweat. I looked for any notes about her hair being blonde, but didn’t find anything. Mark didn’t take any notes of me saying that or my dad commenting. I looked out the window, my thoughts moving too fast now.
Was Mark even capable of murder?
He had never raised his voice or gave me any indication he would be violent, and what could Mia have done to push him to that?
I read more, making out a comment that my dad had made. “How did the killer lock up?” It was scrawled off to the side, and the realization hit me hard.
The keys Mark had with him that night weren’t his. I had wondered why he would have a sparkly keychain, but he didn’t. They were Mia’s.
The thundering of my heartbeat filled my ears, making it too hard to listen if anyone was coming, but there was one more thing I needed to check.
My hands shook as I pulled out my phone, finding Kye’s contact and hitting it open before flipping to the phone log my dad had printed. Lucky for me, he hated computers, so there were hard copies of everything now.
My hand trailed down the page until I got to the one he circled. The last call Mia made, which was noted as Kye’s number. I looked between my phone and the page. It wasn’t Kye’s number. I hit Mark’s name next—it wasn’t his either.
That didn’t explain why they thought it belonged to Kye, though.
Jax
A sheriff’s here. Stalled as long as I could. Get out of there.
Daisy
Coming.
I took a few photos of the pages first, making sure to get as much of the important things as I could before slamming the files shut and running out.
I passed one of the sheriffs as I walked out the front.
“Have you seen my dad?”
“Last I knew, he was going to arrest someone for the murder. Can’t tell you much more than that.”
My stomach dropped, and I picked up my pace. I ripped open the door to Jax’s car, already yelling before I was inside.
“Go! We need to find Kye. I’m pretty sure Mark killed Mia and now he’s going to pin it on Kye.”
FIFTY-FIVEDAISY
I had called Kye five times as Jax headed towards the garage, but he never picked up.
“I’m going to kill him. Why is he choosing now not to answer my calls?”
“Maybe he’s a little tied up.”
“Is that supposed to be a joke about getting arrested? Are you thinking this is funny?”
“No,” he said fast. “No, I just make jokes when I’m stressed. I can’t help it,” he said, nearly laughing. “I swear I’m not happy about this.”
“You’re laughing!”
“Not on purpose,” he yelled back.
I sat back, calling Kye again. “Fine, joke all you want, but drive faster. I don’t know what Mark’s plan is. If he wants to pin all of this on Kye, he could do anything to him.” Panic welled until my chest hurt. “Can you please go faster, Jax? What if he tries to arrest Kye? Or worse, kill him?”
“Why would he kill Kye?”
“Why would Mark, the guy that just killed a girl, kill Kye so that it’s easier to blame it all on Kye so he can still go run for sheriff?”
He shifted again, the car picking up more speed. “Okay, point proven.”
We turned onto the road of the garage, the red and blue lights already visible.
Jax pulled the car to a stop at the road, and I was already taking off across the parking lot.
Three of the sheriff’s cars were there, and I could see Kye’s car barricaded in against the garage.
The rest of the crew was standing near an open garage door, the shock so clear on their faces.
“When did they get here?” I asked, running up next to them.
