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As she looked at the ses in the photo albuirl was There was a quiet sort of laughter in her eyes, buried behind her shy sirl who’d had friends, a familya life

Her heart ached People irl And whoever the killer was, he’d taken her away from them Violet wished she could dothis to anyone else’s daughtersisterfriend

She closed the book and glanced up to find Rafe watching her just as she felt a tear slip down her cheek She hadn’t even realized she’d been crying

She watched as he tucked so small and silver She swiped at her face with the back of her hand and pretended not to notice the concern on his face as she turned away again, setting the albu into the private life of a dead girl It was one thing to find her body, to knohere she’d been discarded by her killer It was another thing altogether to know her

Slipping away froation, Violet wandered to the kitchen and grabbed a can of Coke froe She found a chair, one away fro her feet protectively beneath her

"Wanna talk about what happened back there?" Violet glanced up to find Rafe staring back at her "Did that freak you out? It can be kind of intense"

"No" But the denial ca, she chewed on the inside of her cheek "Sort of, I guess," she admitted hesitantly Softly "How do you do it?"

He sat down in the chair across fro her intently "Do what?" His quiet voice was even quieter now, an uncertain breeze

"Try to understand theet inside their heads?" she whispered

"Who? The killers, or the victied

"It wasn’t like I’ve ever had a choice in the ht about asking hiain, his blue eyes unguarded, his expression al that’s the way it ith you too You were never asked whether you wanted to find the dead, were you, V?"

Violet’s heart stopped She felt cornered, like an animal trapped It was new to her to talk openly about what she could do; the teah it wasn’t yet co