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I shakeat the bottom of the front porch "Whatever you want to show hs and slinks back into the house Minutes later, a blonde girl pokes her head out

"Eet your creepy ass in here," Mackenzie says with a trace of pleading in her tone "Before soures out I’m here"

I peer overthe street as I co el

I jog up the stairs, past Mackenzie and through the entryway Ca room that has deep red walls and a brick fireplace The mantle is ornamented with plastic plants and photos Above it is a old frame and the air s on the shelf in the corner

"This isn’t how I pictured your house," I re chair Cameron and Mackenzie sit down on the sofa across fro an oversized flannel shirt and a pair of boxers and I wonder if they’re Cameron’s clothes And she has leather bands on her wrists and neck, like she’s suddenly decided to try a seothic look

"The cops think I killed you," I tell her "They brought "

"Wow, Killer Girl speaks," she says snidely "You were so quiet at school I thought you were a mute"

Cameron lays a hand on her bare knee "Easy, remember she knows you’re here now, so play nice"

She crosses her arms and huff exasperatedly, "Yeah, but only because you ive a crap if she thinks you’re lying or not" Cameron tilts his head at her and she recoils "I’m sorry And I’ proble this to Caested I disappear for a while and take a break"

"You know everyone is looking for you, right?" I press the severity "There are flyers all over the toith your face posted on them This is really hs, and then tears start to fall fro up in a house like I did"

"A lot of people have bad home lives," I say unsympathetically "It doesn’t mean we run away"

"Oh yeah, what’s so messed up in your life?" Tears stream down her sun-kissed cheeks as she scratches under the leather band on her neck "Did your dad use you to close job deals with old perverted et the hell away from it for one moment, just breathe Haven’t you ever wanted to just breathe?"

"Every single day of my existence," I whisper

Caly

"So you just hid her somewhere and then scattered feathers all over the shore and painted it up with an X and an hourglass?" I ask hiaze

Caether as he drapes his arm behind Mackenzie "I hid her, but I didn’t do the feathers and weird paint thing Why would we do that?"

"To make her disappearance look like the rest of theood of an idea as that is, we didn’t do that," he responds

"But that’s what the detective said" I fall back in the couch with my forehead creased "Why would she do that?"

"Toslip" Mackenzie shrugs and rearranges the bands on her wrists "It’s kind of their MO" When Caape at her, she adds, "What? I watch a lot of Law and Order, okay?"

I tap y "They think I killed you… and they think I killed Laden"

"No, they don’t They just don’t have any other leads" Cah, if they saw you now, they’d probably lock you up"

I wrap my arms around myself "I had an accident"

He points over his shoulder "Is that why there was an ambulance at your house?"

I focus the interest back on Mackenzie "What a and let theher hands in front of her, pleading "That would be really great, at least, until I can figure out somewhere else to live"

I rub my exhausted eyes "I don’t oing on?"

She laughs, but it’s forced "You don’t think I’ve tried? Butit to draw attention tofunder of the Hollows Grove Police Department"