She tried the nearest door. Locked.

Ruby took a deep breath, then kicked the door at the hinge. It flew inward, exposing the bloody bedroom.

Gabe caught her eye, then mouthed, “Can you see her?”

Ruby felt suddenly sick. She nodded tentatively.

The woman was twisted in the bedsheets, her body on the bed, her head hanging over the edge. She bore a striking resemblance to the second victim. Her eyes were wide, staring blankly upward.

Then, like nothing, she raised her head, glaring back at Ruby, looking angrier than anything else. Blood crusted on her dress, but that fact didn’t seem to faze her.

“Hey,” Ruby said, reaching out uncertainly.

“Brett? What is this?” she said, looking sternly to the suspect, then back at Ruby, “who are you? You can’t just barge in. Did Brett put you up to this?”

The closer Ruby looked, the stickier the glistening red stains looked. Still running on her burst of adrenaline, it took Ruby a moment to piece together all the strange elements of the scene.

“It's fake?” Ruby asked. Whatever they just walked into, she wasn’t expecting it. A real murder would have been less surprising, given what they knew about Thorne.

“Yes,” she replied. “I'm an actress. We were doing a re-enactment.”

She walked briskly past Ruby to Thorne, cuffed and on the floor. “What is going on here? You better not have gotten fake cops to come barge into our scene, Brett.”

Thorne ignored her. At least he had the sense to prioritize the FBI agents instead of his apparent partner in fake-crime.

“Get the knife,” Thorne said, “why don't you take a closer look at it.”

Gabe reluctantly retrieved the knife Ruby had kicked away. He pressed the blade against his palm. Retractable blade. A stage knife.

“See. Fake! I could charge you for brutality,” Thorne spat. Gabe yanked him to his feet.

“Your ex-fiancée was killed a few nights ago,” Ruby said. “Do you understand how this looks?”

For a moment, Thorne’s eyes went wide, then steeled into thinner slits.

“This isn't proof of anything,” Thorne said.

The girl came back out of the bedroom, looking annoyed. “You wouldn't get it. We like true crime. Some people do podcasts or whatever. We re-enact murders.”

“Charming,” Gabe drawled.

Ruby remained on edge, waiting for an attempt at an ambush, or anything other than the explanation Thorne had for them. She looked at the walls of posters and grisly murder photos, just the most famous ones, available too easily on the internet.

She spotted a courthouse drawing from Vallejo’s murder trial. Vallejo would enjoy this hero worship too much.

“We're always looking for new material,” the girl said. Thorne said nothing, possibly still recovering from Gabe’s overzealous takedown.

“What's your name?” Ruby asked, looking to the very alive woman.

“April Lopez,” the woman said indignantly.