I rolled my neck, cracking a couple of spots loud enough to earn a glare from Eric, who hated the popping noises with a fiery passion. Jake shifted, and his leg separated from mine, letting me bring my attention back to the discussion, even though my thoughts were still being pulled in Jake’s direction.

What the hell was it about him that had me so sprung? Yes, he was handsome and funny and smart and kind and tall and just my type and…

Okay. Maybe I did know what the hell it was about him that had me so entranced.

“Noah, what about you?” Tristan asked, leaning across the table, his liquid-gold eyes pinning me in place.

“Huh? Sorry, I missed the question.”

He cocked his head, eyes darting to Jake before coming back to me. “What’s got you so distracted tonight?”

“That was the question?” I asked, looking away from Tristan’s pointed glare.

“No,” Eric said. “The question was if you thought there was any importance in how the author describes Archie, the killer’s ex-husband, as being as monstrous as ‘what lurks in the darkest corners of a soul.’ Think that’s important? Did he have anything to do with the murders?”

“Yeah, actually, I wrote that down.” I flipped open my notebook and skimmed through the pages for my notes. Four, Five. I took a drink of my wine, setting it down and feeling good that no one called me out.

“Murder,” Jake said, head cocked, eyes drilling a hole through me. “That’s your word, isn’t it?”

“Ah crap,” I said. “You got me.”

“Nice job, Jake.”

I shot a slicing glare at Tristan. “Don’t side with the new guy,” I said.

Tristan looked like he was about to say something that likely would have had the entire table blushing, judging by the gleam in his eyes. But before he could get the words out, a shrill and piercing scream cut through the air, coming from the open window just over his shoulder. It was the kind of scream that could have only come from intense fear, born from a terror that instantly transferred to every single person in the room. It wasn’t a happy yell or an angry one or an excited one.

It was a horrified scream, and it made us all freeze in shared panic.

What was even worse? That it sounded like it came from right behind the front door.

4

JAKE PEREZ