I wanted to believe what Graham had told me. It was neater, simpler, nicer. He hadn’t made it sound like I’d be a slave, subject to the death penalty if I couldn’t get something done. Plus, he’d made it sound like we did something noble, protecting humanity from monsters.

But maybe his story was too good to be true. Shouldn’t I be more suspicious of the nice story than the horrible one? And just a couple hours ago, I’d decided I didn’t trust Graham’s romantic interest. That resonated with what Kara said.

Jesus, had he really seduced her when she was fifteen? That would be rape.

But suspicion of Graham was one thing. Throwing in with these people was another. Especially Williams. My tendency was to think that any side he was on was the wrong one. At least Graham had never hurt me.

But had he hurt Kara? It seemed like something had damaged her. The hair, tats, and piercings said “badass,” but her body language said “broken.” She reminded me of Callie, in a way, even though one woman was a conservative Christian adult and the other was a rebellious teen.

I looked down at the long, weedy grass in front of me.

I wasn’t sure. I just wasn’t sure.

I made a noise to attract Kara’s attention, then jerked my head, trying to tell her I wanted the gag removed. She looked at Williams.

He said, “No screaming or running, Ryder,” without looking up.

Nervously, Kara came over and cut the gag off me.

“I don’t know who to believe.”

“Yeah, I know,” she said, looking discouraged.

“Do you have any evidence? Anything concrete?”

Kara shook her head, looking miserable.

Williams said, “Ryzik put the hit out on Bob.”

I turned to look at him. He was still studying his hands.

“Abominable snowman Bob?” I said. “At the cemetery?”

Bob who was pining after a girl.

“Yup.”

I felt cold. “Why would Graham want to kill Bob? He’s so nice.”

Then Williams did look at me. His stare was icy. “Dozens of humans saw his foot. Think you were there.”

“But … how could he have known he’d show up in my picture? It was just an accident.”

“That’s just like I said, Beth,” Kara chimed in. “The point is to keep the S-Em secret. That’s all they care about. They send us to take out anyone who creates a risk of discovery, human, Nolander, or Second. It doesn’t matter how or why.”

I said, more to myself than to them, “I don’t know that Bob’s dead.”

Bob the bagel monster.

Williams said, “Want to see him?”

Then I knew where Bob was and who had put him there. Oh god. I put my head down on my knees, fighting back nausea at the memory of the place.