Hard Game by Linzvonc

Author:Linzvonc [Linzvonc]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-03-07T00:00:00+00:00

23

LAUREN

“She knew something, didn’t she?” Elijah strokes his chin and stares past me into the van that’s about to take the corpse of Zia Montague away.

My cheeks are numb from the cold, but I can’t move. Frustration and anger well within me, and I nod briskly when Elijah nudges me.

“Didn’t she?”

“Yes,” I grit out as my head begins to throb. It’s barely eleven in the morning, and I’ve already got a headache. “So we need to find out who she was and what she knew.”

Elijah frowns and sighs heavily. I know this case is weighing him down; it’s like Groundhog Day for both of us. The last case wasn’t solved, and the rate at which these bastards are killing people makes me wonder if we’re going to face the same fate. “She wasn’t a victim.”

I have to agree with him, or more so, the facts we’re presented with. Zia wasn’t malnourished or beaten—according to forensics. (Not Ellie this time, although I wish it were; she was present at the other scenes and would’ve known instantly if we were looking at the same killer/killers). Zia wasn’t injured other than her eyes and tongue, of course, which the killer/killers did while she was alive, no doubt. She had a job, working for the government of all places, and she had no large debts or a criminal record. According to her social media, she had a loving family and many friends.

Zia was a model citizen.

Of course, the social media Zia could all be utter bullshit, as people can be anyone they want to be online. But as I scroll through Elijah’s phone—mine is still charging—I see plenty of photos of Zia and her friends, and she looks happy and carefree in all of them. I stop when I recognize a face, pausing to suck in a breath.

“What?” Elijah peers down at the image on his phone and then back at me, perplexed. “What, Diess?”

I stare at the image and then glance up at Elijah, twisting the image to show him fully. “Does she look familiar to you?” I know who it is, but I need Elijah to confirm it.

He doesn’t waste much time, peering at the screen and then clearly relaxing his features as he says, “ Fuck, yes. It’s the woman who was with Moreno at the mall.”

My gut twists at the confirmation, and I wonder if it’s too late to change careers. Now I know my sister’s fate—I suck in a breath and close my eyes at the pain in my heart at the sheer thought of her, willing myself to breathe—is there any reason for me to continue seeking justice? Will I ever get it? Probably not, and is it worth it? Hunting these callous bastards down and throwing them in a jail cell for what? For another hundred copycats to crawl out of the shitholes they come from and replace them. I’ll be fighting a losing battle.

But you’re still fighting.

I vowed to fight for the girls and women who lost their voices, their lives, their dignity, and their self-respect.

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