Day 9

Chapter 6-2

"Scott Savage is dead!" said the heavyset girl in the Leif Willow t-shirt. Tears poured from her eyes, dragging mascara down her face. "He's dead."

Quincy, who'd charged into the hall after the scream, clutched the girl's shoulders. "Are you sure? Where did it happen?"

"In the men's room." The girl pointed toward the men's bathroom down the hall, where a crowd had gathered. "Leon just found him!"

Arriving paramedics caught Dunne's eye as they hurried down a flight of stairs. By the time Dunne looked for Hannahlee again, she was gone.

Guessing she'd headed for the crime scene, Dunne rushed past Quincy into the crowd. People cried out as he pushed his way through...and then, someone stopped him. A hairless giant who was bigger than Quincy—big as a barn—squared his shoulders and wouldn't let Dunne pass him. Whichever way Dunne moved, the giant moved, too.

Finally, Dunne stopped moving. "I'm with Halcyon Studios," he said. "I have to get in there."

"Me, too." The giant sneered over his shoulder.

Dunne swallowed hard. He wished he could move Obstacle Guy out of his way with physical force...but some things never changed, as much as he would've liked them to.

He still didn't have any guts.

Dunne scooted away from the giant through the crowd, then angled toward the middle when the giant could no longer reach him.

The people in the front row were highly annoyed when Dunne tried to squeeze between them, but they gave way. Dunne found himself looking down at the backs of paramedics huddled over a bloody body on the gray carpeted floor.

Dunne recognized the clothes on the body before he got a look at the face: pale blue madras shirt, white chinos, huarache sandals.

When the paramedics stopped working and leaned back, shaking their heads, he saw that the screaming girl had been right. It was Scott Savage.

Leif Willow was dead.

And that wasn't all. Savage's throat was torn open from one side to the other, leaving a gaping, gruesome gash. It didn't look to Dunne like the kind of wound you could get by accident in the bathroom.

Who did this?" Dunne looked up at the sound of Hannahlee's voice. She was standing on the other side of the crowd. "Who killed him?"

"Who knows?" One of the paramedics hiked a thumb toward the men's room. "But they did leave a note."

Without another word, Hannahlee shot into the men's room. Dunne charged after her, ignoring the voices in the crowd that shouted at him not to contaminate the crime scene.

Inside, Dunne saw Hannahlee standing at the sinks, staring up at the mirror. As he joined her, he saw that someone had scrawled a message in blood on the glass.

ALL THE "WILLOWS" & THEIR FATHER WILL DIE BEFORE 30.