***
Students float past me as I make my way to the loft area of the lunchroom. Most of the place is roped off for repairs, but I pick the locks and leave the gate ajar for Parker and Tomas. The two of them join me upstairs, the air between us tense as I hold up the card that Alex gave me last night.
“Fuck, is that blood?” Tomas asks while pointing to the bloody fingerprint on the corner. “Jesus.”
“Yeah, we’re going to need more than Jesus here,” I comment. “This is serious, boys. Alex found this card on Lev after he was stabbed.”
Parker looks floored when he snatches the card and holds it up to his face. He growls while arching a brow in my direction. “You’re fucking lying. There’s no way.”
“Well, it’s fucking true,” I retort.
Tomas grabs the card and holds the clean end of it. “Goddamn, that’s probably Lev’s fingerprint there.” He squints and then blinks rapidly while focusing on Parker. “Jesus, what the fuck were you thinking, man?”
“Seems like something you would do,” Parker accuses. “Or did you have one of your fucking druggie friends do it?”
“Excuse the fuck out of you.”
I groan and hold up my hands. “All right, shut the fuck up, both of you.” They glare at me but relent, allowing me time to ask Parker, “Did you fucking do it?”
“No, you idiot.” He grits his teeth and adds, “And I fucking resent the implication, considering you’re staying with me.”
I shrug. “I just had to ask, okay?”
“I didn’t always get along with Lev, but it had more to do with our families than anything,” Parker admits. “It was never personal.”
“Yeah, I know,” I tell him. I pluck the card from Tomas’s fingers and study it carefully. “This is just…”
“Fucked up?” Tomas asks. “Weird? Literally goddamn terrifying?”
I sigh. “Try all of the above.”
“Does Alex think I’m involved?” Parker asks. “I mean…” He scrapes his fingers through his hair and shrugs. “Just tell me.”
“It looks that way, so we better figure out who did this,” I reply. And then I resolutely shove the card into my wallet. “For the sake of us all.”