Ardos, Cipher's Grand Master, is in jail. Over 20 years have passed since Snag Machines and the Purify Chamber were needed. A land where the sun outshines the gale of darkness seems too hostile for evil to thrive.
When two International Police offic...
The Nascott PD offices reeked of coffee. Harley greeted the International Police officers with a nod.
'We've found more unrecognised fingerprints at Mr. Hawthorn Faris... whatever his name is. The Champion's place. Looks like there were two attackers.'
'I guess there had to be... a 5'11" guy is gonna be heavy.'
'Yeah. And he was 172lbs when the docs weighed him. Our current guess for GoD is 168 – with the boots and helmet.'
'He's not GoD. He's genuinely distraught about Lavender. And even if he's going to time travel to come back to hospital... he's got to get out to do it in the first place. Not that I can really get my head around that... but we know Jamie hasn't left. He can hardly walk.'
'We've also finished analysing the heel prints on the rug. Lavender's killer was wearing women's shoes.'
'OK... I'm sure they gave one of their pro murderers that job. So that'll be Leucosia or Brynlee. We don't know Leucosia is an experienced killer, but the way she stabbed Elijah... she's done it before.'
'I also think Cipher must be behind those nasty headlines about the Champ. VCP, yeah, they're notorious. But it's not like the Phenac Tribune or the Pyrite Citizen to put anyone in that light. Let alone to gossip about a girl who's only just died.'
'What was this "last text" she sent? Just out of interest?'
'It was about selfies. Saying he couldn't get out of it that night, or something like that.'
'It's horrible to portray her as some shallow cheat, just because she enjoyed taking selfies. Jeez.'
'Yeah. I feel for the guy. They're already jumping on the post he's made. He can't do anything right.'
At the hospital, Laila felt the same way. Not only were people already criticising the post she encouraged Jamie to make, but Leucosia, who was already leaving insulting comments on Laila's posts, left a 'shrugging' emoji.
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'Who even is that?'
'It's one of those stupid "sirens." The Gallego twins.'
'I don't even know who they are... I'm just blocking her. That's someone no-one will stand up for, although... jeez. She has over a million followers! The fuck?'
'I'm gonna block her, too. She's already screenshotting my posts to mock me on her story, so I guess she'll keep doing that anyway, but whatever...'
Scarlet scrolled through Leucosia's feed. She never showed her face, but she did openly post photos of her lounging around the resort. Her followers believed she was a vaunted celebrity, because she was 'managed' by Wilmot and many of her photos were carefully staged to appear as if she travelled all over the world. Police had no reason to suspect one of many misleading 'influencers' was a member of Cipher, or even Theta's daughter, when even the International Police had no idea Cipher was alive and well. There was even less reason to suspect someone vaguely associated with Camden, but now every officer who saw it felt stupid. It was blatant.
