The Mindf*ck Series

Chapter 5

𝘍𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘥𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸.
- 𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘮 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘦

𝗟𝗢𝗚𝗔𝗡

“What do we know?” I ask Leonard, peeling the glove off.

“You mean besides the fact the sheriff is trying to get us the hell out of here? Not much.”

Johnson eyes me from across the room, pure hatred in his glare. I ignore him.

He knows I’m close to digging up hard evidence against him. It’s just a matter of time.

“I think that message was meant for you,” Leonard whispers as my eyes lift from the gory remains of Deputy Murdock.

My eyes flit up to the message he’s pointing out.

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺. 𝘠𝘦𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳.

𝘍𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶. <3

The little heart on the end is definitely a signature Lana used to leave for me. Apparently she’s going to personalize these kills now, even address them to me without using my name.

“I silenced her, so now she’s getting her words in,” I say quietly.

Leonard looks around, making sure no one is close enough to overhear.

“This is quite literally a ‘fuck you’ message. It’s not rage or even a threat to us. She’s just basically sounding like a true ex. People might do the math.”

“No one here knows Lana and I broke up. I told the others she went back home because I convinced her it wasn’t safe.”

“What happens when people see her in town?”

I lean back, surveying the damage to the neck of Judge Thomas. I doubt.it’s a coincidence his son came back to town today, and Lana decided to kill the father tonight.

“She won’t be seen,” I say absently. “Dev Thomas was there 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 night, and he seemed certain he’d been spared when he talked to us earlier. I think she paid him a visit when he arrived in town today.”

“Why?”

“To see why he was here.”

He looks confused, but I don’t want to talk in front of everyone.

“I shouldn’t be involving you in this and forcing you to—”

“You’re not forcing me to do anything,” Leonard says on a sigh. “Like I said, I get why she’s doing it. This town has been killing and torturing people for years, and no one even cared about it until her.”

I start to say something else, but Donny walks up, silencing our private conversation.

“So our unsub goes from quoting Voltaire to leaving a crude ‘fuck you’ message with a heart? Maybe you were right about it being a female, but why bother with the men’s boot prints if you’re going to leave a heart signature?”