✔Paint Me a Murder | Book 1

Chapter 28: When Murder Calls

Kazimir sucked in a deep breath before holding onto Emmett's hand tightly and climbing down into the narrow hole. A musty miasma embraced them the further they went down. Kazimir missed the chilly air above already. Only Emmett's phone provided them any light amid the constricting bunker, and Kazimir couldn't help but breathe heavier. He hated closed-in spaces.

The wind slammed the door behind them. Kazimir gasped, gripping Emmett's arm. His heart throbbed. His feet froze to the ground. The silence echoed louder than anything. His mind conjured the worst. Kazimir's trembling hands never let go of the gangster as he pressed his face against his jacket, breathing in his familiar fragrance.

"You good?" Emmett asked.

Kazimir took a couple deep breaths. "I'm okay. I think."

They stepped the remainder of the way inside. Gooseflesh checkered Kazimir's arms as he took in the tiny room. Emmett shined his light all around, exposing the hundreds of papers and artistic doodles on the walls. Kazimir recognized some of the handwriting and drawings from Samantha. An article pertaining to Hank's murder in the park caught his eye.

Samantha had cut the article out of a newspaper and taped it to the wall amid several others. Kazimir discovered photographs of all the gang members hung at the tip top. A painted red line traced them back to crimes that occurred in New Syracuse.

"Holy shit," Emmett murmured.

"What is all this?" Kazimir questioned, frowning.

"Almost every crime that was ever committed here in New Syracuse."

Kazimir squinted his eyes and retrieved his own cell phone to light up the article. Mal Wagoner was sentenced to six months in jail for drug possession. First offense. He found Mal's photograph right above it. Beside that article, he found another more shocking one. Mal's step-father beat another man to death in a local bar. He estimated Mal's age to be about ten at the time it occurred.

"She knows everything about you guys," Kazimir said. "I found Mal's here."

Emmett came over to look. "Oh damn. This is fucking frightening. It's like she's trying to figure out everything about us. Check out ours."

Kazimir swallowed hard. How much did she know about him?

When Kazimir read the articles she pinned up about him, he relaxed just the slightest. She'd only accused him of Hank's murder. That upset him, but at least that was all she had on him. Samantha used a photograph of him he hadn't remembered until laying eyes upon it. Jordy captured them downtown at the park on the swings. She didn't bother to cut herself out of the picture either.

He turned his attention to Emmett's wall of murder fame. Kazimir couldn't help but scroll through most of them, but a certain piece caught his eye. Luca Patterson's obituary article had been taped underneath Emmett's photo, the same one she'd shown him the day he created the graffiti art of the gang leader. A red line connected his photo to the article.

"Samantha really thinks you killed Luca." Kazimir gestured to the photo and newspaper clipping. "What about these other people? Did you...?" He couldn't finish the sentence. He didn't want to imagine the cruel acts of murder Emmett committed.

"I'm no saint, Kaz."

"So, you're saying you did kill these people?" Kazimir asked softly, taking a step away from him.

"Sometimes we've gotta do shit to survive. I'm not confessing to anything on this bitch's murder board either." Emmett ripped his photo off it. "You're not second guessing this, are you? You won't go to the cops, will you?"