The Key Chased the Blade

"Excuse me?" I shot my head around. "What's going on? Are you being hunted by something?"

Rhode gripped her ankles. Her big hands squeezed the leather on her boots. "I know I am. I think I could trust you by telling you this."

"Of course you can trust me," I said. "What's going on?"

Rhode set her jaw. Her body was tense. "I don't want to tell you all of it, but..." Then she changed her mind. "I don't want you say anything about this."

"I won't tell anyone." I would, though. I was going to tell Simon anything I heard that would be useful for finding the murderer.

"Okay." Rhode swallowed. "Noah... What would you do if you thought you were doing something right and someone tries to stop you? What if that thing hunts you down? Would you hurt them to try to stop them?"

"If they were trying to hurt me." I stared at her. This was making a huge turnaround from what Simon and I'd been thinking over. Something was hunting Rhode now. Why hadn't I thought of this? She was connected to John, who was connected to Sadie, who was... Jesus Christ. "Have you gone to the police about this?"

She didn't say anything. A wry, crocodile smile twisted onto her face and she laughed bitterly. "Thanks for that answer, Noah. I want to know that's a logical approach someone else would take if I were to get into a fight."

"Jesus, Rhode, you need to go to the police about this," I said. My heart started to pound. "Look, I'll go get Rico and he can take us to the police station. Is that okay? You can tell them everything that's been happening to you."

Rhode shook her head, still smiling. "It's alright."

"No it's not." I had a feeling that something had snapped in her. This wasn't like Rhode. "Look, just stay here and I'll go get my brother. Wait here and I'll be back in a bit."

I somehow found the strength to stagger to my feet. Rhode just chuckled. Her laugh sent chills running up my spine. "You know, one thing leads to another," she said. "By the way, your brother and I already talked. It's going to be fine."

"What do you mean?" I asked breathlessly.

She didn't answer. But then Rhode said, "Your brother said that you should probably give that key back. I'd leave it on the swing-set where John died, if I were you."

That was when I ran.