Free Rebel Princess - Book 2 (The Hope Saga) by Chrissy Peebles Page A

years. That isn’t very long at all. Why don’t we just be good little girls and boy and wait it out? Think about it. If Brett goes with you, he’ll lose everything. He has parents, a sister, and countless other family. If you love him, how can you ask him to give them all up just to leave a little earlier with you?”
    I wrung my hands. “I’d have to wait three months after him, and you’d have to wait three months more,” I argued.
    “Time will fly, and we’ll be outta here in no time,” she said.
    “So…two more years and six months with a serial killer? Are you okay with that?”
    She lifted a finger. “I’ve got a solution for that too.”
    “Do we just sit around with our doors locked?” I asked. “Do I go after him and shoot him in the eye the way I nailed that orange in Carla’s hand?”
    She playfully punched my arm. “No, silly. We just…we gotta catch the killer ourselves.”
    “Uh…okay. But even if we catch the killer, that doesn’t do anything about the government keeping us down here in this aquarium when we both know the air is fine and dandy.”
    Rachel’s gaze drifted to Brett’s. “We’ve got ourselves a real rebel here, huh?”
    “Yeah, but she’s a rebel with a cause,” he said, stroking my hair. “Besides, rebels are usually sweaty men armed with machineguns. Sky’s more like Cinderella with this long, gorgeous, blonde hair of hers.”
    “Right. Just call me Rebel Princess.”
    “I like that a whole lot better than Seed Nerd or Garden Geek,” Brett said.
    “Carla’s an idiot for starting that,” Rachel said.
    “Look, if we’re gonna do this thing, we need to talk about it,” I said. ”I guess we’ll start with finding the strangler.”
    “It’d help if we had some forensics stuff down here,” Brett said.
    I blew out a breath. “I don’t think they were planning on needing that kind of stuff. Serial killers usually aren’t taken into consideration when they’re building a survival tank for the last remaining humans.”
    “Well, let’s just look at what we know. He’s committed three murders,” Rachel said, jotting down notes and making lists, something she loved to do. “All young women, strangled.”
    Brett decided it would be better to write his notes on the chalkboard that was hanging on Rachel’s wall. “He left no physical evidence at the scene—at least none we know of.”
    “Acts of violence don’t come out of nowhere,” I said. “There has to be a motive, even if it is a psychotic one.”
    “Who are the first suspects who come to mind?” Rachel asked. “List ‘em off the top of your head.”
    “Carla,” I snapped, “but 90 percent of killers are men.”
    “Carla definitely has anger issues, but is she really capable of murder?”
    Brett shook his head. “Nah, it isn’t her. Most serial killers come from unstable families and hate their parents. Carla has the most loving parents in the world, and she adores them.”
    Rachel cocked a brow. “So we’re looking at…a dysfunctional loner?”
    I shook my head. “Think about it. Nobody down here fits that description. We all live too close together. Nobody could be a reclusive social misfit in these close quarters. I can’t really think of any oddballs either. Whoever it is, they’re hiding in plain sight. It’s somebody we all know and love.”
    Rachel swallowed hard. “That’s scary.”
    “So he’s a psychopath who seems…normal,” Brett said. “I guess we just need to keep an eye out for a psycho who appears…normal,” Brett said.
    “Gee, that narrows it down,” Rachel said with an uneasy laugh.
    We spent hours discussing several ideas and all sorts of possible scenarios and situations. In the long run, we weren’t much closer to finding the killer, but I was glad we were at least able to talk about it.
     
    Chapter 12
     
    I lay on my bed and poured all of my thoughts out into my journal, and I was thankful for the opportunity to express my emotions. On those