Free Particles of Obsession (A Shadow of Death Romantic Suspense Book 2) by Charlotte Raine

suspect someone who had been working with them had killed him, but I’ve been wrong before.
    She looks away. If she knows something, she’s not going to confront me. Alex’s father glances at me, but he doesn’t recognize me from anything.
    I came here to find out more about Alex—to see if his family knew more than his fraternity brothers, but now I feel like I’m a rat that has just taken the cheese off of the mouse trap.
    “Hello, Dr. Zimmer’s friend.”
    I turn around to see Dominic, Victoria’s boyfriend. Or at least, he was her boyfriend until Alex killed her.
    “Dominic,” I say. “I’m surprised to see you here.”
    “Why? Because Alex killed my girlfriend?” he asks. “Well…I suppose I should have known. He was acting weird for the last couple of months.”
    I straighten up. “Really? Do you know why?”
    “Perhaps because he’d begun his transformation into a homicidal maniac?” Dominic suggests.
    “No, I mean…did something happen in his life? Did he happen to meet someone that triggered him to change?”
    Dominic tilts his head. “Why are you so curious? He’s dead. It’s over.”
    “I just need to know. Come on, Dominic. You have to want to know the whole story. Why would he kill all those people?”
    Dominic rubs his bottom lip. “I can’t be certain. The way he was acting…I don’t know. He was always a fun guy, but I think he suffered from major depressive disorder. There was always a bit of sadness underneath his facade. But in the last couple of months, he seemed genuinely happy, and he’d take off and lie about where he was going. One of our brothers would ask where he went and he would tell us some bullshit story about his family or going to a bar. Why would he go to a bar alone? One time, he told us he was going to Blue Crystal bar, but Daniel was there that night and he said he never saw Alex. Something was going on, but it wasn’t our business to pry into it. Maybe he had joined a Satanic group or he had a boyfriend. We may never know.”
    I glance back over at his parents. It never really occurred to me that it could be a guy who was dating Alex and obsessed with Dr. Zimmer.
    “What do you know about Kiona?” I ask.
    “She was Victoria’s roommate. She’s a good woman. She’s not a violent person. I don’t know why she ran off with a gun, but…it’s certainly strange,” he says, frowning. “There’s something else going on, isn’t there? I’m not going to give you any more info until you tell me. My girlfriend was killed and if there’s more going on, I think I should know.”
    I shake my head. “I was just curious.”
    “A man doesn’t kill a bunch of students and, in the same frame of time that he’s killed, a female student doesn’t disappear with a gun,” he says. “Do you think Kiona killed Alex?”
    “It’s possible,” I admit. “Do you think she was attached enough to Victoria to want revenge?”
    “No,” he says. “They were only close to each other in the way roommates are close…They had to like each other to survive sleeping a few feet away from each other. She was upset at her funeral, certainly, but it’s not like she’s going to be wearing black all year.”
    Unless she’s dead and locked in a casket.
    He opens his mouth to say something else, but several people’s cell phones begin vibrating or ringing. He pulls his phone out and checks it.
    “Jesus H. Christ,” he mutters. “Not only is the campus on lockdown, now the whole downtown is.”
    “What?” I ask.
    He gestures to his phone before putting it back in his pocket. “Campus police just sent out a text to all students that we have to stay away from Costume Artillery,some costume shop on Main Street.”
    It feels like an anvil rammed into my chest. Costume Artillery is right beside my parent’s shop, Magician’s Suitcase. I leave the house so quickly that I can barely hear the echo of Dominic asking, “What the fuck is she doing?”

Chapter Six

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