“Riles!” Dante called out as we hurried past him. “What’s wrong? Where are you going?”

My breath sucked in with a harsh gasp, all that broken hearted betrayal I’d felt just moments ago slamming back into me.

“Evan,” Dylan snapped. “Deal with him. We’ll meet you there.”

We’d just reached Dylan’s car, and I gratefully slipped inside and slammed the door shut while Evan stepped in front of Dante and blocked him. I couldn’t deal with Dante. Not yet. Not when something was going down at Oscar’s grave and the pain was still so fresh.

She knows, Catherine.

His words echoed in my head, and I clenched my eyes tightly shut as Dylan gunned his engine and carried us away from that awful party.

30

Beck was alone when we arrived. He waited beside the wrought iron gates of the Jefferson Cemetery with his strong arms folded across his chest and his face like a thunderstorm.

“Where are the guys?” he demanded when only Dylan and I got out of the car.

“Coming,” Dylan replied, succinct as ever. “Council gone?”

Beck nodded. “Yeah, they saw all they needed to see. I didn’t want you all hearing this over the phone or from one of them, though.”

A chill traveled through me and I rubbed my arms. “That sounds ominous,” I murmured, and Beck just looked a bit … disturbed.

Seconds later, Jasper’s yellow Lambo pulled in behind Dylan, and both he and Evan hopped out.

“That was fast,” I commented, frowning. “Eddy okay?”

Jasper shot me a sly grin. “Uh, more than okay. She was tonsils deep in some preppy dick from Jefferson U and basically threatened me with castration if I tried to take her home.” He shrugged. “Guess she’s more like me than I realized.”

I rolled my eyes. “Fair enough. So long as she’s okay.” And not hooking up with Dante, that two faced, lying piece of shit.

“Come on,” Beck said, bringing our attention back to why we were all there. “You guys need to see something.”

He led the way into the dark graveyard, and I quickened my pace to catch up with him. Biting my lip to keep from babbling nervously, I wrapped my hand around his and snuggled into his side. Because, fuck, cemeteries were creepy at night.

Somewhere above us, an owl hooted, and I was embarrassed to admit a small squeak of fright slipped out of me. Beck chuckled softly before he tightened his grip on my fingers. His thumb stroked over the back of my hand, and I pushed all my focus into that touch, so I didn’t look at the shadow which could have easily been a zombie or vampire or something.

“Oh shit,” Evan breathed as we came to a stop, and I gaped.

I’d been so focused on the scary shit around the graveyard, I hadn’t noticed we’d arrived at Oscar’s plot. Or… what was left of it.

“What the fuck?” Jasper cursed, crouching down to take a better look. Not that he needed to get any closer. It was pretty fucking obvious from where I stood—someone had taken Oscar’s corpse.

“Who would do this?” I whispered in abject horror. The whole grave was dug up, dirt piled haphazardly on the neighboring plots, and the stained, silk lined coffin sat open.

Open and very empty.

“That’s what Delta wants to know,” Beck said softly, just barely hiding the grief all over his face. “That’s what I want to know. Why dig him up? Why now?”

“And what was in there?” Dylan added, pointing down at the small wooden box—also empty—which sat at the foot of the casket. “I don’t remember seeing that during the funeral.”

Jasper’s phone started playing Taylor Swift and everyone glared at him as he hurried to turn it off.

“Sorry,” he muttered, his cheeks flaming, “Eddy keeps changing her ringtone on my phone.”

Despite the current creepy situation, I couldn’t help but send out a bit of love for my fucked up best friend. Maybe the only person in my life not to betray me so far. It wouldn’t surprise me at this point, if my adopted parents were in on some nefarious scheme as well.

“Anyone else think it’s a pretty fucked up coincidence that the first time we visit Oscar’s grave since his death, it’s basically ransacked a few days later?” Evan asked as he paced around the open plot.

“First time?” I asked.

They all nodded. “We were here at the funeral, and then I’ve been back one more time,” Beck added. “But that was the first time we’ve all come together like that.”

“We weren’t dealing very well with it,” Dylan said softly, his voice filled with a dark anger that was even scarier than a cemetery at night.

And it had only been a few months, because Oscar died not long before my parents. Which was another fucked up coincidence I didn’t want to look at for too long.

“This has got to strengthen the murder argument, right?” I finally said, unable to look at the empty grave any longer. Instead I looked at my guys, right into each of their faces, letting that comfort me. “Someone came here for something. Taking whatever was in the box and the body, screams of a cover up. Someone didn’t want us to ever exhume his body, because there might have been evidence on it.”

No one laughed, or even offered up another plausible explanation; they all kind of seemed to agree with me.

“Is there any way to get the police investigation?” Dylan asked, turning to Beck. “I know you tried before, but we didn’t push very hard, because we weren’t sure there was anything to investigate.”

Beck’s eyes were that of a burning man. Furious. Hurting. Out of control.

“I let this slip through my fingers because I was too fucking afraid of what I might find,” he said softly. “But they didn’t let us have an open casket. The council declared that. So that police file might be the only place we get a good look at the body.”

Dylan nudged the box with his hands, only touching the very edge as he knocked it over. “I remember this from Oscar’s room,” he said. “He kept it on one of his shelves, I’m almost certain.”

It was definitely a memorable piece. Old and thick wood, with brass decals on the corners and in the center where it could press into a locking mechanism. At the moment it was open and filled with dirt, but there had to be something in there that was worth burying him with.