Guilty by Proximity

's lights swept red and blue across the gravel lot. Hazel spent every one of those minutes standing three feet from Liam,

" Liam said eventuall

ould si

'm not the one

. She wrapped her arms arou

o say out loud. Hazel watched two officers string tape between the trees while a third one talked low into

over, or the one after that. Not here. Not to somebod

tion automatically, barely hearing herself, while over his shoulder, two more officers walked Liam towa

he asked, before she

r didn't a

ts own kind

t door, and Ethan was awake, sitting at the kitchen table with his

e call," he said. "You're

was the version he needed to hear right now, and s

old, then pulled her into a hug that she let happen without pulling away, which was rare enoug

leep?" she asked

studying her face like he was checking for dama

ton

but because he'd learned a long time ago that Hazel talked when she was ready and not one second befo

ing the flashlight beam and the shape on the gravel and Liam's cra

school the next morning

azel walked into a building that felt fundamentally different than it had felt yesterday, hallways thick with the particu

way. Murd

started. Not "the person who found him." Just his name, f

rticular, loud enough for half the hallway to hear. "Because of the mill vo

nything except a shape on the gravel and a boy's shaking hands, and even that she didn't fully trust herself to have gotten right in the

he usually sat looking entirely too pleased with himself, and it felt wrong in a way she wasn't

was, she jus

e rumors, somebody's older cousin who supposedly worked in the sheriff's office claiming Liam had been "brought in for q

less like a choice and more like the only option, everyone else's

a bag of chips onto the counter an

t the face

t fa

popped a chip in his mouth, watching her. "You want to talk about it, or

secon

oks like you lost a fight

oosened half a degree anyway, the specific relief of being around some

a with a puzzle that was missing at least four pieces, judgi

was talking to Hazel as a sheriff first and an aunt second, which didn't happen often, and which

m f

n, worn smoot

ting something on her end, maybe leaning back in a chair. "I've got a few questions, if you're up for

ka

ut there taking pict

a puzzle piece, turned it over twice, set it back down without finding

ant Dana was choosing her next words deliberately. "Hazel, this is important, and I

n my ba

ime-stamped photos, maybe something in the background you didn't even notice you were getting. That could m

, the puzzle piece f

hever's easier." Dana's voice softened, just slightly, the aunt bleeding back through the sheriff for a se

dn't ans

alled 911, not through any of it. It had been slung around her neck this whole day, sitting in her bag right n

ooked at a s