Abner had already made the call; his ride would be swinging by to pick him up shortly.

He had just finished a cigarette, a furrow creasing his brow. He didn't mind the cheap nicotine kick, but it always left a bitter

aftertaste in his mouth.

The sound of panicked voices drifted over to him, followed by the thudding footsteps of someone running in a frenzy.

"Queena, you gotta check this out, Phoebe just keeled over. She's in a bad way."

Pretending she was just hearing the news, Queena immediately dropped the axe she was holding.

Without giving Abner another glance, she bolted towards the commotion.

Abner kept his spot, puffing away. In his other hand, he fumbled with a match he'd nicked from the stove.

He sauntered toward the scene of the incident, only to find the cook who had given him the cigarette sobbing over a woman's

lifeless body.

The faces of the onlookers were grim; Queena had delivered the bleak news with a blunt, "She's a goner."

In just a short span, another life had slipped away—the gossipy Phoebe, of all people.

Murder wasn't a thought that crossed their minds; they simply couldn't fathom it. They chalked it up to a sudden, inexplicable

death.

a heavy sigh, urging the crowd to "grieve with

at the fringes, studying the pallor of the deceased woman. Her

type to just

was no doctor; he could only cast a suspicious glance towards Queena, who continued to console the

after

mourning Fabian, and now

soon and in

he'd investigate who had betrayed him. None

the area, noticing the absence

age to crave

his cane, Abner decided to head over to Tobias'

there, he spotted Tobias, huddled

kid was ghost-white, obviously scared out

"Tobias?"

made Tobias drop to

took a moment for Tobias to scramble

we heading

the boy's lips were bitten raw, a

the dead

"No, no, I just..."

who to tell. In a moment of mischief, he'd hidden away and accidentally

followed by Phoebe

cold and detached, nothing like her usual gentle demeanor when

stayed hidden, not

murder and

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