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.

out a heavy sigh, urging the crowd to "grieve

at the fringes, studying the pallor of the deceased woman. Her robust frame, borne of years

type to just drop

cast a suspicious glance towards Queena, who continued to console

after

already mourning Fabian, and now this family was struck

here soon and in three days' time, he'd be

who had betrayed him. None of

the area, noticing

to crave

on his cane, Abner decided to head over to Tobias'

he spotted Tobias, huddled and

ghost-white, obviously scared

"Tobias?"

Tobias drop to the ground like

Tobias to scramble back to his

we heading

face; the boy's lips were bitten raw, a clear sign

dead body

"No, no, I just..."

In a moment of mischief, he'd hidden away and accidentally witnessed Queena and Phoebe

argument, followed

nothing like her usual gentle demeanor when

had stayed hidden,

of murder and thought Phoebe

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