Rachel watched as the local coroner, accompanied by a few somber-faced deputies, gently moved Jackson's body onto a stretcher.

The air was thick with the scent of pine and tragedy as the coroner began his grim examination.

Abner, his face shadowed by the brim of his baseball cap, spoke up from the sidelines. "Check Phoebe too, will ya? Maybe there's

something fishy about her death as well."

Rachel shot him a glance, her green eyes sharp, but this tshe didn't object.

The results cback faster than anyone expected: both deaths were eerily similar, a fatal puncture to the brain with a sharp

needle.

Tobias, pale as the moon and only eleven years old, suddenly choked on his tears, his voice breaking the heavy silence. "It was

Queena. I saw her touch Phoebe's head, and then she just fell over. Queena's the killer."

His words were met with immediate disbelief. After all, Queena wasn't just anyone; she was the town's sole doctor, a woman of

education who had studied abroad.

Voices rose up in protest.

"Cut the kid sslack, he doesn't know what he's saying. Queena just treated his dad's injury last week!"

"Yeah, and why would she harm your dad, kiddo? They had no beef."

"Tobias, you're heartless! Has Queena ever been anything but kind to you?"

Tobias shrank back, suddenly unsure. It was true, Queena had always been good to him. But ever since Phoebe's incident, he'd

grown afraid of her.

Rachel, sensing the shift in the crowd, raised her hand for silence. Her gaze swept over the townsfolk. "Where's Queena?"

was nowhere to be found. Hadn't she

house, only to find it empty, the doctor gone without

turned stone-cold; a suspect on the run often meant

police, rallying everyone to join the

Queena missing.

county, taking

injections and was oblivious to the world around

icy as she drove. She had seized the opportunity to

taking the keys.

thoughts were singular: lan belonged to her,

of the bus driver's body in a drainage ditch, further

to pursue by car,

a moment before leading her

stack of cash amounting to ten thousand dollars

own crew.

took off,

where to hide lan, drove aimlessly towards

leaving her no choice. She forced open lan's mouth, pushing a pill down his throat, then slit

blood.

at the county's toll

to hand Queena over to

the bus.

the person Queena was so intent on hiding. When he saw lan's face, he couldn't believe

had

still searching

Abner made

"Abner?"

"We've found lan."

"Oh, what?"

to Greenfield, but his condition doesn't look good. I've got Queena too; her story seems

even sure who Queena was. He was impatient to

bring them

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