Chapter 588

Conner forced his tired eyes open and glanced groggily at the clock atop the cardboard box that served as a nightstand beside his bed. His eyelids felt like sandpaper as he blinked to bring the blurred red digits into focus. It was just past seven. He groaned and pushed the sheet aside, feeling like he hadn’t slept at all, which was not far from the truth. After returning from the murder scene and his brush with the killer, he’d spent most of the night thinking and scribbling notes while his impressions were still fresh in his mind. Sometime after four o’clock, he finally dragged himself to bed, but even then sleep resisted him. Just one more hour in bed would be wonderful, but he had too much to do today.

He rolled slowly to the side of the bed, swinging his legs over the edge and pulling himself up into a sitting position. For a moment he just sat there, head slumped forward while he rubbed his heavy-lidded eyes with the heels of his hands, trying to clear