IsabellaRose

Just ask your question. If you want to answer mine, it's the same for everyone: can I trust you?

Edmund Blackwood departed the hall without hurry and without looking back. He had extended the invitation as if it were the most natural thing in the world - his casino would be open, the night would continue elsewhere, and those who wished for calm could find it there. Then he was gone, the weight of his presence lifting from the stage like a pressure change. The shift was immediate. Deputy Boone straightened the moment Edmund’s back disappeared into the crowd. Boone’s shoulders rolled outward and his chin lifted again. He stepped down off of the stage proper, boots thudding against the steps, reclaiming space with a territorial ease that returned to him the instant true power vacated the room. “Right,” he said. He reached down and caught Millie under the arm, hauling her upright with a grip that was firm but not gentle. “Up you go,” he said, brushing dust from her sleeve with an unearned familiarity before releasing her. His eyes drifted toward Alicia again, lingering, but before he could leer properly, something caught his attention near the edge of the boards. Boone bent down. There, between scattered programs and a smear of drying blood lay a small, irregular fragment of metal. He picked it up slowly, turning it in his fingers. It was heavier than it looked, strange. It wasn't something from the theater, nor was it something he recognized. “Huh,” he muttered under his breath. From the far side of the hall, half-concealed in shadow, Willis Sloan saw it happen. He saw Boone lift the metal, saw him pocket it, knew that he didn't understand what he held. Willis’s face drained of what little color it had left. For a second he looked as though he might step forward, might say something, might claim it.... but instead, he did what he had already proven he was good at. He left. He slipped through the thinning crowd with a look that would have read as guilt to anyone watching closely. Boone never glanced up. Above them, the sound of boots scraped against metal and Billy’s voice rang down first. “Sheriff! There’s blood up here!” There was a pause, the scraping sound of something dragged across iron. “...and wires!” Carter called after him. “Whole mess of ‘em. Look like they was hooked to somethin’!” Billy leaned over the rail and spat the truth plainly into the hall. "Shit, Boone. Ain’t no ghost done this... they’s bloody footprints up here.” Boone’s jaw tightened. He looked from the catwalks to Kojo, then back to the stage as if seeing it for the first time. “All right,” he called upward. “Stay put. Don’t touch nothin’!” He turned to the three women gathered before him, Alicia streaked in blood, Missy steady, Millie shaken. “You all best clear out,” Boone said, jerking his chin toward the exit Edmund had taken. “Casino’s open. Least I know where to find you if I got questions.” He turned and his gaze settled on Kojo. “Not you.” He pointed toward the rigging overhead. “You know this theater. You’re stayin’. Maybe you can tell me what them wires was tied into.” The stage now felt like not only a crime scene, it felt like the beginning of something much worse. And somewhere beyond the hall, Jane Montgomery was being “protected” by Joshua Thane, out of sight, and very much unaccounted for...

"to hard cocks!"

awkward humor

Considered... guilty. Never even made it as far as vegetarian, though. The next person has a favorite meal that they love and could eat multiple times a week without complaint.

college sweetheart

We we need to cum to the truth?

clinks their glasses