The Becoming of Noah Shaw (The Shaw Confessions Book 1)

THE LAST CONSCIOUS THOUGHT THAT Stella has, that I can hear, is

Your move

It’s stunning, watching the river swallow her body. The closest person to her, proximity-wise, was Mara. But I was the one she was thinking about as her neck broke. A white sear of pain and then, nothing.

I hadn’t noticed that dawn had risen, that it was morning, until now. The police are back in motion, talking to us, coming toward us, and Jamie’s in gear, leading the way with Leo. The illusion’s broken, Daniel and Goose are by my side. Goose is leaning on to the rail, weakest of all of us. “Drained” would be a better word, I suppose. I twist back, looking for Mara, but the only person I see behind us is Sophie. She’s crying, silently.

“Have you seen Mara?” I ask her.Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

She looks up at me through dark blond lashes. “She left as soon as soon as Stella . . .”

“The cops are going to want to talk to all of us,” Daniel says. “There are cameras on the bridge, not to mention the helicopters—”

“Did any of them get audio, do you think?” I want to replay what just happened. Make sure my own memory is untainted.

“Who cares?” Leo turns, faces me. “Who the fuck cares?”

“We all should,” Daniel says, though not for the reason I expect. “Especially us, seeing as we’re eighteen.”

“And that’s relevant why?” Leo asks.

“Because it means we can be questioned without a guardian present,” Daniel says flatly. “Because we can be charged as adults.”

“Charged for what? She committed suicide,” Sophie says quietly. “No one’s going to be arrested for murder.”

“Even though one of us should be,” Leo says. He turns his assholic stare on me as Mara’s not here.

“Shut up,” I say as Jamie talks us past one of the cops, but I don’t say it out of anger. I stop at the railing, threading my fingers through the fence. A boat arcs through the river, its wake curving like a smile.

Beneath the cars, beneath the trains, beneath the voices and sounds of every living thing in New York—

Beneath the water, there’s a heartbeat.