Chapter 2

To prevent us from influencing each other's statements, we were taken into separate interview rooms.

The detective assigned to question me was Adrian Morgan.

He was around forty, composed, his eyes sharp. He pushed a cup of water toward me.

"Start from the beginning. What exactly happened between you and Vanessa?"

I told him everything.

Vanessa taking my phone. The private photos she used to threaten me. The forced transfer.

And the Reaper's Debt.

Morgan did not interrupt once.

Only after I finished did he slowly lean back in his chair.

"So you're saying anyone who borrows money from you and doesn't return it within three days dies?"

"I don't want them to die. It's a curse."

"What's the curse called?"

"The Reaper's Debt."

He pinched the bridge of his nose.

"We're investigating a murder, Nora. I need facts, not a ghost story."

"I am telling you the facts. I didn't kill Vanessa."

His tone suddenly hardened.

"A twenty-year-old girl had her face destroyed and was dumped in a lake. Before she disappeared, you told her she would die if she didn't pay you back within three days. Now she's dead. How do you expect me to understand that?"

I did not know how to make him believe me, so I told him about the three deaths from before.

Ethan drowned. Madison died suddenly. Caleb suffocated from an allergic reaction.

All three cases had been ruled accidents.

All three had happened on the third day after they borrowed money from me.

"That's why, after high school, I never lent money to anyone again."

Morgan stared at me.

"If you knew what could happen, why did you give Vanessa the money?"

I broke down and clutched my head.

"I didn't have a choice! She filmed me without my consent and threatened me with the pictures. You can check her phone."

Just then, an officer knocked and stepped inside.

"The body has been recovered. The medical examiner wants you there."

Morgan stood and had me brought along to confirm the identity.

The central lake was crowded with students.The body lay on a silver waterproof sheet, the black body bag already unzipped.I looked only once before my stomach turned violently.

The dead woman's face had been severely damaged. Her long hair was tangled with lake weeds. Her skin had swollen pale from the water.

The female medical examiner crouched beside the body.

"Preliminary time of death is more than forty-eight hours ago. The facial damage may have occurred after death, or during the agonal stage. We'll know more after a full autopsy."

I swallowed without meaning to.

Morgan noticed immediately.

"You're nervous."

"I'm scared."

"Scared of the body? Or scared we'll find something?"

At that moment, the medical examiner suddenly looked up.

"There's something here."

Using tweezers, she removed a clear waterproof pouch from the inside of the body's jacket.

The pouch had been sealed tightly. Inside was a cream-colored envelope.

Half an hour later, the envelope was delivered to the station as evidence.

Morgan put on gloves and opened it in front of me.

There was only one sheet of paper inside.

The first line was in Vanessa's handwriting.

If I die, investigate Nora Sinclair.

Before I could read the rest, Morgan folded the paper away.

"Nora Sinclair, from this moment on, you are no longer just a witness.You are being formally detained on suspicion of murdering Vanessa Reed."

The interrogation room lights were much harsher than the interview room's.

My hands were restrained on the table. Morgan spread the letter in front of me.

"Vanessa wrote that ever since she took your money, she felt someone following her. She dreamed of a person in a black robe standing beside her bed. She also kept having impulses to jump into the lake."

He tapped the paper with one finger.

"You're majoring in behavioral science. Nearly all of your psychology grades are As. Is it possible you used long-term suggestion to push her toward death?"

I almost laughed from anger.

"If I were that powerful, why would I let her leave behind a letter pointing straight at me?"

Silence fell over the interrogation room.

Then, from outside the door, came a shrill cry.

"Vanessa! My daughter!"

A woman was screaming in the hallway.

"You've already caught the murderer! Why do you still have to touch her body? I won't allow an autopsy! I want to take my daughter home whole!"

Morgan frowned.

Then he suddenly looked at me again.

"You say the curse is real, right?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll test it myself."

I froze, but I understood what he intended.

"Lend me twenty dollars. I'll write you an IOU and refuse to pay you back for three days."

"No!"

"Why not?"

"You'll die."

"I don't believe in the Reaper." His voice was calm. "And for the next three days, I'll stay in the station with paramedics on standby. If something happens to me, your story holds up. If nothing happens, then you must admit someone used this so-called curse to kill Vanessa."

I shook my head wildly.

But Morgan had already written the IOU and signed his name.

"This is your chance to prove you're innocent."

In the end, I could only reach into my pocket with trembling fingers, take out twenty dollars in cash, and hand it to him.

Morgan accepted the money and said quietly, "The clock starts now."