Chapter 1887

Fiona flopped down onto the couch, grabbed her phone, and started up a game. Since Pearl still wasn't awake, they had some time to kill anyway-might as well take a breather while they waited.

It wasn't long before a police officer pushed open the door and found Fiona and the others hanging out in the hospital room. He went through the usual round of questions for Fiona, and after that, the room fell quiet. When another officer came by to collect the paperwork, the first cop took off his hat. That's when Fiona realized he was a guy.

Up until that moment, she'd honestly thought he was a woman.

The officer caught her surprised look and gave a small smile. "Did I scare you?"

Fiona shook her head, but she couldn't help glancing at his hands. They looked so much like a girl's-slender fingers, tiny knuckles, and skin that was almost porcelain-smooth. Nothing like any guy's hands she'd ever seen.

"It's not that you just surprised me, honestly. I was wondering why you look so much like a girl."

He didn't get offended at all. If anything, he seemed used to this kind of question, like he'd answered it a thousand times before.

"My body's just always been different," he said, almost casually. "I've spent most of my life living as a girl, so I guess it just became normal for me."

Fiona caught a flicker of sadness in his eyes. She could imagine how much he'd been through people staring, judging, refusing to accept anyone who wasn't like them.

After chatting a bit, Fiona lost interest and went back to her game. She'd barely finished a round when Nash called out-Pearl was awake.

Fiona put her phone away, shot to her feet, and hurried over to Pearl's bedside. Pearl looked paper-white her lips drained of color. With that wound on her back, she could barely move. Every tiny shift made her whole body tremble, like she was fighting not to tear her stitches open all over again.

"Ms. Pearl can you tell me what happened when you got hurt?" the male officer asked, standing beside her with a notepad and pen-though Fiona figured he was probably recording everything.

Pearl's story matched what Fiona and the others had already said no surprises, no contradictions.

Once they had her statement, the officer left.

Now it was just Fiona, Nash, Tyler, and Pearl in the room. Fiona took out the hidden knife and set it on the nightstand. Tyler stood at the door, ready in case anyone tried to come in.

"Pearl, I think you know this knife," Fiona said, pushing it closer so she could see. There was still dried blood on the blade-Pearl's blood, without a doubt.

Pearl's face went blank with shock. She stared at the knife, voice shaking. "Where did you get that?"

"The wound on your back came from this knife," Fiona said quietly. "The three of us are just students there's no way we could get something like this. I even checked around. This knife is made from a special alloy. You can only find it on the black market."

She paused, watching Pearl closely. "And even then, it's basically priceless.

Almost impossible to get."