Edge of Madness (Edge of Collapse, #2)

by Kyla Stone

His friend and fellow Fall Creek police officer, Julian Sinclair,

nearby counties had reported a handful of disturbing murders over the last several years.

So Pike was busy, busy...

All found with dozens of broken bones.

He always took December 24th off, no matter what.

She looked familiar. They both did.

“I know her,” Milo whispered. “The blue girl. She lives at the end of our street, Dad. I see her getting in and out of a car sometimes. Or mowing the lawn in summer.”

“She’s a Riley,”

Octavia Riley, was a troublemaker.

Some sixteenth birthday this was turning out to be.

She splurged on other things, like her next meth fix and her crackhead boyfriend, Ray Shultz.

About a month after Milo had started kindergarten three years ago, he’d started complaining of stomach aches, lost his appetite, and was too tired to play with his friends at school. Then dark patches on his elbows, knees, and the back of his neck had appeared.

Addison’s disease.

Rosamond Sinclair, Fall Creek Township superintendent, had been vocal in her support of Noah’s innocence. Her faith in him had never wavered. Chief Briggs had eventually believed in him, too. Over time, the town’s suspicions had faded.

Fall Creek was governed as a charter township, with a board of trustees who served on the township council. Rosamond Sinclair, Julian’s mother, was the township superintendent; she acted like a mayor, though that wasn’t her official title.

Rosamond was a careful, precise woman. Nothing was ever said carelessly. Every item of clothing, every gesture and mood calibrated, deliberately chosen.

he seemed to always be around, whispering in his mother’s ear, skulking in the shadows, smiling that silky fake smile of his.

Noah had never liked the guy. Not since high school, when there were rumors that he’d sprained that girl’s arm on a date gone wrong. Noah had never been able to pin anything on him, much as he’d wanted to.

“The federal EMP commission predicted up to 90 percent of the population would die off within a year.”

“A Faraday cage,” Jamal piped up. “A Faraday shield is an enclosure used to block electromagnetic fields, usually made with a continuous or mesh covering of conductive material.”

Noah would forever be grateful to her for the way she’d always included him as one of the boys. As if he was really one of her sons and not just some stray tagalong.

He’d tried to like Gavin Pike for her sake.

There was just something about him that rubbed Noah the wrong way. He’d never really been able to put a finger on it, or articulate wh...

Gavin was easy to ignore. He was just this quiet guy in the background. He was Rosamond’s favorite, which Julian had always re...

“Some of you know my second cousin, Mattias Sutter, commander of the Volunteer Militia Brigade of Southwest Michigan up near Allegan.

“Technically, they broke off from the Michigan Militia last year and formed their own brigade.”

“Not sure if we want men we don’t know with guns and the run of the town,” Annette King said. “Sounds like a recipe for trouble, you ask me.”

Julian never could think clearly when he was mad.

Noah’s own guilt descended upon him, stifling and oppressive. “We couldn’t have known they would escalate like this. We didn’t know.”

Julian didn’t answer.

It was senseless. Unfathomable. There could never be a reason that could possibly encompass such an atrocity. The things people did to each other. The evil humanity was capable of inflicting.

Why did anyone need to believe in a devil when humans were evil enough?

Nickel’s unfocused eyes narrowed. “Hey! I—”

“On the ground!” Julian shouted “Now!” Nickel lunged for the weapon, simultaneously reaching behind his back.

For an instant, he thought he’d pulled the trigger himself. His finger was still resting on the trigger guard.

It was Julian. Julian had fired at Nickel.

“You shot me?” Nickel asked, questioning, like he was so stunned this was happening to him, he wasn’t su...

Julian rushed forward and kicked Nickel in the chest. The man to...

But still, that faint, unsettled feeling niggled his gut. That voice whispering in his head. The first shot had been legit. The second one, though . . .

His eyes took in what he was desperate not to see. The suspect lying down, weaponless.

This was the point-blank assassination of an unarmed suspect.

In his strong, steady arms, he cradled his family. Kind, beautiful Daphne. Spirited Juniper. Spunky little Chloe. All of them, dead.

It was three hours before Bishop spoke a word.

No one had touched Bishop or tried to pry his family from his arms. Bishop had allowed Noah to cover their bodies with blankets. That was all.

“I don’t know.” He shook his head, brows furrowed in confusion, like he was trying to figure out the pieces of a huge and incredibly complex puzzle, trying and failing to fit them together. “There is no gold. There is no safe. There never was.”

“You’re better than that, Sheridan. ‘Be harmless as doves, but wise as serpents.’ I preach trust, compassion, and offering the benefit of the doubt. But this is too much to swallow, even for me. Even for you.”

“There are rumors. Some of the people in this town have skeletons in their closet. More than one.”

“Someone always profits from atrocity,” Bishop said. “Who profits here, Noah?”

“Keep your eyes open, my friend. The devil is a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And he is not always who you think.”

“This is—this is hydrocortisone. Milo’s medication.”

“Robert Vinson said the pharmacy was out.”