The Trouble with Trying to Date a Murderer (Murder Sprees and Mute Decrees #1)

by Jennifer Cody

When I get out onto the sidewalk, I’m standing in front of a clothing boutique with evening dresses on the mannequins in the windows. Curious how a clothier managed to get on Fox’s radar, I enter the store. Since this is only my second job, I project confidence as I walk over to and behind the cash desk, leaning up against the wall as the woman standing at the register turns wide, frightened eyes on me and runs straight out the door. Two customers follow her out, leaving me with just one woman eyeing me in confusion and a short man staring at me in terror. “Who—who—who?” he stammers, but it doesn’t really matter, does it? Fox is only going to kill whoever needs to die. Wow. I should probably do some belly button staring to figure out where my moral compass went. Who just stands around waiting for someone to come kill a person? Me. That’s who. Well, and I guess the lady who’s walking toward me with a dress on a hanger. She rounds the cash desk and leans up against the wall with me. The man stares at us, frozen in place until the bell above the door announces Fox’s arrival, then he squeals like a stuck pig and pees himself. Fox barely glances at him, heading into the back of the store. I hear two gunshots then a couple of loud thumps, then Fox comes out, not even a little bloody. He jerks his head at me, and we exit the store to the soundtrack of the man’s whimpers and the woman saying, “Yeah, he’s definitely the perfect Harbinger for Fox.” Whatever that means.