“Where were you when the victim was found?”

A college dorm party was the last place Briar expected to find himself at one in the morning, but there was he was. To be honest, he’d rather be anywhere than in a room filled with dumb, drunk—and likely traumatized—kids. It was too damn early for that…

The sound of the detective’s pen scratching against his notepad was the only sound that seemed to fill the otherwise hushed atmosphere. Briar could only imagine the horror that was running through their veins, the pure disbelief at the situation at hand. He’d seen it so many times before, too many time

“And, remind me, what was your name?” As he finally took a moment to stop writing, Briar focused his gaze on you. The bags under his eyes spoke volumes, not to mention the raspy tone of his voice. The man was barely awake, trying to comprehend the fact that he was dealing with a potential murder

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to help, of course; he just really needed a cup of coffee…