Battle of the Killers

21 | His True Colors

EYES WIDENING, TIRAN LOOKED LIKE he was about to faint. "Umm...I-I-I..."

I don't think he expected me to find her. Neither did anyone else. Varies expressions of disdain were pointed toward Tiran while surprise and anger got pointed my way. The anger was mostly from Gmie.

"Liza was found dead near the bushes outside the student apartments," I said, holding Tiran's frightened gaze. "She was found half-naked with signs of sexual assault. DNA was found, but they could never find a match. The ME said she died from severe respiratory depression that led to respiratory failure because the high roofie dosage interacted with her anti-depressants. Her case is still unsolved to this day."

Khan folded his arms over his chest. "What's the narrative?"

"Police think she got drugged at the library because that was her last location. Once she was drugged, she was led away and probably passed out near the apartments," I said, looking down at the news article on her death. "And then she was sexually assaulted. They said she probably died before or during the assault."

Chi wrinkled her nose. "You're a straight-up perv! I knew I caught you staring at me — thank god, I was never alone with you."

Yaz narrowed her eyes, pushing her glasses upward. "You're fucking disgusting."

"T-th-this is all l-lies," Tiran spluttered, looking around for someone to believe him.

No one did.

I shrugged. "Fine. If I'm lying, then show us your keychain. If it doesn't say, 'Rapist' on it, then I'm wrong."

Tiran swung his head at me, eyes blazing. "I don't have to show you nothing, bitch." Then he growled, fist clenching like he was about to attack me.

Bring it on.

But Rucker gripped the scrawny kid and tossed him into the wall. Hard. Tiran let out a loud ouf, but Rucker ignored him, ruffling through his pockets until he came back with the keychain.

On the end of the keychain hung a large charm that spelled out "RAPIST" in all red caps.

Rucker bitch slapped Tiran, causing him to ricochet back into the wall like a sack of flour. "So you like to drug chicks and rape them? You're a fucking sicko."

Tiran stumbled to his feet, continuing to stagger around until the wall helped him steady himself. Thick droplets of blood gushed from his nose. His thin fingers tried to stop the flow as he glared at Rucker. "Fuck you. Rape is not worse than murder. You're a sadistic psycho."

I stared at Tiran in disbelief. "You raped and murdered Liza. No, you didn't kill her on purpose, but your sick actions still did the trick. No matter how you spin it, you murdered her."

Tiran glowered at me, holding his nose. "It was an accident! I didn't mean to-to k-kill her."

"Then why did you rape her? When she passed out, why didn't you call the police?" I asked him, wanting a genuine answer.