Chapter 70

• By the time Ajax and Noémie exited police headquarters, the sun had already dipped below the horizon, leaving a mellow streak of red, orange, and yellow sketched across the endless sky. The air had turned warm to the touch, the distant honking of cars muffled to the ears.
• Pin-drop silence loomed like toxic air in the car as they drove back to old Halest Villa. Noémie couldn’t help but notice the tight expression stretched across Ajax’s face—the way his fingers were buckled on the steering wheel, his knuckles turning paler and paler.
• Since the moment they got out of the investigation room, he hadn’t uttered a single word. It worried Noémie to a great extent—so much so that she felt goosebumps prickle all over her body and a stifling feeling unfurl throughout her chest. Every second spent in the car had started to feel like a ticking bomb.