Chapter 9 · The Voice in Kyle's Mouth

"Emma." Kyle's mouth moved but the voice wasn't his. "Emma, don't trust him."

I yanked the gun up, still aimed at the body on the floor. Kyle wasn't breathing. Blood pooled under his shoulder, spreading slow and dark across the cement.

"Mark?" Emma's voice cracked behind me. "What is that?"

"Stay back." I didn't turn. Kyle's chest wasn't moving. His eyes were open, fixed on nothing. Dead. He was dead.

But the voice kept coming.

"Emma, he killed me." Same cadence. Same soft rasp I'd heard on the security footage, the husband talking to his wife three hours before he died. David Roy's voice, coming out of Kyle West's corpse. "He's the one who set it up. He's the loop now."

"Shut up." I kicked Kyle's leg. No response. The body rocked, limp. "You're dead. Shut up."

"Mark, what the hell is happening?" Emma moved closer. I heard the scrape of her shoe on concrete.

"Don't." I stepped between her and Kyle. "Don't look at him."

"That's David." Her voice went thin. "That's my husband's voice."

"It's not. It's a recording, it's—" I stopped. Kyle's lips were moving. Slight, barely there, but moving.