Monsters.
“Titus. That’s who,” Sticks barreled on. “If there was an opinion to be had on something, he had a loud, unpopular one. If he saw a news story about a color-blind kid seeing color for the first time, he’d bitch about society supporting the weak. When the neighbors put up a Black Lives Matter sign, he pissed on their grass and parked his pickup in front of their house with a Confederate flag flying from the tailgate before the whole thing got repossessed. If he thinks I’m paying for a funeral that no one’s going to come to, he’s a dumbass. He can rot at the morgue for all I care.”
Titus Strubinger sounded like a real dick.
Kellen reappeared in the doorway and waved her over.
“Well?” she asked.
“Our East Shore DB got a glitter bomb in the mail two weeks before her death. She opened it in the bedroom. Husband said it took the cleaning crew two days to get it all cleaned up. I’ve got a team headed over there now to bag and tag every speck of glitter they can find. Another one will be here soon to go through the crime scene.”
“Looks like your civilian consultant really pulled through,” Riley gloated.
“Yeah, yeah. You get a gold star. Guess what else?” he said.
“What?”
“Unless our pal Sticks went downstairs and collected them, our guy Titus is also missing some electronics. His phone and gaming consoles weren’t down there.”
“That doesn’t smell like a coincidence to me,” Riley prodded.
“Yeah, yeah. Good job,” he said with a grin. “We need that body.”
“Good news for you. Titus is still lying on a slab because Sticks didn’t claim his body.”
“Lucky for us.”
“We don’t have to, like, go pick him up ourselves, do we?” Riley asked.
“Yes, Cleo. We drive down to the morgue and just throw him in the back seat.”
“I think you’re being sarcastic right now, but I’m not totally sure. This is my first civilian consultant gig.”
“We’re not responsible for body transpo,” he promised.
“Thank God.”
Kellen turned his attention to the drummer drinking whiskey out of a coffee mug. “Sticks, do you know if your son kept the package from that glitter bomb?”
14
12:36 p.m., Friday, August 14
Nick yanked back the shower curtain, startling a scream out of Riley.
She beaned him with a bottle of conditioner. “What the hell are you doing scaring the crap out of me like that?” she demanded, dunking her head under the water to wash the soap out of her eyes.
His annoyance temporarily took a back seat to appreciation of his girlfriend’s wet, naked body.
“Stop staring at my boobs. You haven’t earned the right to appreciate them.”
“What the hell areyoudoing roaming all over the state, and why the fuck are you covered in glitter?”
“Dammit!” She groaned and scrubbed vigorously at her skin.
He reached in and shut off the water. “If you tell me you went undercover at some strip joint, I will—”
While he took a beat to think of a good threat, Riley stepped haughtily out of the tub. She snatched a towel off the hook and wrapped it under her armpits. She had flecks of glitter across her collarbones and on her chin. “What’ll you do? Tell yourmother?”
