Chad’s nod was jerky, unnatural.He turned around to face Romeo.“It’s just...”
“Just what?”
“Barry the Buzzman.”Chad leaned against the kitchen table.“I remember the name and have this vague feeling I met him to buy drugs.”
Barry the ...oh.
“I was angry with you when you told me you were off to meet a drug dealer,” Romeo let a slither of that anger show.“It was stupid.”
“What was I buying?”
“Chloroform.”
“Chloroform,” Chad echoed, he rubbed his brow, “Why chloroform?”
“It wasn’t for personal use.It was for a case.Chloroform was being used to kill the victims.”
“Josh told me about that one.”
Romeo nodded.“You wanted to meet with Barry the Buzzman to find out who was supplying him and whether his supplier was connected to the murders.”
Chad’s eyes widened.“The fridges.The huge fridges.They were making a new club—”
“Goddess.”
“—ripping out the fridges and freezers.That’s where the killer was getting the mass quantities of chloroform, from those old units.He was using his car to kill them.”
Romeo nodded.“Barry helped you solve the case.He pointed you in the right direction.”
“Tate,” Chad’s face fell.“It was Tate.”
“It was Tate.”Romeo agreed.
“I didn’t save him.I didn’t get him out of the car—”
“You saved his brother Shawn.”
“I should’ve done more.”
Romeo got to his feet.“You feel that about every case you’ve ever worked on.You’ve never been satisfied with the result because you hold yourself up to impossible standards.”
“Why?”
“You don’t feel worthy of a life.You never have and think you can prove to yourself, and others that you are, but you set yourself up to fail.You can’t stop every murder.You can’t save everybody.”
“Is that why I did it?Because I can never ...win.”
“Wewin.Every time.”
Chad’s brow folded.“Except against Vincent Whitehall.”
Romeo bit the inside of his cheek.
“Maybe that’s why then.I thought we were invincible and found out we weren’t.”
Romeo didn’t reply.
Chad lifted the box with the clippers.“I better go put this away.”
