“Sorry, that was a terrible question,” she said quickly. “God. I can’t believe it. Do they know who did it?”
“I don’t know.”
“I heard it was a break-in. What were you doing there, anyway?”
“Picking something up.” I cut her a look. “Can we not talk about this?”
“Yeah, of course. I’m sorry. It’s just… after that guy was found in the woods last week—what was his name?”
“Carl.”
“Right.Crazy Carl.Two murders in one week. In Berry Springs. Unreal.” She shook her head and leaned in. “Also, I’m sorry I didn’t answer when you called last night. I was, um… kinda on a date.”
My eyebrows popped. “A date? With who?”
Right then, Cameron breezed through the door, coffee in hand, sporting a grin bigger than the hoops dangling from Zoey’s ears.
Zoey’s cheeks flushed. My brow arched.
Well. That answered that.
“What a beautiful day, huh?” Cameron announced.
Zoey and I stared at the gray, bleak sky out the window.
Cameron sipped his coffee, oblivious to the tension in the room.
“Someone was murdered last night,” Zoey deadpanned.
“Doesn’t mean it can’t be a nice morning.” He raised his mug—Thunder Cuntprinted across it in bold white letters.
I wrinkled my nose. “That mug’s wildly inappropriate for a professional setting.”
“Hey, my dad gave me this.”
“Explains a lot,” Zoey muttered.
Cameron balled up a food wrapper and lobbed it into the overflowing trash can. “Gross. Whose week is it to take that out?”
Zoey pointed at me. I pointed back at her.
“Fine,” she groaned. “It’s my week. Sorry I got distracted hearing about anothermurder.”
Theo appeared in the hallway just then, concern carved into his usually unreadable face. His gaze swept over us as he crossed the lobby in his usual brown, three-piece suit.
“You okay?” he asked.
“I’m okay. How doeseveryoneknow?”
“I ran into Tabitha after leaving Frank’s last night,” Zoey said. “She told me everything. I assume she told everyone everything.”
“Tabby-talks-a-lot strikes again.” Cameron mocked.
“Anything for a story,” Theo muttered. He looked at me. “Seriously, Rose. You can take the day off. I sent you an email—I'll cover anything you can’t reschedule.”
“I’m good. Really.”
“You sure?”
