The murder archives sat in plain sight on the bedroom bookshelf. Kit perched on the unmade bed as Holden pulled out a dozen binders and notebooks. He spread them on the floor in a clearly deliberate order.
Darius loomed from the bedroom doorway instead of the kitchen doorway now. He appeared to be looking at his phone, but Kit would bet his attention covered the entire apartment.
“Your murder archives just sit out there?” Kit asked doubtfully.
Holden waved a battered composition book. “Things look more normal when you don’t hide them.”
“Which is why the buckets, gloves, and bleach were under the sink,” Darius commented.
“Right, and the scalpels usually stay in the first aid kit.” Holden set the composition book on the rightmost stack. His face warmed when he looked at Kit—and he winked. “Guess where I kept the cuffs.”
Kit rubbed his wrist, not missing the way both men’s attention narrowed in on the movement. He tried to follow Holden’s train of thought. “Shoebox under the bed.”
Holden’s grin widened. “You’re as brilliant as you are beautiful, darling. What else was in the box?”
“Lube,” Kit guessed.
“And condoms,” Darius added, as his fingers moved on his phone screen.
Holden kept beaming at Kit, ignoring Darius. “This is the last of them. Do you want to look?”
Curiosity dragged Kit to the floor. He sat with the notebooks fanned between him and Holden, because concentrating was easier with a physical gap.
The murder archives weren’t about murders Holden himself had committed. His only three victims were Victor Wang, Timothy Wellington, and Marco Fernandez. The fellow San Corvo University students he killed over the past semester to get Bishop’s attention.
No, the archives were apparently Holden’s notes about other murders. Article printouts and actual fucking photocopies from library records. They ranged back two decades, mostly from San Corvo and the surrounding SoCal region.
Darius had led the initial questioning about why Holden had these notes. Holden had just shrugged. They were inspiration. Or cautionary tales against getting caught. The local crimes were part of an attempt to learn his surroundings. Who else might be operating in the area, how the cops handled cases. Where bodies usually got found, so Holden could avoid dumping people there.
Preparation for secretive crimes, setting up a lifetime of unimpeded murder. All of which Holden threw away when he met Kit.
“How are they organized?” Kit asked now. The binders didn’t have titles, but some of the notebooks did. All very innocuous.Final Project Notes.September Research.History.
The titles were easy to read because Holden had arranged them upside down, so they faced Kit instead of himself. Holden had already anticipated that Kit would want to look at them, and where Kit would sit.
“They’re organized by relevance, on two scales.” Holden pointed to Kit’s left. “Starting with the least interesting and farthest geographically, ending with the most interesting and closest.” He pointed to Kit’s right. “There’s a lot of overlap, given that geographic proximity inherently makes murder more interesting to me.”
“Why’s that?” Kit reached out, then hesitated. “Can I look?”
“Yes,” Holden said, at the same time as Darius said, “Best not.”
Kit pouted, and Holden’s eyes narrowed. Annoyance clear, he adjusted the notebooks into tidier piles instead of making eye contact with Darius. “So you can show them to the detective first? Kit should look if he wants.”
Darius snorted. “I don’t work for Bishop, Blondie.Iwill look through your ‘murder archives,’ before handing them over to Kit.”
That clearly sparked Holden’s interest. He didn’t look up, but his body language relaxed slightly. “That’s fine, then. Roomie.”
Darius was being overcautious, but Kit didn’t mind the delay. He was interested in the archives’ contents, grisly as they might be. But even more, he wanted to know what they might tell him about Holden himself.
“What makes a murder interesting to you?” Kit asked, toying with his shoelaces.
Holden leaned back on his hands. “Give me a second, darling. I want to answer you, but I’m not sure how to put it into words.”
“Take your time.” Kit checked his phone. “Nottoomuch time, or I’ll make you order coffee after all.”
“I’m at your beck and call.” Holden grinned. “But the best I can answer is that they’re interesting if I’m interested in them.”
Kit rolled his eyes. “You can take more time than that if it’ll give me a better answer.”
