This pizza is thebest thing I’ve ever tasted in my life. It’s exactly what I need after hours of backbreaking box moving—as well as furniture I really think we could have donated instead of keeping—and a pounding headache that’s only just now easing enough I can hear myself think.
“Here,” Kendrick says, handing me a bottle of water before sitting down at the kitchen table beside me.Ourkitchen table now. Because he lives here. And he doesn’t get to leave. Ever.
“I already drank one.” Probably more than one. I haven’t been keeping count.
“Drink another one.”
I dutifully take a long chug and then slide it back onto the table in favour of grabbing more pizza. I need more greasy delicious sustenance.
Six leans back in his chair, flinging his feet up onto Greer’s lap, who just lifts his arms to accommodate him, keeping his BBQchicken pizza slice out of harm’s way. “So, I had a look at those cards I swiped.” Good thing Hunter dropped Olivia back home earlier because talking casework in front of her is a giant no-no. She has enough bad habits as it is, and we all share equal blame for those. Partial blame?Someblame.
“And? Please tell me there’s something on them.” We’re running into a lot of weird dead ends, and a video of the killer would be all we need to put the case to rest and move on.
“There’s footage at the time of the murder, on either side. Trine really was just watching everything, which is fucking creepy, right?”
I lean forward, hope flaring. “You saw the killer?”
“No.”
Kendrick sighs. “Just spit it out, Six. Either you found something, or you didn’t.”
“I guess it depends on what your definition of ‘found something’ is. There’s something interesting, but it’s not what we wanted. It’s nothing but static at those specific times. The killer not only knew that the cameras were there, he knew how to disable them for as long as he needed.”
Well, fuck. What the hell doesthatmean? “What kind of person just knows how to disable cameras? And how did he know about them?” That’s not just average, everyday knowledge. Is he working with Trine? No, the guy seemed more than surprised she’d been murdered. We’ve been in this long enough to know fake from genuine—most of the time; some people are expert-enough liars that they can slip even under our radar.
“Those are good questions,” Six says with a shrug.
Goddammit. Too much to hope for a clean break in the case.Morequestions and even fewer answers than before. It feels like we’re renovating a hundred-year-old house, and every time we get somewhere, we uncover something else that needs fixing.
If it’s not the creepy asshole from her day job, then it sounds like her day job is nothing but another dead end. The next step is to check out her more famous avenues. The show in which she plays a minor character isn’t the most popular soap opera in Australia and only has a small following, but fame makes people do stupid things.
“I’ve made an appointment to go and speak to the original killer,” Kendrick says. He puts the water bottle back in my hand. Subtle. “Maybe he can shed some light on this one.”
“Ah, yes,” Hunter says, quickly swallowing his mouthful and taking a sip of his Coke. “I recovered the details of the case for you and have left them on your desk at work.”
“What do you think?” I ask, knowing that he’ll have looked through them. His intuition is second to none, and his input is always invaluable. He doesn’t get as hands-on anymore, too busy in meetings and clearing paths so we can move around unhindered, but he’s still the best of all of us.
“It’s an interesting case. I’ve forwarded it to Sebastian to see what he thinks. Can’t hurt to get an expert’s opinion on it.”
“The first lawyer not expert enough for you?” Kendrick asks. He lets me bite the end of his slice off before taking his own. I wouldn’t mind some of the garlic bread, too, but it’s on the other end of the table, which is way too far away. When I don’t move, my head doesn’t throb quite so bad, so my aim is less movement.
“Absolutely not. There are holes so wide that we could see them from Mars.”
Six snickers. “I bet Mars is jealous it has bigger holes.”
Moira rolls her eyes and steals the slice from his plate while he isn’t looking. He glares, and she maintains eye contact as she takes a huge bite, cheeks bulging. She points at her mouth. “Did you want this?” she says, voice muffled.
“Joke’s on you; I’d still eat it,” Six replies.
It’s true too. He’s a garbage disposal.
“Send it to Cody too,” Jericho says through his own mouthful. None of us have any manners. “I want to know what he’d do with it if it came across his desk. Whether it was defence incompetence that lost the case, or if there was enough for the prosecution to run away with it.”
Hunter nods. “Good idea. I’ll do that once I leave here.”
Ever the workaholic.
I lean closer to Kendrick, lips pressed to his ear. “Did you make the other appointment?” He knows what I’m talking about. He better.
