“No,” I say. “We need to catch him before he kills again.”
“How?” Nico gestures at the chaos spread across the table. “He could possessanyone. He could go dormant for weeks and resurface across state lines. DJ and Donny tried to track energy signatures from Mathis’s apartment, but that was a dead end.”
“Use me,” I say. “I could go to the apartment. See if I can pick up anything the sensors can’t.”
“You need to recover from today.”
“I won’t sit here with my thumb up my ass if he’s still out therekillingpeople,” I say, and the ferocity in my voice surprises even me.
Nico arches an eyebrow, his lips parting the smallest amount. I’ve seen him in team leader mode. I’ve seen him joking, but I’ve never seen him look so sleepy and scared. His emotions are running wild all over his face. As if he can read my thoughts, he straightens and gives a soft clear of his throat.
“Morrow said he’d be seeing you again soon,” Nico says. “That means you caught his attention. He wants you for a trial.”
I told Nico that in the van. Babbled it out between bouts of vomiting, but I’d been too busy trying to get my puke into the bucket I was holding to process what it meant.
“But…” My brain scrambles for logic. “That doesn’t make sense. There’s nobody—I mean, I don’t have anyone to be pitted against.”
Nico leans back in his chair. “He probably thinks it’s Griffin.”
“I—” The words tangle. “But it’s not like that with Griffin.”
“It’s not?”
“No!”
The word comes out too high-pitched to sound convincing. Nico studies me for a few seconds, his fingers still on the papers. Is he jealous? Or am I imagining it because I want him to care so badly?
Cold dread slides down my spine. With the chaos of the fight, Griffin getting so hurt, all the vomiting, and my feelings being so all over the place, I’d forgotten what Ed—Morrow—had said. Or maybe my mind had tried to push the memory out of reach.
“He does think Griffin and I are a couple,” I say. “He wanted to talk about love, before we fought back. Called Griffin my boyfriend.” I claw the memories back against my will. As much as I’d rather focus on every aspect of Nico with him sitting so close to me, every detail we can get on Morrow is essential.
Morrow knew to trap us when I noticed the glob of ectoplasm. He didn’t wait to see if I’d shrug it off as some consequence of him not cleaning his kitchen. Whether he’s paranoid or smart, I don’t know.
What Idoknow is that there was no way he would’ve kidnapped us there, even if he did want us for a trial. Not when we were in an apartment building surrounded by other people who have already complained about noise. If we hadn’t noticed the ectoplasm, he would’ve let us go and found a way to get us later.
“I think he’ll be careful,” I say. “Why would he risk taking Griffin or me when he knows we can see him and hurt him? What if him saying he’ll see me again was to scare us off? He doesn’t want us to come back to the building in case we catch his trail.”
“Or he meant what he said,” Nico says.
“I told him that Griffin and I are platonic coworkers,” I say. Nico’s eyebrows draw together, and I wonder if he’s thinking about Kate and Kenny. “Whatever connection he saw wasn’t romantic. Maybe he realized that when?—”
“Doesn’t matter what’s real,” Nico says, looking away. “Morrow believes what he wants to believe. If he thinks you and Griffin are together, that makes you both targets.”
I don’t love that I’m a target for another serial killer, but that’s not the thing that’s bothering me most right now. Obviously the serial killer thinking we’re a couple is bad, but my need for Nico to know that nothing is happening between Griffin and me feels more important.
“Griffin and I are friends,” I insist.
Nico’s quiet for a beat. “What about Dylan?”
I actually snort. “I’d rather drive a hot poker into my eyeball.”
Nico doesn’t smile, but his shoulders drop maybe half an inch.
“We could put a protective detail on him if you want,” Nico says. “In case Morrow gets any ideas.”
“Who would that even be?” I ask. “Benji in a sedan lurking around the construction site?”
“Benji needs to get over his fear of guns before I put him on anyone’s protection detail,” Nico grumbles.
