Jude flashed Russo a disarming smile, but Russo was in no mood to be disarmed.
“Brother’s best friend,” he said.
“That’s right.” Jude nodded.
“Right. Except the brother is never around.” Russo glared at Jude, but Jude, to his credit, stared right back. Cool, calm, unruffled. Jude had a steadiness to him, a solidness. He was always the coolest head on the playground.
The back door of the Koi Inn opened then, and Olivia walked out on the wraparound porch, pink hair up in a high pony. My heart lifted a bit, because if anyone could defuse the awkward tension between the two men in the Zen garden, it would be her, the sweetest Takeda with the most piercings. But as she clocked both Jude and Russo standing near the koi pond, she frowned. A quizzical expression passed across her face as she looked at me.
“Ella? You’ve got a visitor?” she said and her pink ponytail practically quivered with uncertainty.
That’s when both Russo and Jude swiveled to take a look at the porch and my worst nightmare emerged from the screen door.
No, not the Canceled Killer.
It was even worse.
It was Spider-Man Mateo.
Seven
Some authorities believed the Canceled Killer had the skills of a hired killer or a spy since he seemed to be able to get in and out of a crime scene without being seen or leaving evidence behind.
—Crime Hivepodcast
If ever I wished the Canceled Killer would just show up and murder me already, it was right at that moment.
Spider-Man Mateo jumped off the porch, whipped off his mask (why was he wearing his mask?), wrapped me up in a giant enthusiastic hug, and kissed me on the lips.
“Surprise, mi cielo!” he said in just the hint of that accent that usually melted away my clothes, as he broke the hug, not seeming to care that both Jude and Russo were looking at him like they weren’t sure if they should wrestle him to the ground or call a mental health hotline.
“Uh, hey! What are you… doing here?”
His curly brown hair was an adorably ruffled mess, his dark eyes sparkling with boyish delight. Had the man aged in reverse? How youngwashe?
“You said you were headed home for a while and I just figured… whynot?”
I could think of about a million reasonswhy not, and at the top of that list was the fact that my relationship with Mateo wassupposed to be totally contained in Chicago and that no one was ever supposed to know about it. But Mateo didn’t plan anything. He was 100 percent impulse and made me look like a planner with a computer full of Excel spreadsheets and to-do lists.
“But what about TGI Fridays?” I asked. When Mateo wasn’t dangling upside down from skyscrapers in front of cameras, he slung nachos and jalapeño poppers.
“Oh, I got fired this week.” He shrugged. While I actually worried about losing a job, Mateo never did. “I told a woman she needed to lay off the extra fries. It was a joke, but it kind of went viral.”
“You fat-shamed a patron?” I asked, shocked. Mateo was usually kinder than that. He refused to use plastic straws because he was trying to save the sea turtles.
“Well, she told me she was going to call ICE on me, and I said, ‘go ahead, sister, I was born in Puerto Rico.’ Mi dios. She told me ICE would deport me back there. I had to explain I was a US citizen.”
I didn’t even want to look at Jude or Russo, but I could see them in my periphery. Jude was grinning ear to ear, enjoying the spectacle that he’d no doubt tease me mercilessly about later. Russo was scowling in a way that told me he found none of this funny. In the least.
“I’m Aaron Russo,” the detective said suddenly, interrupting the conversation. “Chicago Homicide. Why don’t you tell me a little more about how you abused a patron?”
Mateo went paler than the whites of the eyes on the Spider-Man cowl he held in one hand. “Uh…” He did not care for authority, as evidenced by the fact that he had stolen his official costume from the Spider-Man movie set. Authority usually got in the wayof Mateo’s never-think-of-consequences life philosophy. Mateo, a bona fide short king, glanced up at Russo and then at Jude. Both men were considerably taller than him, probably by five or so inches, and both had at least double the weight in sheer muscle mass.
“Sorry, where are my manners? I forgot to introduce you,” I hurriedly said, rushing over Russo’s opening salvo. “Mateo, this is Jude. My brother’s best friend.”
Jude gamely offered his hand for a shake. “Hi, Mateo. Nice to meet you.” He flashed Mateo a grin. “Are you… still in school?” Jude’s mouth curved up in a smile. That was his way of fishing around for Mateo’s age. Not cool, Jude.Notcool.
“Oh, me? No. I dropped out of acting school,” Mateo said with a shrug. “Decided to just learn at auditions.”
