SANTIAGO
My eyes glaze over as I sort through the monotonous stack of junk mail. Credit card offers, store catalogs, fast food coupons.
Groaning, I collapse onto the floral sofa. “I hate going to the coroner’s office. It’s cold as hell.”
“We live in Wyoming.” Levi’s voice is monotone as he searches through Reverend Ricks’s kitchen cabinets.
Our assignment today was to meet with the coroner in Jackson, then search through the reverend’s home.
“Yeah, but it feels significantly colder in there.”
Ricks’s two-bedroom home sits on a corner lot only a block away from the church. The modest home is well-maintained without being extravagant. The beige siding, white trim, and neatly shoveled walkways feel as if there was no room for chaos.
Nothing about this house stands out.
But that's probably the point.
I rest my head against the back of the couch and close my eyes. “Did Walk say anything else on the phone when you told him that Adler confirmed that the victim was Reverend Ricks?”
“Nope,” Levi answers in the same tone, his attention on the task in front of him.
Heaving myself up, I meander to the plain roll-top desk in the corner of the living room. Using the knob, I pull the roll-top upward. Just like the rest of his home, everything is neatly in place.
Sliding open the center drawer, I find ballpoint pens, paper clips, and several church bulletins perfectly organized. The small side drawers contain nothing more than stationery and tax documents.
Hunched into a crouch, I open one of the lower file drawers. “If the killer is ‘collecting debts,’ then what’s the reverend’s debt?”
“Who knows?” Levi responds, still scouring the kitchen. “Or maybe Emmett has it wrong, and this killer isn’t some kind of vigilante.”
I shake my head as my eyes scan over old insurance documents. “I don’t think so. It doesn’t feel like random acts of violence.”
“So…” Levi’s voice draws closer. “Are we going to talk about the elephant in the room?”
“What elephant?” I ask back.
Levi enters the still living room, leaning his shoulder against the wall and facing me. “Blake.”
“Blake.”
Interlocking my fingers together, I place them behind my head and sit up, resting backward in the old chair as it creaks. “I’m telling her you called her an elephant.”
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it.” Levi gives me an annoyed look.
I jokingly roll my eyes. “Okay. What about Blake?”
“We both like her,” Levi states, leaving no room for argument.
I nod. “That’s an understatement.”
Levi folds his arms with a sigh. “What are we going to do? Sharing someone in bed is different than sharing full-time.”
“Communicate. Duh.” I shrug like the solution is apparent.
“We should talk to her about it,” Levi emphasizes.
I flash a wry grin. “Stating the obvious,mi amor.”
“But what about Walk?” Levi chews on his lip, finally getting to the point.
