Page 28 of Just the Pool Boy at Vampire Mansion

Low.

Mumbled.

I lifted my head and peeked over the foliage. Two guys were over there, dressed in dark overalls. Maintenance, maybe? At eleven p.m.? If we moved, they’d hear us. If we retraced our steps, they’d see us.

I thumbed over my shoulder, suggesting we should go back.

Theo shook his head and pointed toward the next bush.

I stared hard, trying to convey a definite “no,” and gave my head a shake.

He nodded, mouthed “Yes,” then grinned.

I widened my eyes and tried to portray an expression of “bad idea!”

His grin grew.

I drew a finger line across my throat and pointed at him.

His eyebrows jumped. He was enjoying this far too much.

This silent conversation took about three seconds.

My heart was up to a hundred and something, body buzzing. I smiled, because clearly, any common sense I’d had had vanished, buried under his pretty smile.

He moved on, and I tucked in close, keeping low, picking different shrubs and spiky plants to hide behind, until coming up behind the large patio and pool area, lit up like a landing strip. There didn’t appear to be any cameras around, which was maybe why Jay had been killed here.

Why were we here? We weren’t going to find anything in the pool almost a week after Jay’s death. Theo wanted to find clues, something strange? Something so he could understand what had happened to his friend and why.

I was here for Theo, I realized.

He needed this, needed to see where Jay had died.

Damn. I cared. Not about Theo . . . about all of this. About Jay and speaking up for someone who’d had their voice taken. I cared about doing the right thing.

That was going to be a problem.

Theo walked onto the patio, his dark clothes in stark contrast to the sandstone slabs and bright lights, like someone famous walking onto a stage.

I emerged from the bushes too, and approached the pool a few steps behind him. Nobody was around. The water glittered, reflecting moving shadows back onto the glass and black metallic house peering down at us. I had no idea what the house was clad in, but it looked like brushed metal.

Crickets chirped all around. The house behind us was quiet. The maintenance guys had gone. It was just us, and the calm blue water of the pool.

Theo crouched at the edge and dangled his fingers into the water, then lifted them out, gave them a shake, and stayed crouched at the edge, arm resting on his knee.

“He looked contemplative, don’t you think?” Theo asked, his voice sounding thoughtful too. “Jeremy, I mean. I caught the look on his face before I passed out. He wasn’t surprised, or shocked, just . . . thinking.”

He had looked calm, for sure. “He reacted like a guy who knew the body was there,” I whispered. “Not someone who was surprised to find a man floating in his pool.”

Theo sighed. “What the hell had Jay gotten himself into?”

He clearly needed a minute, so I took a good look at the poolside, not sure what I was looking for exactly. I’d know when I saw it. Every pool had its own closed-loop filtration system maintaining it, and each system was different, each had its own set of parameters. I called it character. Pools talked to me, in their own way. This one was quiet tonight. Which told me it was well maintained. No floating debris, no scum, pristine and with no story to tell.

I scanned the nearby areas for the filtration system and spotted a large shed hidden behind planted screening, set back from the patio so as not to get in the way of the glamorous aesthetic. Large enough to stand up in, that had to house the filtration system.

“I’m just going to check out the filter,” I whispered.

Theo barely registered that he’d heard, just stared at the pool.