Page 21 of Coveted

He downs two gulps, then nods at the monitors. “And the girl? They’re saying she’s a witness?”

“She heard something. Maybe saw something.”

His eyes narrow. “Anything solid?”

“Remains to be discovered.”

“And you will,” he says.

“Naturally.”

I don’t mention my interest in her starting long before tonight, in case he considers it a complication.

Granted, it is. Nothing I can’t handle though.

Dad frowns into his tumbler. “Gareth’s devastated. My poor brother. He only buried Hannah last year, now Parker too.”

“Hannah’s death is looking less and less like an accident,” I say.

“Indeed. And you’re the sole remaining Hale heir.”

“Am I though?” My fingertips drum on the desk. “Uncle Gareth’s been remarried for a while. With Parker gone, his wife and stepchildren are his heirs now, aren’t they?”

“I daresay they will be. Gareth is smitten.” He grunts. “Teenie and her clever twins.”

“You don’t trust them?”

“Son, who do I trust, aside from you?” Dad places his drained tumbler on the cart. “Be glad you don’t have siblings. Step or otherwise. Being an only child is a blessing.”

“I agree,” I say mildly. “I’ve never been good at sharing.”

“Fine. I’ll leave you to manage this Marlowe girl. Find out if she knows anything she didn’t tell the police—anything we can use to find out who the fuck is killing Hales.”

“Will do.”

He knocks once on my desk before pointing at the ceiling. “And switch on some lights. You look like a serial killer, slouched here in the dark.”

“Goodnight, Dad. Sorry for your loss.”

“And you, son.”

He’s already striding from the room, tapping his phone screen.

Sitting forward, I switch between cameras on the monitors.

Sadie’s dorm bedroom is still, the lights off. The detective must be taking his sweet fucking time driving her back to Darkbloom. Probably trying to look up her skirt.

To quench my impatience, I open her social media on my phone. I browse the posts that I already know by heart, which is all of them.

Sadie reading on a picnic blanket. Sadie sitting crosslegged under a tree, smiling shyly at the ground. Sadie cradling a shiny blue beetle in the palm of her hand.

Lucky beetle.

She rarely posts, which I find endearing but also exasperating. I want more.

Almost without thinking, I navigate to another profile.

Parker’s.