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“I didn’t. I smelled you.”

I could smell him, too, but for different reasons. “Sorry to interrupt your workout. Mind if I come in?”

He opened the door to admit me. “Why are you carrying around a plastic hammer?”

I twirled the handle. “This is Mjolnir.”

Chaz punched the inflatable mallet out of my hand with a smirk. “Guess you’re not worthy.”

He wasn’t wrong. I retrieved the faux weapon off the ground and faced him. “Is your roommate home?”

“No. He’s at spin class. I prefer to work out at home.”

Clearly. “I don’t want to waste our time, so I’ll get right to the point. I understand you have a real weapon hidden somewhere in your condo.” I pretended to scroll on my phone, although I’d committed the list to memory. “A rifle, to be exact.”

Chaz’s face drained of color. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I tapped his shoulder with the mallet. “I think you do, Chaz. And I’m sure you also recall the rules and regulations you agreed to honor when you joined the Neighborhood.”

The word “honor” hit its intended mark. Guilt weighed heavily on his eyelids. “I didn’t intend to use it,” Chaz murmured. “I missed owning one is all.”

“I’m going to need that rifle, Chaz.”

“I can’t give it to you.”

“Come again?”

“I can’t give it to you.” His body tensed. “I…I don’t know why.”

Okay, this was odd. “Where is it? Can I see it?”

He gave the hallway a reluctant glance before crooking his finger at me. “This way.”

I followed him to his bedroom. He dropped to his knees and pulled a black travel case from under the bed.

“You’re storing a gun under your bed?”

“What? It’s climate controlled.” He opened the case. “It isn’t loaded, if that’s what you’re going to ask next.”

It was. “Does anyone else know you have this besides Clement? Your roommate?”

Chaz rose to a standing position, knees cracking. “I didn’t tell him, not that he’d touch a gun. The guy won’t even kill palmetto bugs.”

“So no one knows?”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “My buddy came to visit me the other day.”

“And you showed him the rifle?”

“I had it out when he came by. He asked me where I got it.”

“Did you tell him?”

“I did.” Chaz sounded surprised by his own admission. “I wasn’t supposed to. Guess it’s because he and I go way back. I felt like I could confide in him.”

“Who’s your buddy?”

“Keith Irwin. He’s new to the island, but not to me.”