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Kale is a fucking idiot, that kid was nothing but trouble. I never should have agreed to taking him onto the force. And why the fuck was he here at my home?
“Sir.” Havarti, my housekeeper, greets me at the door. “There was food left on the front step for you.”
Pushing past her, I walk to the kitchen. I find several to-go boxes strewn across the counter.
“I didn’t order this.” Anxiety percolates through. “Try it,” I tell her.
Her riverbed eyes widen in surprise at my tone. “Yes, sir.” She circles around, grabbing a fork and taking a bite from each box. She then grabs the aluminum foil roll in the center, and before I can stop her, she unravels it, revealing…
Bread.
“It’s really good, sir. Even this bread seems homemade. Better than most restaurants.”
“Do you taste cinnamon?” I ask her, waiting for the woman to keel over.
She chews a few more bites. “Now that you mention it…” She gets another forkful from the main dish. “There is a touch of cinnamon. It pairs well with this. I think it’s a baked eggplant dish.”
That’s all I need. I rush out to the front door, determined to find evidence of whoever was here.
Except as soon as I step out, my foot glides.
Oil?
I attempt to gain traction, to catch my fall, but in doing so, my other foot slips too. Before I can gain my bearings, I am already tumbling down my concrete steps.
One.
Two.
Three…
Four…
Fiv—
“Oh god! SIR!”
My vision dims. My body screams as I realize in a single instant—
This is the end.
43
Fire and Ice
Cinnamon
Ican’t believe I dropped the entire container of oil. It went EVERYWHERE. Who eats bread dry? I didn’t even leave butter for it.
Pushing down the anxiety, I can only hope he enjoys the rest of the food without it.
Ring!
Glancing over at my phone in the passenger seat, I see Olive’s name flash.
I can’t keep ignoring her.
“Hey, Olive.”
