Page 39 of Joey

Joey sighed. “Is that a game-changer?”

Ethan shook his head, grinning. “Nope.”

“I’ll introduce you to some artists in a bit. There are at least two downstairs today. Maybe more. It depends on what was in the diary.”

Joelle miaowed and twined between Ethan’s legs under the table, and he chuckled. “She’s finally come out to see me,” he said, scooting his chair back. The moment he did, Joelle jumped onto his lap, and he stroked her soft fur. He glanced at Joey, a small smile playing around Joey’s mouth as he watched the cat. “Has she been fed?”

Joey snorted. “Yes, though she would deny it if she could. If I didn’t feed her the second I came out of the bedroom, I wouldn’t hear the end of it. I remember one time, I had a phone call just as I’d left the room, and I needed to answer it because it was a client. As I was talking, Joelle wound between my legs, almost tripping me, and mewling as if I were torturing her. In the end, my client asked if everything was okay, and I had to explain about my cat needing to be fed as if she were the queen of the house. Luckily, the client was a nice one, instead of one who looked down on us peasants.”

Ethan cooed at the gorgeous cat. “You aren’t like that, are you?”

“She truly is.”

Ethan held Joelle to his chest and smiled at Joey. “So, we’re going to speak to Ani about location. I’m okay with the media thing. I’ll attend events with you if I can. It depends on the job situation. Anything else?”

“You need to meet my parents.”

Ethan’s heart skipped a beat, and he stopped breathing for a few seconds before resuming, as if the thought had already crossed his mind and he was okay with it. It hadn’t, and he wasn’t. Well, he was, but he was nervous. Now, he understood how Joey felt about going to Ethan’s parents’ house for dinner.

“Okay.”

“I’ll call them and sort out a day we can go.”

“Okay.”

His voice sounded high-pitched even to his own ears, and a smile slowly spread across Joey’s face. “It’ll be fine.”

“Okay.” This time, his voice did crack, and he hid his face in Joelle’s fur, Joey’s laughter in his ears.

Joey’s phone rang, and he apologised as he glanced at the screen and answered it. “Hi, Ani.” Ethan watched the emotions play across Joey’s face as the low hum of Ani’s words filtered into Joey’s ear. Ethan couldn’t hear it, but he could see the anger cross Joey’s face. “Who?” he said, his voice hard. “Give him my number. I want to talk to him… I’ll be kind. Possibly… If he had anything to do with it…” Joey sighed and gritted his teeth. “Okay. Get him to call me. I want to know what happened that night.” He ended the call and stared at the screen, even as it went dark.

“Is everything okay?”

“A man just called the shop saying he was with Elliott the night he died.”

****

Chapter 12

Joey

Joey inhaled. “Apparently, they hooked up at the party, but the guy lost track of Elliott afterwards. I want to hear it all, and preferably without the police present. He’ll be more likely to answer truthfully around me.”

“Is that a good idea? Not getting the police involved, I mean,” Ethan said, setting Joelle back on the floor.

Joey pushed his plate aside. “I will tell them, but I want to talk to him first.” He stood, unable to stay still and strode the length of the apartment and back several times, checking his phone at the end of every stretch.

Ethan didn’t say anything else, and Joey was grateful. It wasn’t the best idea to talk to this guy before the police, but he needed to know whatever he knew, and if they went to the police first, he might never find out the truth. This guy might not even know, but at least he spent some time with Elliott. He might have some information into Elliott’s state of mind because Joey sure as fuck didn’t.

He slid his fingers into his hair and closed his elbows around his head. How did he not see what Elliott was going through? Even now, when he thought back over their interactions in the last few months, Joey couldn’t see anything amiss. Had Elliott been suffering in silence? Joey hated the idea that he had been. He’d thought they were close enough to tell each other everything, and in some ways, it burnt that Elliott couldn’t talk to him about whatever had been bothering him.

Joey checked his phone again. “Why isn’t he calling?”

Ethan came over to him. “Maybe he got caught up in something. Didn’t you want to introduce me to your staff?”

Joey gritted his teeth and exhaled through his nose, his shoulders slumping. “Yeah, I did.”

“Come on, then. You’ve got your phone with you, so you can answer when he calls.”

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