Page 13 of So Bleak

“Thank you, Chef.”

She left him and joined Michael and Turk in the lobby. Michael was frowning. Not a good sign.

“Nothing?” she asked him.

“Too many things. Fingerprints and footprints all over the place. At least a half-dozen people touched Grimes’s table and chair, and most of the prints are too smudged to know how recent they are or who they belong to. What about you?”

“Well, I know it’s not fugu.”

“What’s fugu?”

“Puffer fish sushi. I guess it's a delicacy, but they don't serve it here."

“Ah. So nothing.”

She sighed. “Yes.”

He nodded. “Well, no one ever said this job would be easy. I say we visit Cucina Toscana and see if we can find anything there.”

“It’s going to be even more muddied than this place. Crestwood died a week ago.”

“True, but we might be able to learn something from the chef.”

She shrugged. “It’s worth a shot.”

“Atta girl.”

She grimaced. “Don’t call me that.”

“Atta strong independent woman?”

She rolled her eyes and walked out of the restaurant, Turk at her heels. Michael followed a moment later.

She played the scene in her mind and tried to put herself in the killer’s shoes. Poisoning someone in public took balls. Or careful planning. Or both. Whoever had done this had put a lot of thought into it.

And unless they found him quickly enough, he would absolutely strike again.

CHAPTER SIX

“Or her.”

“What?” Faith asked.

“Or her. Him or her. You said we need to find him before he has a chance to strike again, but it could be a her.”

She stared at him incredulously. “You really want to talk about that right now?”

“Details matter,” he said, a little impishly. Then, less impishly, “Historically, poisoning has been favored by women. I’m only saying we should think about it.”

“Well, we’ve caught several male killers who have used poison.”

“I’m not trying to argue with you,” he said. “I was just saying we shouldn’t limit ourselves yet. We need to consider all possible options.”

“Thank you for that, Michael. I’m so glad I have your extra experience to rely on.”

He frowned at her. “Did you get pissy all of a sudden?”

She sighed. "I'm sorry. I Just… the whole West thing has me thrown off still, I think. I can already tell this is going to be one of those cases where we don't learn anything useful for a while, and we have to watch more people die while we wait. That's most of our cases, and normally I can handle that, but I can hear Benjamin Trainor's smug voice talking about how this poisoner reminds him of Ottis Toole and John Wayne Gacy and—"

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