Page 53 of Sinful Sorrow

My past would suggest not.

“I know someone who can help us. You’ve met her, actually.”

“I have?” She sits forward in her chair and sets her elbows on my desk. “Who is this person I’ve met who has access to information regular citizens should not have?”

“Stop repeating everything I say. It’s weird.” I take my phone and unlock the screen, then I scroll to my contacts and work my way down to D.

Detective Archer Malone… busy.

Detective Beau Fox… deceased.

Detective Charlie Fletcher… busy.

Detective Asa.

I glance up and meet Aubree’s enraptured stare, then I hit dial and bring the phone to my ear. For a moment, I think to place our call on speaker and allow Aubree to have unfettered access, but Detective Asa—which is not actually her name or title—knows too much about me. And if she thinks our call is unmonitored, she might say things that’ll land me in a world of trouble.

“Swear to god.” She answers without a typical ‘hi’ or ‘Soph speaking’ and jumps straight into impatience. “It’s like I’m everyone’s go-to these days. Am I in the phone book under, ‘Call me. I enjoy helping people.’?”

“Well, geez.” My pulse skitters and tempts me to hang up and pretend this never happened. “Woke up on the wrong side of the bed today, or…?”

“I’m busy, Chief. And I know you’re not calling to eat Snickers and shit-talk the men in our lives. Which means you want me to work. And my workload, at this moment, is what we call cata-friggin’-clysmic. What do you want?”

“A better attitude, mostly. Are you always this rude?”

She snorts, then she takes a noisy bite of something chewy and crunchy. A Snickers, perhaps. “I’m often accused of being rude. However, the way I greet someone who wants me to work for free is entirely my choice. And if I’m deemed rude, then that typically weeds out the soft folks. Are you soft, Chief Mayet?”

“I think not. And as a woman also often deemed rude, then I suppose we can conduct this conversation without hurt feelings. I was calling you for work stuff.”

“Color me surprised. Riley!”

I jump when she shouts. Then frown and listen closer when someone clomp-walks her way.

“Call Griffin and tell him this whole system is about to crash. He’s got about twenty minutes to explore before they get it up and running again. So make the twenty count and get what we need. After that, they’re gonna throw up new firewalls.”

“Alright.” A deep, male voice responds, then the snap of paper exchanging hands has my brain swirling in a dozen directions. “Twenty minutes starting when?”

“Thirty seconds ago.” Then she brings her attention back to me. “I have nineteen minutes. What do you want to know?”

“Uh… well, it’s not, like, crashing-systems important. It’s not even life or death important, considering this isn’t my job and I have no right to intrude.”

“I love intruding. You now have eighteen minutes. And the final five are gonna be noisy. Stop wasting time.”

“Oh, yeah. Okay. So I’m chief M.E. on this case. Eighteen-year-old girl is stabbed to death inside a haunted house.”

“Creepy.” She takes another bite. “What about it?”

“Well, she was stabbed by this kid in a Ghostface costume. The weapon was a Buck hunting knife, like the kind in the movie. Which I figure is a pretty specific purchase not easily bought from the local corner store.”

“I concur. There are probably purchase records for that sort of thing.”

“Right! So I have some spare time right now, and sometimes I enjoy solving puzzles beyond my portion of an investigation.”

She snorts. “And we both know how far you take certain investigations.”

At that, I swing my gaze up to an expectant Aubree. She’s listening to my side of the conversation, but not to Soph’s. Thank god. “Not that that is information shared with everyone.”

“Not even your bestie?” she taunts, sitting back in her chair so the frame squeaks under her weight. “Sheesh. Not sure I could have a best friend and not share everything with her, Mayet. Those kinds of secrets have a way of getting out. And the longer they’re held in, the bigger the fight will be. Are you not gonna tell her you sometimes kill for sport?”

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