Page 71 of Skeletons in the Closet

We reached the harbor front long before sunset. I found a parking spot near where Tallus claimed they were holding the vigil.

We ate sandwiches from a pita joint he’d insisted was amazing and stared at the waterfront in the distance. I’d ordered a Dr Pepper with my meal, but it was a fountain drink and too watery and flat for my liking. Tallus must have noticed my disappointment and offered me a sip of his latte, which I refused.

“It’s good. Are you sure?”

“I prefer my coffee black, not full of fancy whatever-the-fuck they put in those.”

“Boring.” He sipped and hummed with pleasure, a noise I tried hard to ignore. A noise that went straight to my groin.

“So, what do you think of all this?” Tallus crumpled the empty paper wrapping from his sandwich and tossed it inside the take-out bag.

I grunted and shrugged.

“Words, D. Let’s not play Neanderthal tonight. It’s exhausting.”

“I don’t know.” The more I considered the possibilities surrounding Beth, Noah, and our unknown guy, the moreconfused I was. “This case was supposed to be a cheating husband, but I’m not sure what to think anymore. It feels…”

“Like there’s something darker under the surface?”

“Yeah.”

Tallus broke off a piece of cookie and offered me a bite. I declined, and he popped it into his mouth. “The fact that Noah committed suicide and spent the months prior arming himself against a threat told me long ago this was a much murkier case than how it presented.”

I nodded, grinding my teeth and cracking my knuckles.

Tallus handed me the rubber ball I’d tossed on the dash. “Squeeze.”

“I don’t need a stupid ball.”

“If you don’t squeeze the ball, you’ll need a dentist. Now squeeze.”

I refused.

Tallus made a sound of annoyance but relented and used the ball himself. “What if the cheating husband is nothing more than a surface layer? What if there is something far uglier underneath that Faye didn’t know about?”

I flashed a glance at Tallus. “Like?”

He pursed his lips and made a clicking noise with his tongue. “Like… What if the elusive bastard is a pimp, selling girls to men like Noah. It would explain his involvement. It would explain why Beth went to see him and appeared close to him. Maybe Sean was growing suspicious of his wife’s extracurricular activities. Maybe he threatened Noah. Maybe the pimp did. Maybe Sean reported something to the police, which is why they went by and talked to Noah that one time. In the end, maybe Noah feared exposure or arrest and took his own life. As for Beth, if she threatened to talk, then the elusive bastard could have done her in, covering up his slimy business. Or Sean had enough of her skanking around and killed her.”

“That’s a lot of maybes and what-ifs.” I stole the ball from Tallus’s hand and squeezed it.

He chuckled. “I don’t hear you suggesting anything. Hell, Olivia could be one of the elusive bastard’s girls too. She’s gotten scared recently and hired bodyguards. You said so. Remember how one of those news articles was about prostitutes and assault? It loosely adds up. Tell me I’m wrong.”

Tallus was reaching, but it kind of added up. Not enough that I would bet money on it, but I had to give him credit for thinking outside the box. I grunted in agreement. It was the best I could give him.

“Doyle asked us to pass along any information we find.” Tallus eyed me. “Will you do that?”

I made a face and shrugged. I hated cooperating with the detectives at headquarters, and it annoyed me that Tallus had so bluntly exposed our case to them.Mycase to them.

“Sharing is caring, D. Didn’t your mother ever teach you that?”

I didn’t respond. Tallus didn’t want to know what I’d learned from my mother.

The evening sun sat low on the horizon, casting a yellowy-orange hue across the lake. The slosh of water hitting the shoreline and the steady hum of the city played background music to our conversation. I’d parked in a secluded lot near a massive concrete building with tinted windows that didn’t start until the second floor. Anyone looking out would see the top of the Jeep, not us inside. Although there were people in the distance, cars passing on the street a few dozen feet behind us, and bustling pedestrians rushing along the sidewalks a few hundred feet away, we were mostly in our own secluded bubble.

The heavily tinted windows in the Jeep created its own private atmosphere. I’d detailed it that way for a reason. It was easier to trail people when they couldn’t easily see inside the Wrangler, but also because I liked the concealment it provided.

The weight of Tallus’s gaze warmed the side of my face, but I kept my focus on the long contrail of a passing airplane in the distance. It vanished behind a low cloud before reappearing again.

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