Page 49 of Killer Clone

Stacy popped her gum again. “So you got one or not?”

“I got something.” Tripp grinned and grabbed his crotch. “And it’s all for you, darling.”

Stella breathed in slowly. Her irritation was growing. This creep was really trying her patience.

His friend held out the joint to Stella. “Why you so quiet, huh? You want some of this?”

Stella thought about embracing her inner Chloe Foster and breaking both bros’ noses.

Stacy flicked a thumb in Stella’s direction. “She’s just a little shy.”

“Is that right?” Tripp licked his lips. “I could bring her out of her shell.” His gaze shifted from Stacy to Stella and back again. “Bring you both out.”

Against every instinct in her body, Stella played along. “That could be fun. But do you think we could see the laptop first?”

Tripp shrugged. “Sure, why not?”

He roused himself enough to stand on the bed and reach for the vent in the ceiling. Stella noticed the vent cover was held by just two screws. Their heads were painted white, but most of the paint had been scratched away. She doubted the local cops had opened that during their preliminary search.

Tripp reached in and extracted the laptop and an Android smartphone before dropping back to his previous position on the bed. He winked. “Come and get ’em.”

That was it. Stella had had enough. There was enough contraband in that room to land Tripp in more trouble than he knew what to do with.

Stella pulled out her badge. “FBI. Stay where you are.”

Tripp’s gaze locked on the badge. He froze for half a second—then bolted.

What the hell was he thinking? That he could just barrel through two federal agents?

He barely made it two steps.

Stella sidestepped, caught his wrist, and twisted his arm up. A sharp yank sent him face-first into the mattress, his breath punching out in a muffled grunt.

Kev slid off Patrick Marrion’s bed, flicked the blunt out the window, and lifted his hands, edging toward the door.

“I was just visiting. I was never here. Nothing to do with me. I don’t even know who this guy is.”

Stacy pointed at the bed. “Sit.”

He sat.

She tugged the clip out of her hair and shook out her bun, then spat the gum into the empty trash can. The freshman vanished. In her place returned the badass cop, a federal agent with nifty cat-eye makeup, but an agent, nonetheless.

Stella pushed harder on Tripp’s back. His face squished into the pillow. Holding his wrists with one hand, she applied the handcuffs and yanked him around.

She braced herself. Sometimes, after Stella snapped on a pair of handcuffs, a suspect, especially if he was young and had been arrested before, would make a crude comment. A tell-tale smirk would come over his face, which told Stella where his train of thought was leading. Usually, a hard shove into a patrol car soon wiped the smile away.

Tripp’s face was white. He tried to push himself up the bed, away from Stella, as though she were about to beat him within an inch of his life. The fear on Tripp’s face told her someone had done that to him in the past, someone close to him. Someone at home.

Stella softened, at first. And then she remembered how Tripp had treated his roommate and how he’d spoken to her and Stacy.

She stepped closer, one hand on the gun tucked into the back of her belt.

“You know that vodka bottle under the bed? That’s a Class A misdemeanor punishable by about a year in jail and a twenty-five-hundred dollar fine. Possession of marijuana? That’s a year and another fine of up to twenty-five-hundred dollars. Plus another year. Two years and five thousand bucks so far.” She loomed over him. “And if you killed your poor roommate…well, that’s the needle.”

“No, no. What are you…?” Tripp kicked at the floor with his socked feet. He shifted up the bed. The back of his head banged against the wall. “I don’t know what happened to Patrick. I didn’t kill him. Why do you think I killed him?”

Stella planted her fists on her hips, towering over the terrified young man. “Here’s what we’re going to do. Between your underage drinking, your consumption of illegal drugs, and these stolen electronics, we have cause to search your room. So we’re going to tear this place apart. You’re going to sit there, and you’re going to watch. Anything you want to tell us before we begin?”

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