Page 71 of Two for Joy

“If what you’re saying is true, the break in was months ago … there won’t be any evidence in the apartment, or fingerprints on the laptop, and from what I hear, the killer’s careful, he leaves no trace. If it was him that broke in, we’d never know.”

“But what if he saved that article to a hard-drive. What if he took himself a copy? The laptop will have records of when the article was saved, and what to.”

“A USB?”

“It’s an idea. A memento, something to look back on. Victim three. The DI told me the killer left the same film on, at the same point, that wasn’t referenced in any media until I told Holly, she told me she put it in her article.”

Zac stared blankly.

“Okay, when I killed number four … two dogs were euthanized afterwards, right?”

Zac shuddered. “I found that body … I saw those dogs.”

“Not important.”

“What do you mean it’s not important.”

“Just listen. The copycat killed both dogs at his number four’s house. When I killed number four, those dogs didn’t even make it into the papers. No one cared, no one knew, not until I told Holly about them months ago. They’ll be in her article.”

“Wait…” Zac whispered. “That’s what Chad said to me…”

“What?”

“He said it was strange the copycat killed the dogs. Said they were never spoken or written about. He thought the killer must’ve had inside knowledge, and then the DI started to investigate internally, as well as externally.”

“Chad was right, but not anyone at the station, they’re using Holly’s article as a reference.”

“Okay,” Zac said. “I get it. What happened when you killed number two, what did you do differently?”

Romeo frowned. “I called the police from Audrey’s address. When I told Holly, she said it was a sign of my guilty conscience, that somewhere deep inside, I wanted to be caught.”

“So the copycat will have read that in Holly’s article, he’ll want to take after you. He’ll call the police after he gets number two.”

“Yes. I hope so. If that happens, this barrage of hate against Chad will stop.”

Zac closed his eyes.

“What is it?”

“I’ve tried to convince the DI to look at other avenues, but they think it’s Chad. They all do.”

“You don’t.”

“No. I don’t know what went on between you. I’ll never understand it, and to be honest, I don’t want or need to. As far as I’m concerned, you’re Chad’s hobby, part of his private life, and that has nothing to do with me, but his team…”

“What about them?”

“They tried to convince him to stop visiting you, but he refused, told them it was none of their business, and for a while, they backed off, but when they found the first victim, number five. The tension between them mounted. They started to turn on Chad. They no longer sympathized over what happened to him, but were angry he continued to visit the countdown killer. Detective dickishness we call it…”

Romeo scrunched his face. “What?”

“They have this pack mentality, and all other departments are beneath them, unworthy. Everyone else in the station calls them dicks.”

“This pack singled Chad out. Rejected him.”

“Yeah, you could say that. It was getting to him, I could see it … we talked about it a few times, and I know he was struggling. The only way of redeeming himself, of dispersing the tension, was finding the copycat himself.”

“That didn’t work out well for him last time.”

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