Page 24 of Three for a Girl

“Yeah.”

“And how was it?”

“Early stages. What did you do today?”

Romeo raised an eyebrow. “I made another bed.”

“Yeah, how’d it go?”

“Fine. The instructions that came with it were awful—I had to print some more off.”

Chad drummed his fingers on the table. “We’ll have to work out what we’re gonna do with all that stuff. Can’t have you taking a hammer to it all.”

“I’ll think of something.”

“We’ll have to soon. What if a closet falls on you while I’m out?”

Romeo tilted his head. “Why aren’t you telling me about the case?”

Chad sighed. “I’m notnottelling you.”

“You’re just not mentioning it, right?” Romeo rolled his eyes.

“I don’t wanna … ya know.”

“What?”

“Rub your face in it. Some killer out there, when you’re stuck here, trying not to kill.”

Romeo reached over the table, gripped Chad’s other hand, and squeezed. “I want you to tell me about your day.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. It comes undernormal, right?”

“I guess so.”

Chad scrunched his brow, but gave in when Romeo squeezed his hand again. “We’re investigating the Ellen Blakely murder.”

“She’s the social media influencer, right?” Romeo said. “She’s been on the news.”

“Found in a ditch outside of town, six-inch incision to her abdomen, and her kidneys gone. They were sent to St John’s ICU this morning.”

Romeo rubbed his chin. “That’s where that girl’s waiting for a transplant.”

“How do you know that?”

“I spend most of my time listening to the radio, it’s come up a few times. Pray for Darcy?”

“Marcy.”

“Someone killed Ellen and sent her kidneys to the hospital?”

“That’s it in a nutshell.”

“Any leads?”

“Ellen was talking to someone using the name sweetcheeks42 in the lead up to her death. Sweetcheeks wasn’t who they said they were, and they were using someone else’s pictures, too. They arranged to meet the night before Ellen was found.”

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