Page 28 of Three for a Girl

He didn’t reply, and she touched his shoulder. “Come on.”

Ally led the way into the incident room. Faye had her attention fixed to the door, but Josh wasn’t looking Chad’s way. He’d propped his head up with his hand and stared at his desktop screen.

“I’m sorry for freaking out on you.”

Josh spun around in his chair. “No, it’s me who’s sorry. Holly Stevenson ran your name through the dirt. Of course you knew Romeo better than her. If you say he was born with a need to kill, then okay, I trust you.”

“Thanks.”

Josh exhaled. “We good?”

“We’re good.”

“Romeo killing himself was probably the most human thing he did.”

“Why do you say that?”

“He must’ve realized it was the only way to get rid of his need. It was the only way he could stop.”

The words slapped Chad in the face and he staggered.

“Focus,” Ally yelled. “That isn’t important right now, the Kidney Killer is.”

Faye sighed. “Are we sticking to that?”

“Yep. Makes me hungry every time I say it. Nice juicy steak and kidney, yum, yum.”

“Disgusting.” Josh said, before sucking each of his fingers into his mouth.

Chad turned to Ellen’s photograph at the front of the room. She grinned at the camera, rosy cheeked and pink lipped. She had blue gems lined along her eyebrows, the same color as her eyes. She looked like a young woman loving life.

Ally pointed at the board. “Let’s run through possible motives. Financial.”

“Ellen was a social media influencer,” Faye said. “All you’ve got to do is look at hers and Kerion’s pictures to know they were rolling in cash. They live on Crafts Way.”

“What’s so special about Crafts Way?” Chad asked.

“It’s a rich neighborhood, massive houses. It’s nicknamed Millionaires Avenue.”

“Who would gain financially from her death?”

“Keiron.” Faye said. “The house is solely his now, but if you’d seen him last week, white as a sheet, shaking.”

“Some people are good actors. They wear masks.”

Ally clacked her tongue. “I’ve got to agree with Faye on this one. If he was acting, he deserves an Oscar, his reaction tugged my heartstrings, and I’m as cold as ice.”

“When did he start shaking?” Chad asked.

Ally frowned. “When we told him Ellen had been alive while some maniac removed her kidneys, kinda messes with a man’s head to know the one he loved was being sliced and diced.”

“These social media influencers, lot of competitions for brands, right?” Josh said.

Chad nodded. “Right.”

“It could’ve been a rival, taking out the competition. All these brands are gonna be needing someone to plug them. That field has opened up with Ellen’s death.”

“It’s possible.” Chad said. “But why take her kidneys, why kill her that way?”

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