Page 30 of Three for a Girl

Kerion lifted his head and attached his red eyes to Chad.

“I’m Detective Chad Fuller.” He said, extending his hand.

Kerion didn’t react to his name, he gripped onto Chad’s hand, but instead of shaking it, he clutched, and Chad lifted him to his feet. He snatched his hand back as soon as it seemed appropriate, and fought off the need to shudder.

“We’ll go somewhere private to talk.” The DI said.

Kerion nodded, and let the DI lead him down the corridor. Chad grabbed his helmet and followed after them.

The station layout was near identical to his old one—the exact same long, bland-colored corridors, and blue doors. The same uniforms, only a different crest, the same lingering groups in the corridors who made themselves look busy when someone senior approached. Chad’s neck prickled with the eyes on him, just like at his old station after Romeo.

The DI opened a door to a small box room. “In here.”

Ally pointed for Chad to go in the room, then closed the door behind him.

The same uncomfortable plastic blue chairs and grey tables like his old place. There was a watercooler in the corner of the room, though, something they lacked in Dunson.

Kerion sat down. He kept his hands in his lap, and stared blankly at the table.

“What is this about?” He mumbled. “Am I in any trouble?”

“No,” The DI said, “We’re wondering if you can tell us about sweetcheeks42?”

Kerion looked away.

“Do you know who they are?”

“No. I knew Ellen was talking to someone. She showed me the pictures. Ellen asked for her real name, and she said it was Nina Berry.”

“We looked at Ellen’s direct messages. They’d arranged to meet.”

“That’s right. Ellen went to meet her, and afterwards they were supposed to meet me, but Ellen didn’t text me a place, or a time, or anything.”

The DI hummed. “You messaged Ellen at 11:35pm asking where she was, then you called her ten minutes later.”

“She didn’t answer.”

“And what did you think when she didn’t answer?”

“I didn’t think much of it, thought maybe they were having too much fun, and forgot about messaging me. I—I fell asleep, woke up when the police knocked on my door the next morning.”

He pressed the tissue over his mouth, shaking his head.

“Did you ever speak to Sweetcheeks42? Nina?” Chad asked.

Kerion lifted the tissue, “No.”

“Did Ellen ever speak to Nina on the phone?”

“No. It was all in messages. Ellen got a lot of messages from fans.”

“She had over 200,000.”

Kerion smiled. “Yes, she was proud of that.”

“What made her respond to Nina’s messages?”

“Nina said she was lonely, didn’t have many friends, or close family. I think Ellen connected to her, but it wasn’t Nina was it? It was someone else, someone who lured Ellen into a trap, and—”

---