Page 61 of Three for a Girl

Chad pushed off from the wall, but his knees dropped with weakness. He caught himself, but Ally noticed and looked him up and down.

“You good?”

“Yeah. I—I’ve got to catch this killer. Then I’ll feel like myself again.”

“I like your spirit, butwehave got to catch the killer, can’t take all the glory.”

He scrunched his brow. “You found out about Wilma for me?”

“You would’ve found out in the end, I was speeding up the process so you could concentrate.”

“Thank you.”

“It’s okay. You owe me a Frappuccino later.”

Chad opened the door for her, and she tutted at him, elbowing him on the way passed.

****

“We’ve got the test results back on the substance in the syringe.” The DI said.

Chad leaned forward expectantly.

The DI didn’t break eye contact. “Xylazine.”

The same drug that Marc had used on him. It had corrupted his blood stream so fast, after a count of three he’d been unable to move. Chad sagged with a sudden heaviness. He moved his hands, hiding them beneath the desk as he curled his fingers, and turned his wrists. He wriggled his toes in his shoes to make sure he could still move them.

“Gary’s father demanded answers. We’re putting an urgent call out for any information on his whereabouts. He might still be alive.”

Chad doubted it, and he could tell by the DI’s resigned expression, he doubted it, too. “I need to make a few calls,” he said, retreating to his office.

“So why do you think they had a syringe full of that?” Ally asked. “In a secret car, full of shady things.”

“I guess that’s what we’ve got to find out.” Chad said.

“Gary’s dad hadn’t seen him since the robbery fiasco, had pretty much disowned him, and believed he’d left the city to stay with his aunt.” Faye shook her head. “Only reported him missing a month ago.”

“What did Gary’s aunt say?”

“She hasn’t seen him for six months, thought he was with his dad.” Ally sighed. “We contacted a few of Gary’s friends. They told us he was thinking of leaving. He talked about going to stay with his aunt. They assumed he’d done it. He was the spontaneous type, apparently.”

Chad looked at Gary’s mugshot. Sixteen, shaved notches in his eyebrows, short brown hair. “No one noticed he was missing.”

“And guess who he was following on social media? Ellen Blakely.” Faye said.

The doors swung open revealing a panting Josh. He stood, flapping his hand in the air as he tried to catch his breath.

Ally slipped off the edge of her desk. “And where have you been?”

“Gary Vulux was following Ellen on social media.”

“Yes, we got that part—

“So I scrolled through her followers—it wasn’t easy, most people don’t use their real names—and there’s a lot, 200,000. And I was only scratching the surface, I’ve not dug any deeper—

“Josh, what are you going on about?”

“I struck gold with three of them.”

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