Page 73 of Three for a Girl

Chad crossed his arms.

“You’re a single man living on his own.” Ally said, gesturing to unwashed plates and cups. “It’s bound to be a bit stale in here.”

“Stale?”

She laughed. “So where’s your plates?”

“Why?”

“To eat from.”

“Yeah,” he shook his head. “Sorry.”

He got two clean plates out of the cupboard.

Ally inspected them. “They’ll do.”

“What’s wrong with them?”

“No fine china for your partner?” she moved along and opened a cupboard.

“What are you looking for?”

“Glasses.” She reached in, picked out a mug and studied the decoration. “What’s with the magpies?

“Romeo liked them.”

He always made Chad coffees from the magpie mug and watched with a smile when Chad drank from it.

Ally put the mug away. “You do realize what you just said, right?”

He blinked, inwardly rewound his words, and cursed.

“Romeo Knight had a thing for magpies?”

Chad snorted.He still did.

“Why magpies?”

“I don’t know.” Chad said. He looked at the mug. “I guess they’re kind of clever, they’re pretty.”

“They also peck other birds to death, maybe that’s why he liked them.”

“Maybe.”

“How was therapy?”

“I feel more unsettled than when I stepped into her office and I won’t be surprised if the DI calls me and tells me not to come in tomorrow.”

“It’s not for everyone.”

“But I’ve got to go, one of my condition of working homicide.”

“Why was it so bad, what did she say?”

“It wasn’t what she say, more what I told her.”

“Which was?”

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