Page 22 of Fluffed and Folded

In reply, Tristan made some sort of male sound Eli couldn’t discern, maybe a “yup” or “sup” or something similarly guttural. It was a sign of how far their acquaintance had progressed that Eli took it as a sign of welcome and walked further into the dwelling.

“Smells like a swimming pool in here,” he noted, grimacing at the overt scent of chlorine.

“I had one installed,” Tristan deadpanned, thumbing over his shoulder toward the bedroom.

Eli shuddered, remembering the tinny smell of blood the new scent covered. “Doesn’t it creep you out to be here?”

Tristan’s eyes narrowed slightly on him, as if he didn’t understand the words.

“Right, never mind,” Eli muttered. Apparently only he was soft enough to be bothered by the fact that a man had been murdered in this room less than forty-eight hours ago.

“Maybe if I believed in ghosts,” Tristan conceded. “Otherwise, circle of life and all that.”

“One time I gave Josie a ride to school, and we hit a bird, and she cried all the way through first period. Don’t know why I thought that story was relevant in this moment, but it seemed like I needed to say it out loud.”

“Opposites, etcetera,” Tristan said.

“You have a poet’s heart,” Eli declared, which earned him a cheek tick. “What can I do here?” He scanned the interior and saw a few boxes stacked haphazardly and labeled with words like, “Plates. Cups. Books.” When he saw one marked, “Fall Décor” he knew exactly who had labeled them. He snickered and pointed.

Tristan sighed. “I told her to make it believable.”

“This is believable. For Liberace.”

Tristan scraped his hand over his ridiculous beard stubble. Eli tried to copy the move once and cut his palm on one of his brackets. That was another of those pivotal moments when he realized they were better off staying in their own lanes. “I could hang pictures,” Eli offered.

Tristan squinted at him like he’d offered to gut trout in the living room. “Why? I’m not staying, and even if I were…” He motioned helplessly to the bare walls.

“I’m not saying you have to install a montage of Monet’s water lilies, but a little bit of something makes it feel more homey. Morereal.”

“What’s on your walls?” Tristan asked with what was probably a knowing smirk.

Eli sighed. “A montage of Monet’s water lilies. But I went to the MoMA in high school; they have actual meaning to me.” Here he tapped his chest with his fist.

“Keep your lilies. I’m sure Josie will hang stuff when she gets here. It’s more her thing.” He checked his watch, probably to see how long he had to endure time without his girlfriend. “Did you talk to Darby today?”

Eli froze. Did Tristan think he and Darby had the type of friendship where they checked in on each other? Were they supposed to? “No,” he said, but it came out like a question, causing Tristan’s brows to raise.

“Is that a hard question?” Tristan queried.

“No, I just, ah, don’t know exactly how to be normal with her.” He held up his hand, warding off Tristan’s commentary. “Don’t say I don’t know how to be normal with anyone.”

“Get out of my head, devil man,” he said instead, which was so unexpected Eli snorted a laugh and had to wipe a bit of drool from his chin.

“It’s the braces,” Eli explained.

Tristan didn’t reply, merely went back to moving boxes. He was rather inexplicable, Eli realized. Things that should embarrass him and lead to mocking—drooling, for instance—Tristan ignored. But he had spent an entire evening giving him derisive looks when he realized Eli couldn’t drive stick shift.

“Should I go check on her, do you think?” Eli asked.

“Couldn’t hurt,” Tristan said. “Something weird going on there.”

Eli froze. “You don’t actually believe she killed Asher, do you? There’s no way.”

“I keep an open mind until I’ve done a thorough investigation,” Tristan said evenly. “Regardless of the murder, there’s something up with her.” He paused and regarded Eli. “She hasn’t seemed off or strange to you lately?”

“I don’t know her, never talked to her until a few days ago. I have no idea what her normal might be.”

“Doesn’t something seem odd or off to you?”

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