Page 44 of Not Quite Dead Yet

Billy blinked, eyes coming back even wider.

‘I could have come with you. It’s dark, it’s not safe.’

‘I wasn’t scared. What’s going to happen, Billy? I’ll get murdered again?’

‘Maybe.’

‘So, why does it matter?’

‘It matters,’ he said, scooping up the floor-fries, wiping the grease from his hands. That look in his eyes was bigger than worry. It was fear. Jet thought men weren’t scared of the night, but Billy was made different. And now she felt guilty, for some reason.

‘I said I might keep strange hours,’ she said, not really an apology, not even close. ‘I’ve got a murder to solve.’

Billy sniffed, reluctantly took a sagging fry, held it to his lips. ‘What did the detective say? About the loan thing?’ He folded the fry and stuffed it in.

‘They’re going to look into it.Not ruling anything outapparently.’

‘That’s good.’ He chewed. ‘Yeah, these fries are shit. I’ll get you some good ones before –’ He cut himself off, a flush in his cheeks.

Jet helped him out, pretending she hadn’t heard, hanging up her jacket. ‘I got something from your dad, after Ecker and the chief left the room.’

Billy raised his eyebrows, going for another fry.

‘Really? He never tells me anything. All we have is football and the weather,’ he sniffed.

‘Showed me a photograph,’ Jet said. ‘Of a hair found at the scene. It was under the blood, so either it was there before, or it came from the killer.’

‘How long does it take to do a DNA test?’

‘It’s a wig hair.’ Jet sat down, pulling her notebook across the sofa, opening the page. ‘A red costume wig hair.’ She looked up at Billy. ‘And we all know who was wearing a red wig for Halloween.’

‘Yeah.’ He sucked in a breath.

‘JJ –’

‘– Andrew Smith,’ Billy said at the same time.

They stared, pointed at each other.

Spoke at the same time again.

‘JJ had one –?’

‘– Andrew Smith was wearing a red wig?’ Jet’s eyes narrowed, voice lowered.

‘He was a clown, Jet.’

Jet searched her memory. ‘I remember the painted red nose. He had a wig on too?’

‘One hundred percent.’ Billy dropped down on the sofa next to her.

Jet closed her eyes to peel back the time, to see the scene playing out before her.

‘Yeah, but clowns have rainbow-colored hair, don’t they? And it’s curly, like, coiled? This hair at the scene was straight, like five inches long.’

Billy closed his eyes too, trying the same trick. Jet watched him, blew on his face when he took too long.

‘You know, you haven’t changed much since you were eleven,’ he said.

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