Page 7 of White Wolf

Tonight that soft side was a show, but Christa didn’t know that.

“I put cream and sugar in it,” he continued, nudging the cup closer to Christa. “Hope that’s okay.”

“Yeah.” She was nasally from crying. “Thanks.”

“Alright, Christa,” Trina began. “Think back to the start of the evening and tell us what happened.”

“Shit.” She wrapped a shaking hand around the coffee cup and scrubbed at her eyes some more. “I had a few drinks, and I don’t…”

“Take your time,” Lanny said. “Sometimes once you start talking about it, more of it comes back to you. No rush.”

She nodded and wet her lips, gaze darting to the window. The windows of the building across the street were beginning to reflect the rising sun, the flat white of a muggy dawn. “I…” Her breath caught, a soft shiver in her throat. “This is gonna soundnuts.”

Trina felt goosebumps break out beneath the sleeves of her jacket. The back of her neck prickled. She’d been a detective for three years, and it never stopped thrilling her, that perfect, baited-breath moment before someone confessed something.

She traded a glance with Lanny and saw that he was feeling it too, one brow cocked.

“Just tell us,” he urged Christa. “Trust me, we’ve seen plenty of nuts.” The corner of his mouth twitched, amused by his own lame joke.

Trina nudged his foot with hers and he nudged back.

Christa said, “You have to understand that Chad is, like, the best boyfriend. I mean, he never looks at other girls, never flirts. He, like, never makes me feel jealous, you know? He’s so good.”

“A stand-up guy it sounds like,” Lanny said.

She turned wide, pleading eyes to him. “Yes! I mean, he really is. Really, really…But tonight…” She glanced down at her coffee and took another unsteady breath.

“Christa,” Trina said. “We’re not here to judge. We just want to find out who hurt your boyfriend.”Killed him, but that seemed too cruel to say in the moment.

The girl nodded and plowed ahead, speaking quickly, staring a hole through the paper cup. “It was his friend Patrick’s birthday and the guys all wanted to go to Angelo’s because it was throwback. Said we’d dress up like it was the nineties, you know? So we did, and it was kinda lame, but the drinks were cheap. So.” She shrugged. “I got up to go to the bathroom, and when I got back there was this strange guy at the table. I’d never seen him before. He was” – she made a face – “kinda posh, and not in a good, rich guy way. Like, a mama’s boy or something, you know? So lame. He was sitting in my spot and he was talking to Chad. Like,leaningon him. Whispering right in his ear. Like they were friends or something. I didn’t like it.” She shivered, and Trina knew what she meant: it had felt wrong, a discordant beat in their evening.

“I told him ‘excuse me, that’s my seat,’” Christa continued. “And he looked at me and he wasso mad. I mean, super pissed. Like he wanted tohit meor something. I.” She bit her lip. “He got up…and Chad followed him. They just walked off together.” She started to cry again, fresh tears glimmering on her lashes. “I thought they went to grab a smoke or something, but they didn’t come back, and I got worried…” Her chin quivered and she finally lifted her head. “What did that guydoto him? Why did Chadlet him?”

A ragged sob tore its way from her throat and she buried her face in her hands. “Oh my God. Oh my God.”

Trina shared a look with her partner and figured they were both thinking the same thing.

“I’m very sorry for your loss,” Lanny said gently, turning back to the girl. He produced a packet of tissues from his jacket pocket and set it beside her elbow. “When you can, we’d like you to talk to our sketch artist about the man you saw talking to Chad.”

Christa’s shoulders shook.

~*~

“So Chad was in the closet,” Lanny said when they were back at their desks.

“Don’t be an ass, Roland.”

“I’m not.” He lifted his hands in a defenseless pose. “You know I don’t care. But a guy who’s in a happy relationship doesn’t go out in an alley and get the mother of all hickeys from a guy if he doesn’t swing that way at least a little.”

“Suchan ass.”

He tossed his stress ball at her and she caught it easily. “Alternate theories?”

“The guy was his dealer,” she said, tossing the ball back. “And Chad was way past due. They went out to discuss, Chad didn’t have the cash, and things got ugly.”

“So the guy bites him?” Lanny’s brows went up. “There’s only one reason anybody ever has a bite mark on their neck.”

“Zombie apocalypse?”

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