Page 50 of In The Dark
“I like that.” I give it a sniff and hum. “Perfect, Leo. Your future as an interior designer is bright.”
“I’m good, aren’t I?” He puts his hands on his hips and surveys her room. “What are you going to tell her when she asks if you did all of this?”
“I’m very good at playing dumb. Besides. I was with you all day at the house. It couldn’t have been me.”
“Now I’m being roped into this? Fine. But I get another day on Ralphie.”
“Once was enough.”
“Was it? It’s a good thing Max gave me her phone number so I could text her and tell her about the weird guy who juststole a pair of her underwear. Hunter. Put it back.”
“I’m not a dog.” I pout and pull the lacy thong out of my pocket, mad he caught me. I was going to jerk off to that later. I drop the underwear and groan. “And you’re no fun. Fine. You can have my motorcycle one more day.”
“Good boy.” He snorts and stands on his toes to pat my head. “Let’s go. We have that staff meeting before we clock in to talk about the last fourteen days of Fright Nights and the capacity numbers we want to hit—blah, blah, blah. I don’t need Janey ripping us a new one for being late.”
“You need to live a little.” I snag another book off her shelf and tuck it under my arm. “What are they going to do? Fire the best scare actors two weeks before Halloween? Please.” My phone chimes, and I sneak a peek at the screen, hoping it’s Max. When I don’t see her name, I pout again, missing her.
“Anything important?”
“A job for next week. Serial rapist who walked free after the jury said there wasn’t enough evidence to find him guilty of raping his girlfriend’s four-year-old daughter.” I gag and put my hand over my mouth. “He doesn’t deserve a kind death.”
“People are sick.” Leo looks over at me as we walk down the hall and I straighten one of the pictures on the wall. “I know not everyone would agree, but what you’re doing, Hunt? Getting these pieces of shit off the street? It’s heroic. Your mom would throw afitif she knew this is the path you went down, but she’d come around eventually.”
“Sometimes I feel like it’s not enough. There are thousands of predators just like this guy walking around, and no one will ever know. They won’t ever be punished for their crimes.”
“But one less person is better than one more person, and that’s what’s important.” He does a sweep of the kitchen, making sure all the food is put away. “Does Max know what you do?”
“No.” I smile at the flowers Leo bought and put on the kitchen table. “I’d like to hope she won’t care when she finds out.”
“Probably shouldn’t keep it a secret for too long, dude. That’s kind of first date level information. Might be too late to share that you’re a murderer.”
“Or maybe it’s the perfect time.” I grab my toolbag and smile. “Ready to roll?”
“Let’s go before you do something even crazier like hide an engagement ring in her tea cup.”
“That isbrilliant. When the time comes, I’ll make sure to give you credit.”
“Jesus.” He sighs. “You’re something else.”
“And you’re still sticking around.” I shut the front door behind us and lock it with the copy of the key I made. “I can’t be too terrible.”
“You’re not, which is really fucking obnoxious.”
We say a quick goodbye and I look up and down Max’s street, looking for something of the ordinary. When I don’t spot anything unusual, I smile, knowing she’s in good hands.
I’ve got you, angel.
EIGHTEEN
MAX
Someone has beenin my house.
I can tell the second I walk through the front door something is wrong.
I freeze and scan the living room, trying to pinpoint what’s out of place and—there.
The rug that leads to the kitchen is uneven. Up ahead, the bedroom door I shut before I left for school is halfway open.
