Page 31 of Sweet Like a Psycho (Secrets of Suburbi 2)

He gestured toward the desk that was across from Damien Torres.

It felt like everyone in the precinct was staring at me. Especially Damien. He was probably analyzing whether or not I was capable of setting a house on fire. Which was stupid. Anyone was capable of that. All it took was a few matches and a gallon of gasoline. It didn’t mean that I was guilty.

“This is awesome!” Zeke said and jumped into Detective Reed’s chair. He started clicking on the computer’s mouse. The little devil was clearly better with computers than I ever realized. And at stealing credit cards. And at lying. Just like his mother.

But I was just relieved that Zeke was distracted for a moment. I leaned forward, ignoring the smell of Detective Reed’s sweet cologne. “I need to talk to you away from Zeke,” I whispered into his ear.

For a moment he didn’t respond. Or move. We both just stayed close, our arms brushing together, my lips only a few inches away from his ear.

I didn’t have time for whatever weird game he was playing. I grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the cluster of desks. “I put Zeke’s lizard in your coat pocket. I forgot that I was about to give you your jacket back and…anyway, I need Lizardopolous. So where is your coat?” I looked over his shoulder and saw it slung across the back of his work chair. I started walking back over to it, but he grabbed my arm to stop me.

“Uh…bad news on the lizard front. I…well he…” He let go of my arm and ran his hand down my face. “I didn’t know what it was. I threw it into the woods.”

“You what?” My voice came out high pitched and weird. Oh no, Lizardopolous! He’d never survive out there alone. The nights were getting frosty.

“I had no idea what it was. It got loose in my car and started crawling all over me.”

“So you threw it into the middle of the wilderness? Lizards aren’t bred for these conditions. He’s going to freeze to death. Zeke’s too young to learn about death. What were you thinking?”

“What was I thinking? I’m not the one that put him into a pocket of a coat that didn’t belong to me.” His eyes darted down my body in the most unnerving way. “Speaking of which…don’t you own a winter jacket?”

“This isn’t about me. My son’s lizard is moments away from death and you…where? Where did you throw him?”

“I was a few minutes out from your house.”

“Can you show me exactly where? We need to go get him right now.”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. It all looks the same out there to me.”

“You can’t think of anything specific? Like a certain kind of tree? Or a bend in the road?”

“I’m sorry, V

iolet. There’s no way that we’re going to find him. As soon as I threw him, he scurried off pretty quickly.”

What kind of unobservant detective was he? My mind was going a mile a minute. How was I going to fix this now? I hadn’t given myself a chance to consider that Lizardopolous wouldn’t be here. Damn it. There was too much ground to cover with no leads. Lizardopolous was officially gone. “Then you have to replace him.”

“I don’t even know what it was.”

“It? That thing you’re calling it was my son’s best friend, Detective Reed.”

“Tucker. Please, just call me Tucker.”

The way he said it combined with the way he was smiling at me made me gulp. Even though we were surrounded by a bunch of cops, the moment suddenly felt intimate. It had been a long time since the stares hadn’t bothered me. But when I was looking into Detective Reed’s eyes he was the only person on my mind. Even if I was pissed at him. “We are not on a first name basis.”

“We’ve shared a meal, conversation…I’ve even carried you to bed. I’d say we are on a first name basis.”

“You’re failing to mention the fact that you violated my privacy.”

“And if you’d give me a real chance to explain…maybe over that dinner tonight?”

Again, this moment was too intimate. He was too close, his breath invading my air supply. When his eyes drifted to my lips my knees felt weak. What was he trying to do to me? I cleared my throat and took a step back. “I’m not here for me. The only reason I came was to get Zeke’s lizard back.”

“Then let’s go get him a new lizard right now. I’d do it myself, but I don’t know enough about lizards to tell if it will even look the same.”

I hated how he kept calling Lizardopolous it. Sure, I had done it a few times when I was annoyed with the little guy. But there was supposed to be frost tonight and Detective Reed had basically murdered him. “I can’t just leave Zeke here by himself.” God, this was a disaster.

“There’s nowhere safer than a police station. Damien will watch him while we’re gone.”

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