Page 34 of Monster Mate

“Your safety and comfort aren’t worth the risk?”

“He makes a good point,” Winston added, reaching for a doughnut from the box Riordan had picked up while she’d been sleeping off her sex coma. “You were all ready to run again. If the abusive fucktrumpet was dead, you wouldn’t spend all your time looking over your shoulder anymore.”

“You’re not helping, Winston,” she said through clenched teeth. “I can’t let you do it. Killing someone is a big deal, and I can’t let you do that again.”

Riordan rolled his eyes. “I reaped souls for thousands of years. What’s one more?”

Winston crammed the whole doughnut into his mouth and sprayed bits of glaze on the counter when he said, “It’s community service. If the guy wasn’t harassing you, he’d just move on to someone else. Killing him protects everyone in town.”

Riordan nodded. “He’s right. And it’s not like the police would ever find the body. Pretty sure they wouldn’t have jurisdiction where I’d send him.”

Roxie shuddered. She still had nightmares about three headed feral hogs occasionally. “I just…”

The ring of the doorbell cut off whatever she was going to say next.

Imagine her surprise when Riordan opened the door and found a uniformed police officer on the other side.

Great. They’d been having a casual conversation about killing someone while a cop was standing on the porch. That tracked with her usual luck.

Riordan, calm and collected for someone who’d just been plotting murder, crossed his arms over his chest. “How can we help you, Officer…?”

The young officer looked a little shellshocked. Roxie could relate. She was still a little shellshocked when she looked at Riordan, too. But eventually, he pulled himself together enough to say, “Childs. Officer Childs.” His gaze shifted to Roxie. “Are you Roxie Rowe?”

She licked her lips. “I am. What’s this about?”

“I’m afraid the investigation into the fire at your residence has been deemed arson.”

Her gaze shifted to Riordan, then back to Officer Childs. “Oh. I see.”

His gaze narrowed a smidge. “Fortunately, one of your neighbor’s backyard cameras got a clear picture of the suspect. He was identified as Neil Hardy of Oaks Port. Your ex-boyfriend, am I correct?”

“Yes,” she said carefully. “I have a restraining order against him.”

He nodded. “We’re aware. I was curious, though, why you didn’t mention him to us as a suspect initially?”

Riordan took a half step forward. “Does she need a lawyer?”

Officer Childs cocked his head to one side. “Strange question for an arson victim. But, no. She’s not being charged with anything.”

Roxie had to repress a nervous laugh. “I didn’t think to mention it because I assumed the fire was electrical, not arson.”

He stared at her for a moment like he could see into her soul before nodding and saying, “I figured it was something like that.” He handed her his business card. “If he shows up here, or if you see him anywhere, you call me, got it?”

The subtext was clear. Call me instead of sending your scary monster boyfriend out for some vigilante justice.

Just look innocent. Don’t babble. Don’t act shifty. “I understand, sir,” she said.

When Officer Childs was pulling out of the driveway, Riordan led Roxie back inside. He laid his hands on her shoulders. “What about now? Can I go kill Neil now?”

She shook her head. “No.”

His chin hit his chest, and Winston grumbled unhappily from his spot on the sofa.

Roxie gestured to the door. “Did you guys miss the cop at our fucking door? We can’t go off half-cocked and kill him now. We need a plan.”

Winston looked confused. “So, you’re saying we could go off…whole-cocked?”

“Yes, whole-cocked. We’re coming up with a plan to get rid of him without any of us going to jail.”

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