Page 90 of Four for a Boy

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The sight of an empty desk the next morning froze Chad on the spot. He sucked in a breath as time slowed around him. The swinging door smacked him in the back, and he stumbled into the room.

Faye looked over at him and found the source of his worry. “There’s always a queue across the road in the morning.”

Chad frowned. “What?”

“The coffee shop. Word’s got around that it’s better than the machine coffee, and now everyone from the station wants the coffee across the road.”

“Right.” He took his seat behind his desk and ran his gaze along the whiteboard at the front.

There were five photographs in total.

Justin and Damian had two each. One photograph of them alive, and the other of them dead, taken by Dave in the mortuary.

A line separated them and Tate.

“So far so good,” Faye said, before elaborating. “No missing people reports from The Desperado. I heard uniform were there as an extra precaution.”

Chad nodded. Josh’s empty chair mocked him from across the room.

“I’m going to call him.”

Faye’s eyebrows perked up. “He’s probably—”

“Across the road, I know.” Chad forced a laugh. “I’m going to ask him to get me a latte instead of my usual.”

Chad tried Josh, but his phone went straight to voicemail.

“No signal?” Faye suggested.

“Maybe.”

“I’ll give him a try.” Faye said, pulling out her phone.

Chad curled his nails into his palm as he watched Faye try Josh herself.

She snorted softly. “Voicemail too.”

Ally pushed into the incident room and placed a coffee on Chad’s desk. “A peace offering.”

Chad stared at the coffee.

“Is that not what you usually have?” Ally asked.

Faye chuckled. “He wanted a latte this morning.”

“You didn’t get this across the road, did you?” Chad asked.

“Yeah. Why?”

“Was … was Josh over there?”

Ally shook her head. “I didn’t see him.” She glanced at Josh’s desk. “It’s unlike him to be late. If anything, he’s usually early.”

Chad got to his feet and steadied himself on the desk. “I … I might check in on him.”

“He has a phone, call him.”

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