“I thought you said two minutes ago that the city is mine and you love me?”
He chokes out a laugh that has the movement of his stubble scratching the bottom of his phone. “Touché. Wanna talk about the Gloria Donohue thing?”
“Absolutely not. Wait.” A new thought stuns me until I jolt. “Yes. I do. Was it you?”
“Was what me?” He laughs. “Did I whack the bitch?”
“Yeah.”
“Nah. Was it you?”
“No. I was in Copeland all day.”
Am I glad she’s dead? I’m not sure.
Am I mad that she won’t spend the next fifty years in prison? Yeah, a little.
But then my phone buzzes by my ear, so I pull it away quickly and catch the banner popping down with a text from Archer.
Archer
I’ll call you shortly. In the middle of something right now. Love you. Be safe.
Frowning, I bring the phone back to my ear and hang out withaMalone, but not the one I want.
“Do you think someone killed her, Lix? Was she ill?”
“Reports say she went to sleep and didn’t wake up again. Very natural. Very peaceful.” He pauses, then adds, “There are whispers going around that her cellie lost her kid to her abusive ex’s bad temper. He was drunk and belligerent, and shit got out of hand. A month after she buried her baby, she took a baseball bat to her ex’s skull and smeared gray matter all over his bedroom wall. She handed herself in and copped twenty-five to life for it. I’m not saying she killed Donohue and set it up to look like something else, but I’m notnotsaying it either. If you want me to look into it for you, I can. I’ve got contacts over there.”
“Of course you do.” I stare out at the hill, thankful that Harrison knows to take me home even when I didn’t say the words out loud. Better yet, there are no liquor stores between here and the house, which means I can’t buy wine for Lawrence.So sad. Guess I’m staying in tonight.“And no… It’s fine.” I bring my hand up and rub my temple. “I let that case go as soon as Lachlan was dead and Gloria was put in cuffs.”
“You let it go?” he drawls. “Really?”
“Trying to,” I counter. “I spent too much of my life focusing on the babies who suffered at the hands of a boy who didn’t know better, enabled by an evil woman who did. Killing her wouldn’t have been my first choice, but what’s done is done. She can rot in hell. Where are you right now, anyway? It’s nighttime there, right?”
“Mmhm. I’m riding in my car and staring into my darling Christabelle’s beautiful eyes. It’s a special occasion, so I took my girls out for dinner.”
“You were out on a date with yourwife, and you still found time to harass Harrison and talk about me? What the hell is wrong with you, Felix!? Jesus.”
“Family steps up for family. We love hard, and we take care of each other. Christabelle understands, and besides, I’ll make it up to her shortly. We’re only ten minutes from the house, and Zora’s already asleep. I’ll get my own soon.”
“What’s the special occasion? Is it someone’s birthday? An anniversary? Did I forget and not even realize it yet?”
He chuckles. “Since you’re hopeless with this stuff, you should know it’s Tiia’s birthday in three days. And Aubree’s birthday is in three weeks.”
Shit. Really?
“But today’s thing?” His voice bubbles with pride. “Zora pooped.”
“Oh, for God’s sake! Felix! I thought it was something huge.”
“Itwashuge!” he guffaws. “I had no clue chicks could shitthatmuch. Zora’s my dainty little twelve-pound princess. She’s perfect. But I swear, she shat so much, I had to order a whole new mattress for our bed. She ruined her clothes.Andour sheets. I almost called a bio-hazard cleanup crew to come in and take care of it.”
“I’m hanging up now.”
“Every other time I’ve made those calls, it was to make bodies disappear and blood to magically no longer stain the floor. This was a whole other thing, Doc. It was the worst thing I’ve ever smelled in my life, and I know body decomp.”
“Goodbye, Felix.”