“Come on...She won’t be able to concentrate if she’s thinking about it all day,” he goads.
I take a deep breath before turning to Katie’s desk. I slide the pink bag over to her withoutmeeting her eye.
“You didn’t have to get me anything,” she mutters.
“It’s an apology for the other night.” I glance at Biceps and see his smile falter. If I want to make it up to Katie, I need to be the bigger person. God, I hate myself right now. “We were doing some DIY in Katie’s house. I spilled some tile grout on her leggings,” I clarify to the detective. “There are a few other things as well.”
His shoulders loosen, and his chest puffs out a bit. Clearly, my lie has done the trick, as Katie looks somewhat relieved as well.
She pulls out a receipt and begins to read it.
“In case these aren’t for a girlfriend. Here is my number. Ashleigh.She put two kisses. Lucky you,” she mumbles.
Shit.
“She was the sales assistant. I’ll just take that and put it in the trash.” I whip it from her hand and scrunch it up in my fist.
“Maybe she can join us for dinner club.”
No way. No more fake dates to rile up the she-devil. Not when the prospect of her being in bed with me is on the table.
“You’ve mentioned that before. What exactly is dinner club?” the detective asks.
“Oh...” Katie blushes. “It’s nothing. Just a monthly meetup for our college friends.”
“Sounds fun, maybe I’ll see what it’s all about soon enough.” He grins, and Katie gives hima small grimace, which she manages to morph into a smile before placing the bag and the remaining gifts under her desk.
“Is there anything we should get caught up on before we interview Maddox’s friends and colleagues?” I ask.
“No, you’re welcome to come to the second crime scene. The site has been cleared.”
“That was fast.” My brow scrunches.
“Yeah, didn’t you know he confessed? Told us exactly where the three other bodies were.”
“He what?!” Katie and I both shout.
“I thought you knew...the chief is talking to the media right now.”
“Before we’ve even spoken to him? The last time we talked, he was insistent on his innocence. This is a complete one-eighty,” I say.
The detective crosses his arms across his chest, making his biceps strain against the tight constraint of his T-shirt. I can’t help but roll my eyes, which Katie clocks as her lip quirks to the side. Biceps continues, seemingly unaware. “We’ll check the facts, of course, but the victims are in his yard. He’s also murdered someone else on CCTV, we assume because she refused to come back to the house with him.”
“Anthony, we’re missing something. What about his bloodwork?” she asks, but he has an answer for that, too.
“The lab is backed up. They said it could take another three weeks.”
Katie’s lips purse as she smooths her hair back with her palms.
“Okay...another three weeks seems like too long when they’re about to publicly name him. We haven’t even finished our assessment. Our time got cut short—”
“Yeah, because they found three bodies, Katie,” he snaps.
I watch her recoil from him.
He takes a deep breath, and I wonder if Biceps is about to mess this up before he even gets a chance to start anything. One thing is for sure: if he speaks to her like that again, I’ll rip his arms clean off his body.
“I get that you want to be sure...but the evidence is all pointing at this guy. Also, he confessed. You need to learn to put a firm opinion on something. Otherwise, the department is going to find someone who will.”
