I itched to check my socials and my texts, but every time I did, I found nothing new. It shouldn’t surprise me. The Canceled Killer loved to let people sweat. It was part of the sick control game he lived to play.
When my phone vibrated, I whipped it out of my pocket and saw an incoming message on Spark from Spider-Man Mateo. Ihid the message without reading it. I was too far from Chicago for a hookup and I had other things on my mind. That’s when I saw Jude at the bamboo gate. He’d exchanged his navy half-zip sweater for a gray one, and wore dark jeans and his trademark Adidas.
“Mind if I come in?” he asked, even though he never needed to ask. Mom and Dad treated him like a son. They were always ushering him inside, trying to feed him something.
“Oscar’s not here,” I told him, expecting Jude to shrug and skulk away, as he usually did when the other half of his soulmate bromance wasn’t around.
“I’m not looking for Oscar,” he said, taking a few steps closer to the one end of the wooden bridge near the koi pond. “I’m looking for you.”
“Why?” I asked as I met him on the edge of the water. Diamond Dave slapped the pond surface with his massive golden tail, splashing a decorative rock, one of dozens along the edge. My phone vibrated in my back pocket. Mateo sent me something else, no doubt. I ignored it.
“I need your expertise.”
“You think I have expertise in something?” Now I was really shocked. “This is a first,” I said. I couldn’t help but revel in the compliment. Jude rarely asked for help with anything, because he almost always had the answers. I might tease him about being Dr. Cheese, but the man held two Ivy League degrees and had always been the smartest man in the room.
“Brie serious,” he said, without even missing a beat.
“Dr. Cheese, donotstart—”
“Are you feta up with the puns?”
“Stop, I mean. I swear—”
“Okay, I’ll just let the curds fall where they whey.” He adjusted his squarish, black-framed glasses on his nose.
“I’m leaving.” I turned to go.
“Ella, wait,” Jude called, chuckling to himself. “I’m done. I promise. I do really need to talk to you. Seriously. It’s about the Canceled Killer.”
Those two words stopped me in my tracks. I turned, crossing my arms across my chest. “What about him?”
“Kenzie told me she’s worried about her dad. He has gotten skull emojis. Because of the listeria outbreak.” Jude offered me his phone, open to the social media accounts.
“What?” I grabbed his phone and sure enough, three skull emojis. From CanceledKill. And they were posted earlier than mine. Huh.
I clicked on Allen Gordon’s personal account, which only had reposts of the corporate account, plus a couple of pictures of his new yacht. And, there, in his last post, sat three ominous skull emojis.
“You know the Canceled Killer better than anyone. Do you think it’s a warning? Has Gordon been targeted?”
“Maybe,” I said as I handed Jude back his phone. My gut screamed that Allen Gordon was in serious trouble. And so was I. If CanceledKill was the Canceled Killer, Gordon would be his next victim, followed by me.
My phone vibrated again.Mateo, read the room—I am ignoring you for a reason.
“But I told Kenzie that the Canceled Killer had only ever struck in Chicago. Once in Evanston,” Jude continued. “And he always is so meticulous about his routine.”
“So you really did listen toCrime Hive?”
Jude looked taken aback. “Of course, er, I… listen to a lot of podcasts, and…” Jude seemed uncharacteristically flustered. A spot of red appeared on his cheekbone. “It was good to have something on in the background at work.”
I imagined Jude, tucked away in his cheese laboratory in his white coat, me in his ear whispering about the new serial killer stalking Chicagoland.
“I’m sure it was just a pity listen.”
“No. You were good. It was a smart show.” The compliment seemed authentic, and I was surprised by how much that meant to me. Ifhethought it was smart, that meant something.
“I was good until I wasn’t. My picker is broken. I got the wrong guy.”
Jude studied me a beat. “Actually, I think you were better than you think. I think the Canceled Killer was feeding you Jared as a possible suspect.”
