I knew for a fact he wouldn’t. “Oscar would kill me before the Canceled Killer gets a chance,” I argued.
“I doubt it,” Jude said. He took a thoughtful bite of toast. “Maybe I’ll talk to him.”
“No!” I said louder than I intended.
Jude looked taken aback.
“Just don’t. Okay? Just…” I didn’t need another lecture from Oscar. I’d gotten enough recently.
Jude put the toast back on his plate and held up his hands in surrender. “Okay. Whatever you want.”
I checked my phone countdown clock. “I’ve got twelve hours until he comes for me. Though, given he already tried at the trailer, this clock might mean nothing.”
Jude studied me. “I think he has a thing for you.”
“Yeah, he wants to kill me.”
Jude shook his head. “No, I think it’s more than that. Why kill the mayor?”
“The mayor was begging to be canceled.”
“Right, but he wasn’t technically canceled. I think the killer did it for you. To impress you.”
“You sound jealous. Please tell me you’re not jealous of Spider-Man Mateo. I do not have a thing for him.”
“I’m not jealous,” Jude said. “I’m concerned. You really think it’s Mateo?”
“I think he’s a person of interest.” Russo made a good argument. Plus, how well did I even know him, anyway?
“A person of interest who also happens to be interested in you.”
And then I remembered Mateo saying I was breaking his heart.
“That’s twisted.”
Jude shrugged. “This killer has twisted on lock.”
“True.”
“But I still think he has a thing for you. More than just…”
“Killer and victim?”
“Yeah. More than that.”
I gulped down a bite of omelet. “That doesn’t make me feel great.”
“Yeah, me either.” Jude frowned at his plate.
My phone pinged with an incoming “check your matches” message from Spark.
“Who’s pinging you? Russo?” Jude sounded a bit too interested.
“No,” I said.
My phone binged again. Didn’t I want to see all the bachelors near me? Now was not the time, Spark. Still. Part of me was curious. Maybe HotSpidey turned on his notifications.
I clicked on the map. No HotSpidey.
