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”No, I don’t like it,” he said. ”It’s awful.”
”Right. But catchy, right?”
He ignored me. ”How do you know he’s strangling people?”
”Well, I don’t know, exactly, but the last few bodies found had been strangled. It’s not public record, but you know Sara? Sara Collins?”
”I think I do,” he said. ”How do you know her?”
”Well, we were in the same book club and she works at the Medical Examiner’s office. She’s such a gossip. We have a whatsapp about weird things she’s seen and she keeps talking about all these strangulations that have happened lately.” I said.
Sam laughed, throwing his head back. ”They need to fire her ass.”
”They really do,” I said.
”What about the orchid thing?”
”Oh, this one is kind of a stretch,” I said. ”After the first victim showed up, we went for brunch together and I loaded her up on mimosas. She told me that she’d heard from the M.E. that there was an orchid in the victim’s mouth.”
”I gotta look into this,” Sam said to himself. ”How would she know about it?”
”I’m pretty sure they’re sleeping together. Not her and the body, I mean, her and the M.E.,” I replied, as if that needed clarification. It made Sam laugh. ”But like, obviously, that’s just speculation. I don’t actually know if they’re sleeping together. She just seemed very familiar with him when she was talking about him, that’s all.”
”All of this is speculation,” he said. ”But you’ve always been able to tell when people are sleeping together.”
I laughed. ”It’s not like you and David were discreet!”
”We were discreet enough,” he said.
”You were teenagers,” I replied. ”You werenotdiscreet. What’s he up to now anyway?”
”We can stalk him on social media later,” he said. ”Anyway, you were talking about the serial killer, and all this speculation.”
I nodded. ”You’re right, but I have a lot that might back this up. Do you want to see my files?”
”Not really, no. If I do end up looking into this, I don’t want to go into it biased. Just promise me you’ll be careful, okay?”
I nodded, feeling the weight of his concern settle on my shoulders. I should have known he would be worried; we lost our mom to violence, too. ”Says the cop,” I replied. ”If anyone should be worried, it should be me.”
”Please,” he said. ”The most exciting thing about my day is when Detective Holden brings donuts to the precinct. Like, not to be a stereotype or anything.”
”Pretty sure that ship sailed already, kid,” I replied.
He flung a pillow at me as he laughed. It missed me by about an inch. ”If you're going to insult me, I'm not going to let you open the next bottle of wine.”
I grinned and put my hands up in surrender. ”Okay, okay, I won't insult you anymore. But seriously, Sam, I'll be careful. I won't take any unnecessary risks. As long as you don't.”
”I don't take unnecessary risks. That's in the job description,” he said, then looked at me, his face softened with a sweet smile. ”I don't want to see you get hurt.”
I leaned my head back against the sofa and closed my eyes, letting the weight of his words settle in. I opened my eyes and looked at Sam, a determined glint in my eye. ”I'll be careful,” I said, ”but I won't stop. I need to know who this guy is. Why he's doing this. Maybe then, the cops will take it seriously.”
Sam shook his head, but I could see the pride in his eyes. He also looked like shit, particularly when he sighed, his skin still pale. ”You're a stubborn one, aren't you?” he said, grinning.
”I learned from the best,” I replied.
”If Mom were here, she would tell you to stop.”
I laughed. ”Please. If Mom were here, she'd be looking into this herself,” I said.
