Slenderman by CeeRee Fields (good novels to read TXT) 📗

account is affiliated with the game character to tell us about his secret buddy?” Redden asked.

“Sic Scotland Yard on his ass. If our killer hit in Brazil, all bets are off.”

“If we go all out, he’ll run.” Redden rubbed his neck.

“Then only grab the Serioulias guy and tell Scotland Yard we can’t let him talk to anyone and why. They’ll want to keep other people safe as much as we do. But our going slow and careful isn’t working.” Jo slammed her fist on the table. “Especially if he’s killed again. We need that name. We need to know why he said nothing when Scotland Yard came to ask about his account.” She scooped up the last of her raspberries and shoved them in her mouth. Just as she stood to follow Ian while he called his boss, her cell belted out Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog. “Sullivan, did you know I was going to call you? Are we sharing a brain now?”

“Nope, but we’ve got a case, it’s a double murder. Forensics is saying it’s two shooters while our people are saying it’s one. So I’m pulling off at your exit now and will be picking you up in ten minutes. Why what do you have for me?”

“I’ll fill you in on the way.” She turned to Ian and Redden. “Have a safe trip Ian, and call as soon as you confirm it’s Slenderman.”

Redden cleared his throat. “Since there’s not much I can do with this case I can’t do in California, my bosses have assigned me to their field office for the next few weeks. There’s a killer torturing people in the sewer system.”

“But if we get a lead you’ll be back?” Jo asked.

“Yes. Or if the sewer case gets solved, I’ll come back here.”

“Okay.” She wasn’t sure how she felt about both of the guys leaving. However, they’d not had a breakthrough except for Rhys’s account sharing idea, and the two agents didn’t need to be here for that. It was a good time to get a fresh set of eyes on the case. She’d ask Karma and Maker to bring Abe and go through everything again to see if she, Redden, Ian, or Sullivan had missed anything.

She needed to talk to Allen again. He could tell her if Serioulias had always acted like this or if it began at the time of Mark’s murder.

~ ~ ~

She met Sullivan in the driveway. “We need to take your car. Mine is making that weird pinging sound again.”

Shaking her head, she headed back inside. “We’ll drop it off at Hanover’s tomorrow so he can look at it.”

“Fine.”

They climbed into her Mustang. She pulled out of the garage and onto the road. As they drove to the crime scene, Jo filled him in on Ian and Redden’s movements and then told him about Rhys’s idea.

Sullivan tapped his fingers on the console between them. It was a clear sign to he had something on his mind, but didn’t know how to broach it.

“Just say it, Sullivan.” Jo flipped her turn signal on and changed lanes. The tapping was stomping on her last nerve.

“Don’t be pissed.”

“Don’t be an ass, we’ve been partners for ages, just say it.”

“Fine,” Sullivan’s growl rivaled Jo’s Mustang in volume. “Are you sure you want to marry Rhys?”

Confused, she twisted to meet her partner’s gaze before jerking her attention back to the road. “What the hell?”

“Well, you don’t want to choose anything for the wedding. It’s been like pulling teeth.”

“I want this wedding. I love him, but all this pomp and crap . . . it’s not me. My mom’s all gung-ho for bright colors.” She wove in and out of traffic, drawing ever closer to Avondale. When he didn’t break the silence with his opinion, she caved and gestured to her black long-sleeved shirt and black bootcut pants. “I’m not a bright color kind of person. If we were playing a drinking game ‘Never have I ever . . . worn bright colors,’ I’d win the round. Unless we’re talking lingeri—”

“No. We are never discussing underwear, Josephine. Swear to God I will jump from the car first.”

She snorted, glad she’d finally gotten him to break. “Anyway, if my stepfather didn’t have all these relatives and my mom had an older child, then I’d be able to elope. I want Rhys locked in.”

“What? You think he’s looking—”

“No. I mean when his ex-fiancé was here last year, yeah I think he was wondering what if, you know? But now? No, I wanted something quiet. Something simple because as much as I hate all the attention a wedding draws. I’d rather hurry that part up and get to the honeymoon. I told Rhys we should elope in Gatlinburg. Just me, him, and a hot tub.”

“Wait. You were planning to get married in a hot tub? Isn’t that more Vegas style than Gatlinburg?”

Jo snarled. “No. I wanted a quiet ceremony in my jeans and a black shirt with Rhys in jeans and the burgundy sweater that makes him look like a hot librarian. Then after the wedding, it would be him and me in a hot tube.”

“You have a hot tub in your backyard.”

Jo shrugged it was true, but with life, it was hard to have sexy hot tub time. “I wish Mom would listen, you know?”

“Get Terry to help you.”

“Ya think?”

Sullivan nodded. “She seems to be able to talk your mom off the ledge on most of the over the top things like your mom booking that country club.”

“God, I know. I was so glad Terry was there to intervene.”

“That’s what a maid of honor is supposed to do. Oh yeah, Terry mentioned the Botanical Garden. Which one?”

“I wanted it at Birmingham, but they couldn’t accommodate three hundred people who have RSVP’d. So we went with Huntsville.”

“That’s perfect.”

“Right? With his mother’s love of gardening and Rian and Rhys—”

“You wanted them to feel as if they have a piece of her.”

“Exactly. I would have pushed to have it in our backyard to