Hello My Angel - Sue Brown Page 0,41

to be together. Cal’s large hands roamed up and down Josh’s spine while Josh wrapped his arms around Cal’s neck to get closer to him. He was just thinking that maybe they could take this a stage further when there was an unwelcome thump on the door.

“Get your asses out here,” Rick bellowed. “We’ve got a problem.”

Cal gave Josh one last kiss and stared at him. “I’m going to kill them.”

“I’ll help,” Josh promised. “After coffee.”

The next thump was so hard the huge abstract paintings rattled against the walls.

“Coming,” Cal snarled.

“No, we’re not,” Josh muttered.

“Later,” Cal promised as he opened the door.

Rick scowled at them. “You took your time.”

“Fuck off,” Josh said. “Did you make coffee?”

“Yeah. It’s done. Mullins is dead.”

Josh furrowed his brow. “We know already, Stephen called us, but how do you know?”

Rick rolled his eyes. “We’ve got contacts too. My mate works for the river police.”

“You know…?” Josh really didn’t want to think about it, let alone say it.

“Yeah,” Rick said grimly.

“And you know about Brenner?”

Rick looked startled. “What about him?”

“He’s gonna be knocking on our door real soon.”

“Coffee,” Rick muttered. “Tea’s made, Cal.”

Cal smiled at him wearily. “You’re the best, Rick.”

“Course I am. Even the princess knows that.”

Josh was too tired and uncaffeinated to think of a comeback. He’d work up to it later.

The living area was now a hive of activity. Max and Gil were at the bank of monitors on the table, Dave peering at the smartboard next to it.

“Where did you get the new equipment from?” Josh asked.

Max blinked at him. Josh gave it up as a stupid question.

Rick handed Josh a soupbowl-size mug of coffee and Cal a more modest mug of tea. No one said hello or good morning. They were all wearing clothes from the previous day, now rumpled and creased, and they looked over-tired and drawn. It was nearly five, pitch-black outside, and rain lashed the windows. A grim start to a grim day.

Cal squinted at the map on the smartboard. Josh handed Cal his glasses and he put them on without protest for once.

“Thanks, Angel. What’s this, Dave?”

“Where Mullins was picked up. I’m checking the river currents. The boys are looking at the CCTV footage. We don’t know if he got swept downstream and got caught on the buoy or he was dumped into the river there.”

Josh didn’t ask how Max had already obtained the CCTV footage. He didn’t care. He sipped slowly at the black coffee, feeling the warmth spread through him.

Everyone was busy. He wandered over to the window to drink his coffee, staring out but not really seeing beyond raindrops chasing each other down the pane of glass. He was missing something. What was it? The brutality of Mullins’s death shocked him. Chyna was escalating. What the fuck was he not seeing? Different MO for killing, or not killing in Weatherly’s case. It was all so random. Or was it?

“What are you thinking, Angel?”

Cal’s hand was warm and comforting on his shoulder, and Josh patted it absently.

“I’m missing something,” he murmured.

“More coffee?” Cal asked.

“Please.”

The hand went away. Josh barely noticed. He grabbed his latest notebook from the table and flicked through it. Cal waited for him to finish, then handed him the coffee.

“Any ideas?”

Josh hummed. “Maybe. I don’t think it helps.”

Cal sat on the edge of the table and waited.

“One of the things that doesn’t make sense is her MO is all over the place. She never does the same thing twice. Shooting, stabbing, throwing people off buildings, running them down; it’s confusing and there’s no pattern to her violence. Most killers have a favored method of killing. Not Chyna. She just does it all.” Josh took a slug of the fresh coffee, feeling it burn through him.

“She could be trying to confuse us.”

Josh shook his head. “I don’t think so. Maybe she’s tailoring the method to the victim.”

“Go on,” Cal said.

“Gideon got a bullet through the throat as he was about to speak. Dan was stabbed. A stab to the heart. To hurt Jesse who’d taken away her brother. Hazel was thrown away like yesterday’s trash. Unimportant.”

Cal nodded slowly. “Mullins?”

“Everyone knew he didn’t have the balls for the job.”

“And Weatherly?”

Josh really didn’t want to say it, but…

“She’s got fingers in every pie.”

Cal winced. “You could be right.”

Josh shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know that it helps at all.”

“It’s one more piece of information about her and her motives. Let’s add it to the smartboard.”

“You do that. I need to write up my notebook.”

Josh still needed