Spooky Business (The Spectral Files #3) - S.E. Harmon Page 0,89

lose his trust fund. So maybe he’d killed Joey to remove temptation from his life—the old “if I can’t have you, no one can” complex.

Of course, that complex could also apply to Milo. He’d already told me that Joey and Alex’s relationship made him uncomfortable. He also had no real alibi for the day Joseph was murdered. Sitting home alone watching television was just as bad as having your mother vouch for your whereabouts. First we braided each other’s hair and polished our toenails. Then, we linked arms and sat on the couch the whole night, I swear.

We also still had to locate a few people—namely, Dillon Cooper. I needed to see if a kid with a minor crush, sitting on some terrible allegations, had caused some major trouble. Then, there was Sara Jamison, the jealous ex-wife with a hot temper. Maybe she’d gotten a little tired of Joey in her husband’s life and had taken matters into her own manicured hands.

We also hadn’t tracked down the mysterious PI that I only knew by the name Rex. Hell, I didn’t even know if that was his real name. All I had on Rex was a vague description, a black Silverado, and a missing thumb drive.

Kevin had added several dossiers of disgruntled parents that Joey had run-ins with, and they were a motley looking crew. He seemed especially keen on a woman named Donna Stout, who’d been arrested for a little bit of everything, from DUIs to domestic abuse.

I read the dossiers thoroughly, but I wasn’t convinced. Joseph’s murder felt more personal than that. Someone had brought him to that fair because it was meaningful, and Joey went willingly. He’d been comfortable with his killer. Trusted him, even.

That brought me back to a truth I couldn’t ignore. I shuffled the pictures in the murder book until Valerie Carr’s was on top. His mother was already proven to be a killer, multiple times over. What if Joseph had found out that Valerie killed his birth mother? Would she have killed even her most precious person to make sure her secret stayed safe?

My phone vibrated in my hand. I was fully prepared to send it to voicemail until I checked the screen and saw Danny’s picture. “You’ve got good news,” I said by way of greeting. “I can already feel it.”

“As usual, your psychic powers are shit.” I could hear the amusement in his voice. “I talked to Sara Jamison. She has an ironclad alibi for the day Joseph was murdered.”

“Yeah, like what?”

“She was in jail. Her second DUI,” he said. “I verified it with the arresting officer. He remembered her because she was, and I quote, the most belligerent fucking drunk I’ve ever dealt with. But also the hottest.”

I processed that for a moment before I cursed. “You people are determined to throw ice water on my investigation, aren’t you?”

He chuckled. “On a positive note, my contact finally has a lead on that Dillon guy. He lives with his grandmother in low-income housing down in West Miami. I’ll probably head there after I finish settling this domestic.”

I blinked. “A domestic between who? And where are you, exactly?”

“I’m still at Sara’s apartment. She and her husband started arguing when she said Alex was the love of her life. He tossed a glass of soda in her face, and she threw a toaster at him. Clipped him on the shoulder pretty good.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yep.” He sighed. “Toaster still had a piping hot bagel in it.”

I struggled and failed to hold in an inappropriate laugh. Domestic situations were far from funny, but goddamn. There wasn’t enough time to unpack all that crazy. “Where are they now?”

“He’s in the back of an ambulance hollering obscenities, and she’s in the back of my squad car doing the same.”

“They sound like a match made in heaven.”

“Or the other place.”

I snorted. “Don’t worry about picking up Dillon. I can take this one.”

“Yeah? You don’t mind?”

“Of course not.”

He paused. “You will take someone with you, won’t you?”

I sighed exasperatedly. “Are you ever going to stop worry warting?”

“Are you ever going to stop putting yourself in dangerous situations?” he countered. “And yes, that was absolutely rhetorical. See if Kevin’s free.”

I briefly debated how to get Kevin’s attention. I could get up like a decent person and go find him, or I could go the lazy route and just yell. My ass immediately voted for the latter of those options. Kevin usually had his office door open, so the odds he’d hear