the casinos?” Joel figured that had to be the—
“Nah. He got barred from them long ago. It was an off-the-books game. Invite only. Donnie knew someone who got him in a few times. But…come to think of it…” A nod. “He lost heavily during his last run. Very heavily. That’s why he was so mad.” Her fingers fluttered near the bruises on her neck. Bruises she hadn’t yet covered with makeup. “He wanted that ring back. Said it meant something to him. I bet he was gonna try and get it back.”
Joel figured they needed to talk to the man who ran the card game. “Where’s the game?”
“At the Serpent.”
He had zero clue what the hell that was. Chloe nodded, though. Like it was a thing she completely understood.
“But you got to know someone to get in,” Cinnamon rushed to add. “Not like just anyone from the street can head in for a game.”
“Don’t worry. I know someone.” Chloe smiled at her. “Thank you.”
Cinnamon whirled away.
“What color were his eyes?” Chloe inquired quietly.
Cinnamon stiffened. “What are you talking about?”
“The man in the ski mask. What color were his eyes?”
Cinnamon turned back toward her. “I didn’t see his eyes.”
“But there were eye holes in the mask?”
“I don’t know. I was too busy looking at Donnie’s body to pay attention!” Her voice broke. “Your two minutes are up. Leave me alone. I mean it. Stay away.” This time, she grabbed once more for the door handle, obviously intending to shut them out. And probably then lock them out.
“What about the baseball bat?” Joel heard himself ask.
A tremble worked over Cinnamon’s body.
“Did you get a good look at that?” he pushed.
“I didn’t get a good look at anything.” She wrenched the door shut.
He exhaled and tried to ignore the fact that the alley smelled way too much like piss. “She’s lying.”
“Yes. She didn’t have a garbage bag with her. She wasn’t coming out to dispose of the trash.”
“No, no, I mean…she saw the baseball bat.”
“Well, certainly she did.” But Chloe didn’t look at him. She was peering at the wall near the door. “More flecks. There’s so much crap out here that I bet the crime scene techs didn’t notice it all.”
“Why did she lie about the baseball bat?”
“Because she doesn’t want us to know what she saw. She’s scared. Scared people lie.” Said very matter-of-factly.
“Don’t you want her to tell us the truth?”
“She did. Partly. We’ll go to the Serpent and learn more.”
“What in the hell is the Serpent?” And how did Chloe know about the place?
“When the door opened, I had to stand right…here.” She waved her hand. “And if you were to hit me from behind, the blood spatter from my head wound—if I were about seven inches taller, you know, Donnie’s height—the spatter would fly so that a portion of it hit the side of the door. The side, and the interior section. The interior was cleaned. The side wasn’t. That’s why I could still see some drops. When the door is shut, you forget to clean the side.” A brisk nod. "I’ll have to make sure Cedric knows this.”
“Wait.” He curled his hand around her shoulder.
She shivered.
It was sweltering out there. She couldn’t be cold.
Her head turned toward him. Her gaze seemed very, very intent.
“Chloe?”
“The blood spatter indicates the door was open. But Cinnamon told us she peeked out after she heard the screams. Her story isn’t matching with the evidence.” A sigh. “She’s not just lying to us. She’d hiding something very big.”
“Why?”
“Probably because she’s terrified. We’ll find a way to make her talk, don’t worry. Meanwhile, Cedric can work his magic here.” Her gaze darted to his hand. “Do you know that you’re still touching me?”
“Do you know that you shiver when I touch you?”
“Yes, I do. It’s because I feel like an electric current travels through my whole body when you put your hand on me. Very unsettling.”
What. The. Actual. F—
“It won’t distract me, though. Don’t worry about that.”
“I was not even a little bit worried about that.” Damn. They were in a stinking alley, and he was thinking about tugging her closer. Seeing if he could turn her shiver into something much, much more. “The Serpent.”
She pulled away from him. Sent off a text on her phone. No doubt to Cedric. Then she walked toward the mouth of the alley with her head down.
“Are you going to tell me what the Serpent is?” Joel demanded as he trailed behind her. “Or do I just