I even get up in the morning, why do I even go to work?”
“Because you’re a bloody good detective.”
“A detective that fell for a serial killer. A detective whose only reason for living is to see him once a week through a sheet of plastic. A detective who just got…”
“Got what?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“You’re under a lot of stress at the moment, things will get better.”
“They’re only gonna get worse as the weeks go by.”
“Stop talking like this.”
Paul cleared his throat. “No, better than that, stop visiting him.”
“Shut up,” Romeo growled at Paul behind him.
“But it’s true. You want your life to go back to normal, you want your colleagues to respect you again, you want the looks and whispers to stop. You want the public to trust you, then all you’ve got to do is admit you’re ill, and stop coming to this prison.”
“Ill?” Chad said.
“Yeah, this is some fucked up Stockholm syndrome.”
“I’m not ill.”
“Visiting a serial killer, one that almost murdered you. The only reason he didn’t was because your colleagues saved you. They got to that farmhouse and got him off of you.”
“That’s not how it was.”
“Maybe it’s not just Romeo who needs to be locked up.”
Romeo turned around. “I’m gonna headbutt you in a minute.”
“That a threat?”
“It’s a promise.”
Paul stepped forward, but Fred pressed a palm to his chest to stop him. Romeo gave him a very obvious death glare, then turned back to Chad.
“I don’t agree with what you did.” Chad said to Romeo. “Killing those people … its unforgiveable. I’m not okay with it like people think. I think of you as two people just to handle it, the countdown killer, and Romeo.”
“I know.”
“I wish you hadn’t done it.” He looked up blinking back tears. “Why do you have to be a killer, Romeo?”
“I told you, it’s in my head, my biology.”
“Yeah, but why?”
“I don’t know. The universe wanted to play its biggest joke.”
“I can’t stop visiting, because if I do, then I’d have nothing. I don’t feel alone when I’m with you … and it was so easy to shut down the killer part of you, ignore it was there, all until this case.” Chad stopped and shook his head.
“You’re tired, you’re hurt, stressed—”
“Sometimes I wish you killed me in that farmhouse.”
Romeo’s mind blanked, he gawped, his eyes started to burn. He didn’t know what the emotion was, but he didn’t like it. His heartrate soared, his chest tightened, and his stomach cramped until he was nauseated.
“Don’t say that. You being alive means everything to me.”
“This isn’t living, though. It feels like waiting, but I have no idea what I’m waiting for…” He paused, then whispered. “I need you.”
Romeo couldn’t tear his eyes from Chad. He saw the plea, the desperation. The detective was gone, and it was Chad begging for him to get out of there. To escape. Tears welled in his eyes, and his lip wobbled, and Romeo wanted to reach for him so badly, but couldn’t.
“Hang in there, Chad.”
“I feel like everything is spiraling out of control, and I don’t know how to slow it down, let alone stop it.”
“I need to know something.” Romeo said carefully.
“What?”
“Have you and your therapist ever discussed the birds and the bees?”
Chad frowned, then slowly shook his head. “No, we haven’t.”
“Never mentioned anything to do with that?”
“No, never.”
“Okay. I—I need to know if you’re…”
“I’m what?”
Romeo lifted his eyebrows, and left it unfinished, but he knew Chad understood the question when his good eye widened, and he threw himself back in his chair
“What?”
Romeo saw the heartbreak in his expression and knew in the instant Chad wasn’t the copycat.
“I’m only asking—”
“How could you think that? You keep saying you know me!”
“I do.”
“Then why would you even…” Chad stood up, wiping his eyes.
“I’ve only got time to kill in here and it was a thought, only a thought, but in here you can’t do anything except sit, and think.”
“Was it a nice thought?”
Romeo swallowed, and didn’t answer. The more he’d thought about it, the more he liked the idea.
“I’m not like you.” Chad snapped. “I’m sorry to disappoint you.”
“I know you’re not. You could never disappoint me.”
“Is that what you’ve been hoping for all this time? Are you still playing games with me, one where you try to turn me, change me?”
“Finally,” Paul laughed. “You’ve seen the light.”
Romeo shook his head. “I’m not playing a game.”
“Really? Life’s just a game, that’s what you said the last time I was here.”
“It is.”
“Whose rules are we playing by? Is it