Two for Joy - Louise Collins Page 0,59
unsettling, but what I do know is if you loved Chad, you would’ve been out there looking for him. You would’ve done everything in your power, gone through every obstacle to find him.”
Neil closed his eyes.
“But you didn’t. You went to the Canster Times and had articles written about him. You cashed in, not knowing if he was dead or alive.”
“He’d broke up with me.”
“That how you justify it?”
Neil didn’t answer.
“And at his lowest, when he needed help, he went to you, and you sold him out again, but this time to the police.”
“He’d already gone—”
“You didn’t know that. You thought he was coming back. He probably would’ve if he hadn’t been so stupid and went off without back up.”
Romeo walked away, stopping by the sideboard when he saw car keys glinting.
“You can’t leave me like this.”
“You’re one of the lucky ones, most people on their own I leave dead.”
“Where are you even going?”
He took the keys. If the police were on his tail, he needed to be able to get away fast. He’d enjoyed driving Neil’s Porsche the first time and wanted a repeat.
“I’m gonna find him. Thanks for lending me the car. I’ll take care of her.”
“The car … wait—leave my Porsche alone.”
“You care more about that car than Chad. Did you buy it with the money you made on him?”
Neil didn’t answer.
“Well, now you can go running to Marc Wilson again and sell him this story, how the countdown killer broke into your house, tied you up, threatened you.”
“Not likely.”
Romeo stopped by the doorway. “Why, you got a conscience now?”
“Marc doesn’t work for the Canster Times anymore.”
Romeo froze, a sinking feeling settled in his gut, and with it brought a coldness beneath his skin. He walked back towards Neil on the floor. “Why not?”
“They fired him six months ago.”
A memory of the farmhouse came back to Romeo, the articles pinned to his wall, he told Chad he thought Marc Wilson was a fan, but Chad got angry, replied Marc was just like him, messed up in the head.
Marc Wilson, his champion, his glorifier, his memento maker.
Neil tried to wriggle away. “You said you’d let me live.”
“Shut up. Why did Marc lose his job?”
“I don’t know.”
Romeo glared as much as he could with one eye.
“The rumor is he got fired, something about drugs.”
“Drugs?”
“Yeah, I hear he was taking all sorts. When I first met him in the hotel, I was nervous, tense—”
“Because you were about to betray Chad.”
“Marc kept offering me stuff … something to take the edge off, get me to relax. I didn’t know what any of it was, I didn’t take it. I think he got worse, using drugs to influence people in interviews … it’s even said that he was the one that gave James Clerk his fix that night he got photographed.”
“He set him up…”
“His eyes used to light up when I told him secrets about the case. I could literally see him mentally counting all the money he was going to make.”
“More likely the details excited him…” Romeo muttered under his breath.
“Then after Chad found out, I told Marc I wasn’t going to give up any more information on the case. He got angry, real angry, then like a switch, he was charming, offering me more—drugs, money, whatever I wanted, so much I couldn’t refuse. He’s got a dark side, and the Canster Times finally took notice.”
“And fired him.”
“Yeah.”
“He can’t have been happy about that … maybe he felt like he’d lost all control.”
“Probably. He definitely seemed uptight, ordered, if a little strange. Then the Canster Times rubbed salt into the wound…”
“How?”
“They let Holly Stevenson take over from him. He’d been her mentor, they’d been dating, engaged at one point, but overnight he lost his girlfriend and his job.”
“Holly…” Romeo whispered.
“Yeah. I don’t know why, but she seems to have a personal vendetta against Chad—
Romeo held his hand up, a clear signal that Neil should stop talking. “I’m aware of her hatred towards Chad. Where does Marc live?”
“Why do you want to know?”
Romeo pressed his foot down on Neil’s stomach, moving most of his weight to it as Neil struggled for breath.
“Okay, okay, I’ve never been there, but it’s on the outskirts of Histon. Hollytree House. There’s a load of big properties, lots of land between them, all fancy names instead of numbers. I couldn’t afford a place there, but that was the dream.”
“Wait, that sounds familiar…”
“Familiar?”
Romeo snapped his fingers. “Number three lived around there.”
“Number three?”
“Georgie Porter.” Romeo said. “I think I’ll