27. Tallus

Our trip to Olivia’s didn’t give answers, or at least not the ones we hoped for. We ended up with more questions.

As Diem pulled into Olivia Lansky’s neighborhood and veered down the right street, the acrid stench of smoke hung in the air. Since it was a nice night, our windows were down, and the pungent odor assaulted us.

Night had settled in, so the source of the smell wasn’t immediately apparent until Diem’s headlights caught on bright yellow police tape marking the property line of what used to be a house.

“Motherfucker.” Diem pulled the Jeep to the side of the road across from the remains of the Lansky residence. It was nothing more than a burned shell. Blackened windows, charred siding, part of the roof caved in.

“What the fuck?” I leaned closer to the windshield to get a better view. “Are you sure this is where Olivia lives?”

“Yes.” Diem took his phone from the cup holder and searched a news page for answers, cursing again when he found what he was looking for. “The fire department responded to a house fire at eleven fifty-six last night. The fire was well-established when they arrived. It says no one was hurt. The family managed to get out when the couple’s dog alerted them to trouble. They had gone to bed.”

We stared at the burned remains for a long time, neither of us speaking.

“David didn’t do this,” I said.

“I know.”

“He was in custody until this morning.”

“I know.”

“He had an alibi for Beth’s murder.”

“Yep.”

I squirmed, the residual fear from the incident at the university revisiting me. I hadn’t quite processed the fact that I could have died had Diem not shown up and called for help. “What about Natalia?”

Diem shook his head. “I don’t know.”

But he didn’t have to say what I knew he was thinking. These women were connected, but David, the one person who tied them together, couldn’t have been responsible.

“Is Roan’s dad still in custody?”

“I don’t know.”

“They arrested him for the carbon monoxide incident.”

“They questioned him.”

“So they let him walk?”

“If they had no reason to charge him, then probably.”

“Could he be seeking revenge for his son’s murder? Remember in the articles we read, it said he raised hell with the police back in the day. He caused problems. Natalia said he was doing it again. Could he have found out Olivia and Beth were involved? Shit, D. I never discovered what Natalia knew. It all turned sideways before we had a proper conversation.”

Diem didn’t respond. He stared blankly across the street, seemingly deep in thought. His jaw tensed and relaxed several times. His hands held a death grip on the steering wheel.

“Diem?”

“I need a smoke.” He put the Jeep in gear and drove off without another word.

I left him to his thoughts.

Back at the office, he didn’t think twice. He grabbed a pack of cigarettes from his desk and headed back out the door, slamming it behind him. I heard his sign clatter to the ground. Only when I was sure Diem was gone did I open the door and hang it back up. The poor thing had a new crack.

I waited in the part of the office where he lived, inching closer to Baby’s enclosure to admire the loathsome snake. She was back inside her hollowed-out log, coiled tightly, seemingly snoozing. How could you tell if a snake was asleep? Did they have eyelids?

My skin shivered with goose bumps.

“He must have fed you, huh?” Braver, since I wasn’t about to be a boa’s next meal, I squatted, putting myself at eye level. “He swears you aren’t dangerous. Is it true? Do you have murderous thoughts? You can tell me.”

Admiring the habitat Diem had built for his pet, the rocks and vegetation, the warming light emitting tropical heat, and the sensors ensuring her environment was precise, I had to admit, it said something about the man. He cared.

“I’m sorry I called you ugly. For all I know, you’re a beauty queen in the snake world. Those markings might be all the rage.” I chuckled, considering Baby a fashion diva like me. “Can we make a deal? If you promise never to eat me, I’ll promise to stop saying mean things.”

Baby never responded to my proximity, so my heart settled. I tapped the glass, knowing it was probably the wrong thing to do since I’d been to the zoo and seen a million signs on the reptile enclosures warning people not to do such things.

It didn’t make a difference. Baby was content inside her log and didn’t respond.

Diem returned and found me crouched by the aquarium.

“Hey,” I said, straightening. “We were just chatting. We called a truce. She won’t eat me, and I’ll stop name-calling. We didn’t shake on it, but I think she was on board.”

Diem gave me an odd look before glancing at his pet snake. “Do you want to hold her?”

I chuckled. “That would still be a big fat no. Besides, she looks content. Why piss her off?”

Diem didn’t respond. He was the one who didn’t seem content. He was the one I had a strong urge to hold.

“Feel better?”

“No.” He stared at Baby for a long time before meeting my eyes. The storms I was used to seeing were gone, but in their place was something akin to sorrow. “Our case is over. I’m officially closing it. I’ll meet with Faye and tell her Noah wasn’t a cheat. We found no evidence in that regard. If Fox and Doyle want to chat with her about Noah’s involvement in a murder, that’s on them.”

“Wait. What? You’re quitting? Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

“But we don’t have answers. How can—”

“We do. I was not hired to investigate the murder of a kid from 2010. I was hired to check up on potential infidelity.”

“Yeah, but—”

“You already got hurt once, Tallus.” His voice rose, and he clenched his fists before continuing with a softer tone. “I’m not waiting around for it to happen again. I’m done. This is over. It’s not a game. If I keep wading into territory where I don’t belong, I’ll be out of a job, and I can’t afford that. I told myself when I started this business that I wouldn’t butt heads with the department. And here I am doing exactly that.”

“Yeah, but—”

“No. My case. My rules. My decision. We aren’t partners, so you don’t get a say.”

I deflated. Yeah, I knew we weren’t officially partners, and I knew it wasn’t my case, but his words stung.

“What about Olivia? You and I both know that wasn’t a random house fire. There’s no fucking way.”

“I’ll give Doyle a heads-up. He can take it from there.”

Diem couldn’t look at me, which was typical, but it felt different this time. Like I was being dismissed without so many words. I could take a hint.

“Well, fine. I guess I’ll take off then.” But I didn’t move. I crossed my arms like a petulant child, giving him a minute to change his mind.

Diem stood his ground.

I huffed. “It was nice working with you, Guns. I think.”

Irritated, I shoved past him and headed for the door.

“I’ll get you your cut once Faye pays what she owes.”

“You know what? Keep the fucking money. It’s not why I helped you.” I slammed the office door, and the sign fell.

I left it on the ground.

***

The following day was Sunday. I had a pity party for one, lounging all day in my pajamas, ignoring Memphis’s phone calls, watching too much TV, and eating junk food.

I didn’t hear from Diem, but that didn’t shock me.

I flipped through the news sites on my phone more than once, but there were no updates about David Shore or anything surrounding him.

Monday came around, and I threw myself into my work. Kitty was off, so I spent a long time in the crypts, browsing dusty boxes of retired cases, selecting a few, and returning to the computer to input their contents into the system. Usually, I had a bad habit of reading details and spending too long not actually working. Today, it wasn’t an issue. My brain was too occupied to care about unsolved or retired cases.

Time had not erased my anger toward Diem. How could he give up? The whole case was on fire—literally if Olivia’s house was any indication—and he was walking away? Yeah, I understood that what he’d been hired for was essentially solved, but come on. This was golden. This was the intensity I craved. We’d reached the climax of the thriller movie, and Diem shut it off before we discovered who the bad guy was. It was unfair. Some of us wanted answers.

Still, there had been no updates on the case—at least none that had crossed my desk or been broadcasted on the news. I was in the dark and hated every second of it. The itch to know was insatiable.

Later in the morning, unable to sit still, I wandered to MPU. I couldn’t approach my cousin. He had rightfully put me in my place the last time I’d asked him for help, and I didn’t feel I could approach Fox and Doyle since they were already leery about how much Diem and I knew.

So, I figured I’d put on the charm and talk to Valor. We briefly connected during the previous year’s Secret Santa event. It couldn’t hurt. Plus, he might know what was happening with the case. If I played my cards right, he might indulge me in department gossip.

Unfortunately, Valor wasn’t at his desk. He and his partner were out working a case, and no one knew when they would return. Everyone got to do fun shit but me. I left a note with my number, asking him to message me when he had time. A bold move. He could easily tell his husband I was sniffing around, but I didn’t care. It was worth a shot.

It wasn’t until midafternoon that I heard from him.

You were looking for me?Quaid texted.

Tallus: Are you in the building?

Quaid: For a few minutes. What’s up?

Tallus: omw

I landed in MPU five minutes later and found Quaid alone, sipping a coffee, surrounded by paperwork.

“Hey.” I crouched next to his desk to remain inconspicuous. I didn’t need other detectives to wonder why I was hanging around. “How’s married life treating you?”

Quaid smirked. “It’s all right.”

“No little rug rats running around yet?”

“It’s been six months.”

“True. My bad.”

Quaid found something interesting on his desk to look at. “But we’re working on it. It’s… a long process.” Refocusing on me, he asked, “What did you need?”

I pressed my lips together, weighed my options, then blurted. “Did Diem call about Olivia?”

Quaid appeared puzzled for a minute before he glanced toward the hallway that led to homicide’s side of the building. “You’re talking about Az’s case.”

“Yeah.”

“Why would I know anything?”

“You were at the diner when I updated them.”

“So?”

“Come on, Quaid. I’m not stupid. Married people talk in bed at night. I’m sure you know way more than you’re letting on.”

“Why are you asking?”

I sighed. “Diem kicked me out Saturday night. He’s backing off just like your husband wanted.” It took everything in me not to roll my eyes. “But I can’t sit still. I need to know if they’ve made an arrest or sorted out what the hell is going on. It’s driving me crazy.”

“Diem kicked you out? I’m sorry. I didn’t know you two… I mean, Az said he thought—”

“No, no. It’s not like that. I mean, it’s kind of like that. Only… we weren’t dating. I was just… helping. And now I’m not.”

God, I sounded like an idiot. I may as well have told him we’d fucked it out a couple of times, but everything about those encounters felt too hard to explain. They weren’t typical.

Quaid stared for a long time as though processing and analyzing the situation.

“Please?” I added. “I’m not blabbering this everywhere. I swear.”

“Krause passed along the information about the fire. Az looked into it. The fire department confirmed it was arson. There’s an open investigation, but it could take months. They brought Olivia in about an hour ago. They’re talking to her right now.”

My skin prickled. Oh, to be a fly on the wall in the interview room.

Quaid must have read my thoughts. “I can’t give you more than that. Anyhow, I don’t know more.”

“Olivia does. She has all the answers. She’ll close this case for them.”

“Hopefully.” Quaid spun his coffee mug on the desk. “A word of advice. You need to back off, and I say this in the nicest way I know how. I don’t know how you came into contact with Krause, but digging your nose into confidential cases with the department will get you fired. Potentially charged. I don’t want that for you.”

I sighed. “I know.”

“Are you working for him?”

“No.” It hurt to admit it because I had truly enjoyed acting as Diem’s partner.

“Az and Torin will sort it out. They always do, and when the case is closed, you’ll have all the answers.”

He was right, as much as I hated to admit it.

I rapped my knuckles on Quaid’s desk and stood, doing my best to look unaffected. “Thanks for the chat.”

Before I could head back to my lonely office as an underling who didn’t matter, Quaid called out, “Text Costa. Mend those bridges. He’s a good person to have on your side, Tallus.”

I glanced back at the blond detective, who earnestly studied me with an expression I couldn’t quite read. “I’m getting there.”

“I’m just saying, get there faster.”

I took the elevator to the first floor, pondering my situation and the events of the past few weeks. What I wouldn’t give to have a different job.

In the crypts again, I mulled over cases, reading and wondering about all the unsolved murders and people who had remained missing for decades. Miserable, I even declined a call from Memphis at half past four. I didn’t want to tell him I was back to business as usual. I didn’t want to pretend the bond I’d developed with Diem—both business and personal—meant nothing, and I wasn’t affected by its untimely end.

Because I was.

At five, bored and counting the minutes until I could go home, someone came through the door to my sanctuary. When I glanced up from the computer and found Doyle—without his sidekick partner—I flinched.

“To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit, Detective?”

He sauntered to the counter and leaned with a knowing smirk. “I hear you were buttering up my husband today. Tsk, tsk.”

I huffed. “A man can’t have any secrets around here.”

“How hard did you flirt?”

“What? I didn’t flirt. Why would you say that?”

He chuckled. “Because it’s a good course of action when schmoozing for information. FYI, if you did, Quaid was likely oblivious. He never notices those things.”

“Well, I didn’t flirt.” I crossed my arms, affecting an affronted stance. “What did you need?”

“I can’t get ahold of Krause. I was going to update him on what we discovered. I figured I owed him.”

I dropped my arms, ears perked. “And?”

“And since he’s likely avoiding my calls, I thought maybe you could touch base and tell him to give me a shout.”

“But… What did Olivia say?”

Doyle arched a brow.

“Oh, come on. Please. Did she confirm Noah was in the car?”

Doyle, the prick, made me suffer. He stared and smirked and tsked some more. Then he put me out of my misery. “You two were on the right track.”

“What do you mean?”

“Tell Krause to call me.” Doyle pushed away from the counter and headed for the door.

“Next time, I will flirt with your husband, and I can lay it on real nice and thick, so he sees it too.”

Chuckling, Aslan spun, pressing his back to the door. It was half open. “Noah was driving the car that hit Roan Guterson. Beth and Olivia were passengers. Shore had let them take his vehicle to run to the store and get snacks. He covered for them because he was the person who sold them the drugs to begin with. All three of them were high, and it was Shore’s secret party they’d been at all night. It would have cost Shore everything if people found out. He would have lost his tenure.”

“No shit.”

Doyle made a zipper motion at his lips, chucking the key away. “It will all come out soon, but until then, mum’s the word.”

“Of course.”

Doyle aimed to leave, but I called after him. “Wait. What about Beth? And the fire?”

“We’re still working on that. We have the Guterson kid’s dad in custody again. The man has fourteen years of anger inside him. His son’s death sent his life spiraling out of control.”

“So you think it was him?”

“Like I said, we’re working on it.”

Then Doyle was gone, the door falling shut with a bang.

I took a second to absorb what he’d told me before grabbing my phone and connecting a call to Diem. When his voicemail picked up, I worried Doyle was right and Diem was screening his calls. Maybe he didn’t want to talk to me either. Of course he didn’t. Fuck me. That wasn’t going to fly. I could be super annoying if I wanted to be.

I had ten minutes left until I could lock up for the night. I tried to reach him two more times with no better luck. At five thirty, I headed out the door, figuring I’d pop over to his office and deliver the message face-to-face.