Page 21 of Dead Serious: Case 3 Mr Bruce Reyes

“This is so unfair,” Chan interrupts before Harrison can say anything. “Am I the only one here who can’t see Dusty?”

“I can’t.” Danny raises his hand.

“Finally, someone on my team.” She high-fives his raised palm.

“Well”—Danny adds as a caveat—“not without being on some heavy-duty drugs anyway.”

“What do you mean?” Chan says curiously.

“While I was in the hospital and they had me on morphine, I caught a glimpse of Dusty. Although to be fair, I thought she was an hallucination at the time.”

“Drugs, you say?” Chan muses.

“No,” I say flatly.

“I wasn’t going to.” She rolls her eyes. “I don’t take anything stronger than paracetamol.”

“It’s true,” Dusty nods. “Chan hates taking any kind of medication.”

“But maybe alcohol would work the same way,” Chan says thoughtfully as she taps a long, painted fingernail on the side of her mug.

“Don’t you dare,” Dusty replies.

“Dusty says don’t you dare,” I dutifully repeat.

“It was just a thought,” Chan pouts. “I want to see Dusty too.”

“And you thought being on sick leave was going to be boring,” I mutter to Danny.

Dusty frowns. “I’m not quite sure what I’ve walked into the middle of here.”

“You and me both. How’s the boyfriend anyway?” I reply and I suddenly realise that here, in front of the others, I don’t have to hide. I don’t have to mumble to Dusty under my breath or ignore her. I feel myself relax because they can see her too—well, okay, Chan and Danny can’t, but they know she’s real.

“Bruce is not my boyfriend,” she says innocently as she picks at one perfectly manicured nail.

“You spend all of your time either with him or talking about him, and you’ve met his parents.”

“Well, that’s where you’re wrong, smarty pants.” She smirks. “I haven’t met his parents. They’re still alive, actually.”

“But you’ve met the rest of his family,” I counter.

“That’s not the point.”

“He’s totally your boyfriend.” I sip my tea again. “Quit being such a baby.”

“Dusty’s always had commitment issues,” Chan interjects, having got the gist of the conversation.

“I don’t have commitment issues per se,” Dusty huffs. “Bruce and I just haven’t exactly defined the nature of our… dalliance.”

“Dalliance? My goodness, milady, how scandalous.” Harrison’s tone is so dry, it practically begs for a layer of moisturiser.

“Shut up, Prickles.” Dusty glares at Harrison before turning back to me. “I’m just saying we haven’t exactly had the chance to talk.”

“Must be really hard to talk with someone’s penis in your mouth twenty-four seven,” Harrison mutters under his breath. Dusty shoots daggers at him with her eyes.

“Alright, alright. That’s enough, you two,” I interject. “Dusty, to be fair, you do seem to have his penis in your mouth more often than not. I know this because you tell me constantly. As for you, Harrison, you’re coming across rather judgey.”

“It’s his default setting.” Dusty stares him down, her arms crossed over her chest. “Maybe if he removed that stick from his arse, he’d–”