Page 107 of Kill Your Darlings

“Exactly,” Kyle said.“And vice versa I knew it the first night we went to dinner.”

“Right,” Adrien said.“In fact, it became obvious that Finn wasalsosick with worry—aboutyou.”

I said, “You’ve used that phrase twice and I object.It’s cliché.Vague and physiologically nonspecific.It’s faux-vivid.It reads like placeholder emotion.”

“Ouch,” Christopher and Kyle murmured.

Adrien was unmoved.In the meantime, Colby had been dropping hints about how he couldn’t wait to hear from you regarding his recent submission based on an actual still-open cold case that occurred in Steeple Hill some twenty years ago.”

I didn’t move a muscle.Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Finn standing motionless by the wet bar.

“What he didn’t realize,” Adrien said, “is that we had insider knowledge.”He looked at Kyle.

Kyle met my eyes, his expression contrite.“Sorry, Keiran.I only know of one cold case in Steeple Hill.The disappearance of Dominic Baldwin and Milo Argyros.It happened about twenty years ago.You still lived here then.You’d have been the same age, gone to school with them, probably.”

I said, “I’m aware of the case—cases.”The penny dropped.I gaped at them, stammered, “W-W-wait a second.Are you doing a summation gathering onme?”

“What’s a summation gathering?”Finn’s frown transferred itself from the others to me.

“It used to be called the drawing room reveal.It’s a Golden Age mystery trope.The sleuth gathers their suspects in a drawing room—well, any room.It could be a train car or-or a ship’s cabin—”

“This is why I hate Golden Age mystery,” Finn said.

At the heavy knock on the door, we all—well, not Finn—but the rest of us, jumped like Cub Scouts listening to ghost stories around a campfire.

Finn growled, “That’s J.X., you menaces to society,” and went to answer the door.

Kyle said, “We’re not doing a summation gatheringonyou, Keiran.We’re doing itwithyou.Because if you were involved in those disappearances, but youdidn’tkill Colby—”

“I did not kill Colby,” I said.“I haven’t killed anyone.So far.”

“See, that’s the thing, though,” Adrien said.“If you’re just a witness, then you’re in a hell of a lot of danger.That drowning wasn’t accidental.The police aren’t giving out a lot of information, but we did get that much.”

“Jake got that much,” Christopher said, and Adrien nodded as if it was the same thing.

Maybe it was.

Finn opened the suite door, J.X.handed over the ice bucket and called, “Kit, I’ll be in the bar when you’re done torching your career.”

“Save me a seat,” Christopher called back.

Adrien said to me, “What you’re not doing is denying receiving a manuscript from Colby.Or denying that you were a witness to…something.”

“A witness to something,” I said.“That narrows it down.”

The clink of ice cubes dropped in glasses filled the sudden silence.

Christopher said, “Let’s not forget.Keiran’s not the only person at the conference Colby was obsessed with.He kept trying to attach himself to TM.”

“Theodore Mansfield?”I had a sudden uneasy memory of Rudolph wandering in from the pool the night Colby had been murdered.

Granted, Finn had spotted three women heading out to the hot tub after that.

Still…I hadn’t noticed the body immediately.It would have been dark.They’d probably been drinking.

Kyle clarified, “T.McGregor.”

Somewhere in the distance I heard Christopher saying, “Nowthere’ssomeone who reads his own PR.What an ego.J.X.doesn’t think he was even on the force.”