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“Speaking of killers, Detective Polsner texted me he found new evidence. He wants me to contact him,” I tell him, grabbing some popcorn from the bowl.

“He did? Oh, Serena must be done by now.”

“Done?"

He grabs his phone from the coffee table. “I checked the last victim’s work files. Maybe he’d met the killer before? Or one of his clients did.”

“Plausible,” I say.

“Right? But Mr. Thomas only had paper files in his office. Which are… blah.” He fake gags. “The police didn’t find a laptop at his place.”

“Maybe the killer took it to cover his tracks,” I suggest.

“That’s what Uri said as well. But his mother’s house was two blocks down from his home, and that’s where his laptop was.”

“How did you…?” I let the words die, already aware of Rami’s under-the-table methods. “But aren’t you afraid to get caught? You act so casual talking about the police and doing illegal things.”

“I’m mega careful not to leave any trace. Plus, Linda is a friend of a couple of Chicago police chiefs. And the Superintendent of Police is one of the many prominent people who consults Meg when in need of a work-related psychiatric evaluation. Should I go on?”

“Wow, Meg is really the GOAT.”

“She sure is. Linda is a badass as well. Anyway, the therapist’s laptop had files on each patient in the last three years. They were very thorough. After the first three, I was so bored, a knife in the eye sounded like a good idea. So I let Serena do it. Here.” He passes me the bowl still filled with popcorn.

“Why did you make it if you had no intention of eating?”

He shrugs, his eyes not moving from the screen. “Hoped the smell would wake you up. Serena, darling, are you done with the shrink’s laptop?”

“Yes, gym rat,” Serena hilariously answers.

“Thank you so much for that,” he mutters at me.

“Oh, you aresowelcome,” I reply with a very satisfied smile.

“Hello, Michael.”

“Serena, how are you today?” I ask her.

“My processors are delivering an outstanding performance while consuming low battery, which equates to very well, thank you.”

“Darling?” Rami interjects.

“So… cozy.” I wiggle my eyebrows suggestively at him.

“Ewww. She’s my baby, I’m not an incestuous perv!”

“Then why doesn’t she call you daddy?”

“You’re right, Michael. It makes sense,” Serena happily utters.

“Fuck! Why does she listen to you?” Rami grumbles.

I snicker. “She’s amazing. When did you… make her?”

“I started working on an AI assistant when I was sixteen. But it took me years to create the sophisticated Serena. She’s my favorite baby.”

“Thank you, Daddy.”

I laughed noisily, but I’m blown away by Rami’s brainpower.