Page 22 of Six for Gold (The Magpie Rhyme #6)

R omeo sat on the landing , listening as Chad welcomed Ally and Josh into their home. Four days had passed since Keeley’s death and Chad’s phone constantly buzzed with Josh keeping him in the loop for the initial stages of the investigation. He had called that morning, regretfully informing Chad they hadn’t yet apprehended her.

The police were searching for her car and trying to trace her mobile phone.

It wasn’t a flash model that could easily be picked up by towers.

It was old, untraceable, the kind criminals used Josh had said.

Romeo had taken a sledgehammer to it before burying it in the field.

Then Josh had asked if he could come over with Ally.

Chad had been suspicious but hadn’t questioned him over the phone.

Romeo and Chad had speculated while they waited, but all they could come up with was more victims.

“There’s something else,” Josh said, after they’d all greeted each other in the hallway. “Shall ... shall we go in here,”

“I don’t know,” Chad chuckled. “Shall we?”

Ally sighed. “I think we should.”

They moved into the living room. Romeo stared down at the floorboards, wishing he could see through them. Josh hadn’t responded to Chad’s jibe and they both seemed eager to get Chad into the living room.

Somebody closed the door, preventing Romeo from listening any further. He huffed, leaning back against the wall. Voices murmured through the floor, but he couldn’t pick anything out, could only replay Josh’s resigned tone when he told Chad there was something else ...

Mercutio whined at the bottom of the stairs having been locked out of the room. Romeo clacked his tongue softly to the roof of his mouth, and Mercutio thundered upstairs to greet him.

It took another hour for Ally and Josh to leave.

They said their goodbye at the bottom of the stairs, voices low and resigned.

Romeo itched to know why.

“Christmas Day,” Ally announced, putting cheer into her voice. “I expect you round at 1:00 for dinner.”

“I can’t wait...” Chad replied.

Josh burst out laughing. “It can’t be worse than that salmon she tried to cook.”

“She,” Ally said, “is standing right here.”

“Your salmon was lovely.” Chad said, and at the top of the stairs without being able to see his face, Romeo knew it was a lie.

“Where are you this Christmas?” Ally asked.

“At my parents,” Josh answered. “I’m bringing Angel in the afternoon.”

“It’s getting serious then. When should I buy a hat?”

“A hat?”

“For the wedding?”

“As long as that’s not all you’re going to wear— Ouch woman!”

Ally huffed. “You deserved that slap to your arm. Count yourself lucky you got off so lightly.”

“I could arrest you for assault.”

“You dare ... and it’ll be for attempted murder,” Ally replied with thunder in her voice.

“Only attempted ,” Chad interjected.

They laughed, but soon after, fell into silence.

“There’s something I’ve got to tell you,” Chad said. “I was going to wait until after Christmas but...”

“What is it?” Josh asked.

“I’m leaving Bardhum.” He exhaled a hard breath. “I’m going traveling.”

Chad had suggested a fresh start somewhere new, and Romeo had agreed before revealing the ‘runaway kit’ he’d been putting together for almost a year.

Chad had recovered from his shellshock and kissed Romeo on the lips.

“Traveling,” Josh echoed back.

“Yeah. For as long as I can remember I’ve been the detective, but I’m not him anymore. There’s a whole world out there, one that I’ve never even thought about exploring, but now...”

“Now?” Ally pressed.

“I have time, the money, and the thought of it is exciting. It’ll be the start of a new me. One where I can prioritize me and what I want.”

“I think it’s a great idea,” Ally said. “Isn’t it, Josh...”

Romeo frowned when Josh didn’t immediately agree.

“When are you going?” Josh murmured.

“New Year’s Eve. I want to wake up somewhere different on New Year’s Day.”

“Oh, boy,” Josh muttered.

“Hey,” Chad whispered. “What is it?”

“You’re not giving me much of a window to find her.”

Chad exhaled. “Josh...”

“I swore to you I’d get her, but she’s gone, and a week isn’t long enough, not when this has gotten even more complicated.”

Romeo’s frown deepened.

“Stop,” Chad said firmly. “You don’t need to find Keeley for me—”

“Of course I do. I want to give you closure.”

“I’ve got it.”

“How can you possibly—”

“I know the truth. I know what she was doing, not just to me, but others. For months I’ve been tortured by dreams I couldn’t remember. I was losing time, and getting confused, and the week before I jumped, I felt like I was losing my damn mind. I felt like I was going crazy. But now I know I wasn’t. Now I know why. My mind is clearer than it has been in years.”

“But I have to find her. What if she does this to someone else.”

Keeley couldn’t. She could never fill another person’s head with her poison again, but Chad couldn’t tell Josh that.

“I knew there was something off about her.” Ally muttered. “I told you I was one of her clients once.”

“Actually, she told me.”

“Lucky escape.” Ally sighed. “If only I could’ve saved you from her too.”

“You said I was going to die at the hands of a serial killer.”

“That I did, and sometimes it’s exhausting always being right.”

“With age comes wisdom,” Josh said. “And considering your age, you’re practically Master Yoda of the policing world or something.”

“I’d go with the or something ,” Chad mused.

“You two are horrible,” Ally announced. “Christmas dinner at 1:00,” she reminded, “and don’t be late.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Boxing Day pizza?” Josh asked.

“Sounds great.” Chad replied.

“Merc!” Josh called.

Romeo stopped patting Mercutio on the head, and he shot down the stairs.

“What the hell were you even doing up there, bud?” Josh asked him.

Chad smirked. “Probably rolling around on my bed, tearing open the pillows.”

Josh groaned. “Tell me about it, and you didn’t mention he snored ... or farted in his sleep.”

“I couldn’t remember and then when I did ... you’d already found out for yourself.”

“He’s still loveable despite a bit of bad wind.”

“You’re made for each other.”

“Boxing Day,” Josh said. “I’ll come here. I reckon after Ally’s cooking you’ll need a toilet within ten steps at all times or you’ll have an accident.”

“I heard that!” Ally bellowed from outside.

“Go,” Chad said with a chuckle.

He closed the door with a fond sigh.

Romeo came downstairs once the cars were driving away.

“Christmas Day?” Romeo asked.

“I said I’d go round for lunch ... it was that or Ally was going to come here.”

“I’ll prepare you some edible food to take with you.”

Chad scrunched his face. “Probably not a good idea.”

“Why not?”

“I’m a terrible cook. If I show up with decent food, she’ll get suspicious.”

“Point taken. I’ll let you take your specialty of beans on toast.”

Chad laughed softly. He sighed, then itched the back of his head.

“How ... how much of that did you hear?”

“Nothing at all after the door was closed. What did Josh mean things have gotten more complicated?”

Chad gestured to the living room.

Romeo ducked inside first, glancing at Chad over his shoulder. He sat down on the sofa, and Chad sat beside him. Chad’s laptop was open on the coffee table.

“Did they notice the coffee stain on the wall?”

“Ally did. I told her I slipped and threw my coffee.”

Romeo snorted. “And she bought that?”

“She did. Apparently, it’s a very ‘Chad like thing to do’.” He shook his head. “Whatever that means.”

“And did they notice the bruises on your throat?”

“No,” Chad tugged the roll neck of his sweater. “Thanks to this new look. Ally said it suited me. Josh thinks I’m having a mid-life crisis.”

Romeo eased down the top of Chad’s sweater. The purple bruises were hard to stomach, but the red hickey he’d sucked into Chad’s skin made him shift and stroke a finger over the soft skin. Chad captured the finger in his hand and pulled it away.

“As you know, Josh has been investigating Keeley’s involvement in several suicides all over the UK. He had enough evidence to issue an arrest warrant, but so far, she has somehow evaded capture.”

Romeo snorted. “I reckon the worms have started on her now...”

Chad closed his eyes. “What a lovely image,” he shook his head. “Josh got permission to search her house where he found a sizable amount of powdered drugs in her garage. They were sent for testing, and guess what...”

“Zolpidem and LSD?”

“Yep.” Chad bit his lip.

“That was to be expected right?”

Chad nodded. “Josh also found a few laptops and on them...” his shoulder slumped. “She’d been recording the sessions. Recording her intended victims while they were, you know ... passed out on her couch—”

Romeo stiffened. “She recorded you.”

Chad sunk even lower. “Yeah. She recorded me, Romeo. She recorded me out of it. She recorded what she was saying to me and my reaction.”

Romeo pointed to the laptop. “You have the footage?”

“Josh sent me a file, only the one. Him and Ally were worried I might find them triggering, but to be honest, it felt like I was watching someone else. The man in the footage didn’t feel like me. I guess that’s because I can’t remember any of it.”

“I want to see—”

“What good will that do?”

Romeo closed his eyes in a long blink. “If you don’t want me to watch it, I won’t.”

Chad exhaled through his nose. “I don’t want to keep anything from you, but it’s only going to make you want to kill her all over again.”

“I know.”

Chad opened a file up on the laptop. He double clicked on the video but paused it before it started playing.

“She must’ve had a camera on the bookcase,” Chad murmured. “I knew she had speakers, she’d play these tracks, thunder, crashing water, it was part of it. I remember the tracks more than what she was saying to me,” he shuddered, gripping the back of his neck. “I still hear them sometimes. Waves hitting rock. The rush of water. I don’t know whether its from her office or from when I was standing on that bridge.”

Romeo pressed his shoulder to Chad’s. He took Chad’s hand in his, linking their fingers.

“I’m fine,” Chad said.

“You’re not.”

Chad rolled his eyes. “I’m going to be fine. Ready?”

“Ready.”

Chad took a deep breath, then pressed play.

Romeo watched. As he did, he squeezed Chad’s hand tighter and tighter until Chad grunted, then flashed him an apologetic look and let go.

The footage started with a close up of Keeley’s face as she turned the camera on. Chad could be seen over her shoulder, slumped over on the couch. Romeo’s heart sped up. He knew it was coming, but still, seeing Chad like that, vulnerable, at Keeley’s mercy, it made his blood itch.

“Okay?” Chad whispered close to his ear.

“No,” Romeo answered honestly.

“Want me to stop it?”

Romeo shook his head.

Keeley strode around her desk and locked the door. The smile she shot at the camera was the same one she’d shot at the back of Chad’s head when he’d been unaware.

Chad was a conquest to her.

Chad was right. Romeo did want to kill her all over again.

His nostrils flared when Keeley touched Chad, rolling him onto his back. She rested her hand to Chad’s chest, over his heart. Romeo wanted to reach into the footage and snap her fragile wrist.

“That’s better,” she mumbled, before walking across the office.

She snatched something off her desk.

Romeo realized it was a remote control when the soundtrack of crashing waves got louder. Chad shifted beside him, uncomfortable with the sound and whatever it conjured up in his head. Romeo wanted to retake his hand, but feared he’d break all Chad’s fingers in his hard grip.

Keeley pressed down hard on the bridge of Chad’s nose until a low moan escaped him, then she crouched, taking one of Chad’s hands in both of hers.

Then she started speaking.

She told Chad how unhappy he was, how desperate, and lonely.

She told him nobody cared about him, they never had, and they were all out to get him.

Chad’s face twitched as she spoke, a minor ripple across his brow became harsher, and his breathing stuttered in his distress.

Romeo ground his teeth together.

Keeley filled Chad’s head with horrible thoughts about himself.

She spoke about Chad’s mother, Ally, Josh, and Frank too.

She said they hated him.

Romeo tried to keep his breathing under control, but he heaved. His top lip twitched with rage. Chad squeezed his thigh, and he turned to him, searching his face.

The Chad beside him wasn’t in distress. His lips were pressed in a grim line, and his gaze was soft against the harshness of Romeo’s.

“I’m okay,” Chad mouthed.

“The only person you can trust,” Keeley began—Romeo looked back at the footage, seething when he saw how close Keeley leaned to Chad, “is me. My sessions always help you, and you leave feeling unburdened, lighter, but the more time you spend with untrustworthy people, the worse you will feel. It’ll eat away at you until all you can think about is ending it, all you can think about is jumping. You’ll find happiness if you jump, Chad ... when the time is right, you’ll know what to do to end the suffering.”

Keeley let go of Chad’s hand and got to her feet.

She flashed another cruel smile at the camera, cocking her head. “I’ve finally got him.”

Then she reached up and switched off the camera.

“Who was she talking to?” Romeo asked, “Herself or....”

“Someone else.”

Romeo widened his eyes. “Who?”

“Josh hasn’t found that out yet. When he got hold of her laptops and her email addresses, he found out she’d been sending the videos of her ... victims to another address. A Mr. X.”

“Is that a police term?”

Chad snorted. “No. He calls himself Mr. X, and he calls Keeley Mrs. Y. According to Josh, he encourages her. He was ... pleased she’d started on me,” he shook his head. “He also said she’d get bonus points if she managed to get Alexandra to jump with her son.”

“Bonus points?”

Chad hummed. “He sends her videos too.”

“Of what?”

“Josh didn’t want to go into details. Didn’t think it was right to the victims. But he said it was evil, prolonged...”

“Mr. X is a killer too?”

Chad nodded. “And I’ve never seen Josh that pale before when talking about a killer. He thinks Keeley must’ve gotten a tip off that the police were looking into her, and she ran to him. Josh thinks they’re partners in this, encouraging each other’s sick way of committing murder.”

“Mr. X,” Romeo murmured.

Chad closed the laptop. “He and Keeley are Josh’s number one priority.”

Romeo snapped his gaze to Chad. “The missing persons case?”

“It hit a dead end. Josh passed it on to someone else. I’ve never seen him this fired up over a case before.”

“It’s because it involves you. It’s personal. All the best to him, but if we happen to find Mr. X first...”

Chad smiled. “He goes bottom of the list.”

Romeo pouted. “Why?”

“Let’s give Josh a head start. This case could be the making of him.”

“Sportsmanship,” Romeo grinned. “I approve ... for now at least.”

He pushed Chad until he fell to his side on the sofa. Chad pulled his legs up, and rolled onto his back, staring up at Romeo with big eyes.

Romeo took one of Chad’s hands in both of his like Keeley had.

“I could dig her up, strangle her again, maybe even decapitated her just to reassure myself she’s dead.”

“You could do that,” Chad said softly, “Or...”

He grabbed Romeo’s t-shirt and hauled him down. “You can let me reassure you that I’m still alive. She didn’t win,” Chad’s smile twitched. “ He didn’t win either.”

Romeo knew he was talking about Vincent Whitehall.

Chad yanked Romeo’s t-shirt again, pulling his focus back.

“My time hasn’t been poisoned. I enjoy every second I’m with you, and when I look to the future, I see us, happy, fulfilled. Complete.”

“I see that too,” Romeo murmured back. “It’s us against the world.”

“The world’s in trouble then,” Chad said, delivering a coy smile. “Because we’ve already won.”

Romeo leaned over and kissed Chad hard on the lips.