Page 62 of Watch Me

“No,” she replied. “I haven’t seen that before.”

“Who has access back here?”

Judy blinked. “Mostly employees.”

“But I just walked in through that door”—Ethan pointed at the back door—“without a key.”

Judy blinked again and opened her mouth. Nothing cameout.

Ethan took out a plastic evidence bag that he had in his back pocket that I assumed he’d grabbed out of his squad car. He opened it and, without instruction, I placed the silk flower into the clear bag.

“I’m going to test this for prints,” hestated.

The door that led out to the main part of the bar opened, and we all looked in that direction. Derrick walked through, carrying a black trash bag. He looked at me and then over to Ethan as he stoodstill.

“Do you know about this?” Ethansnapped.

“I …” Derrick tried to reply. He looked back at me and then to Judy before his gaze landed on Ethan’s again. “No.”

Ethan took a step toward Derrick. “Are you sure? Because I’m going to run prints, and if—”

The bag fell from Derrick’s grasp, causing glass bottles to clink against the concrete floor. He held up his hands in surrender. “Fine, I did it.”

“You did what?” Ethan asked and took another stepforward.

“I put the flower on her locker, man.”

“Why?” Ethanseethed.

“Because … Because Reagan told me it was her favorite flower,” Derrickstuttered.

Ethan cut his gaze to me, and I shrugged. “It was back when we both first started. He was asking me about you, and I told him it wasn’t his business and if he wanted to get to know me since we were working together, then he should ask things like my favorite color, flower, etc. So, he did, and I told him.”

Ethan glared back at Derrick. “Let’s have a chat, yeah?”

“What? Why?”

“Many reasons,” Ethan replied. “Mind if I use your office for a few minutes, Judy?”

“Not at all. Please….”

Ethan walked to the threshold of Judy’s office and turned to see that Derrick wasn’t following him. “Now,” heordered.

“Go on,” Judycoaxed.

Derrick looked at me as he passed, and I gave him a tight smile. I had my suspicions he could be the killer, but I wasn’t sure. Before I knew that a serial killer had entered my condo, Derrick and I got along. We both did our jobs, and he had to know that I had a boyfriend even though I told him I wasn’t looking for one because Ethan came infrequently.

Was Derrick hiding in plain sight?

My blood was on fire.

Since Shawn had spoken to Judy, and she’d advised him that Reagan’s address was in a locked drawer and that drawer hadn’t been tampered with, I had put Derrick low on the suspect list. I should have trusted my gut. Something was off about thiskid.

“Sit,” I ordered, pointing at Judy’s desk chair. The office wasn’t much, but at least it had a chair. It was small, and I planned to stand, to tower over Derrick and intimidate him. I closed the door as hesat.

“Look, man. I’m sorry.”

I crossed my arms over my broad chest. “Sorry for what exactly?”