Page 32 of Zero Divergence
Mendoza nodded sharply. “Keep me informed.”
“Yes, sir,” they said at the same time.
“What about Carnegie and Fuentes, sir?” Royce asked. “Do you want them to shadow us today?”
Mendoza said, “Not while interviewing high-profile persons of interest. I’ll have them assist the uniforms conducting the neighborhood canvass.”
“Fair enough,” Royce said.
Mendoza’s phone rang again, and he stepped aside to answer it. “Good morning, Commissioner Rigby,” he said as Royce and Sawyer walked away.
Once inside the car, Sawyer handed Royce the folded piece of paper Blakemore had given him since he was driving. “You can see who the mystery Romeo is while I drive out to Vincenzo’s place.”
“You know where the man lives?” Royce asked, then realized how silly his question was. Sawyer’s family had money and prestige, so, of course, Vincenzo courted them. Sawyer had probably attended functions at the man’s home on more than one occasion since he was elected to the state senate to represent their district in 2016.
“My parents are big supporters,” Sawyer admitted. “You’ll find this part interesting.”
“Yeah?” Royce asked. It was too dark outside to read what Blakemore had written on his note, so he flipped on his phone flashlight while Sawyer navigated.
“He lives in the same gated community as Clark Seaver.”
Royce jerked his head over to look at Sawyer. “You don’t say? This case is too fucking similar to Putz’s.” Locals knew Clark Seaver as Jacque, the yoga instructor, but Sawyer, and now Royce, knew the man’s other alias was Randy Dagger, former gay porn star. After they’d started dating, Sawyer told him Randy was Vic’s favorite porn star, which prompted Royce to confess he’d never watched gay porn. Sawyer remedied the situation immediately, but Royce had wanted to avoid Randy’s porn scenes in case they ran into him again. “If this case mirrors Putz’s, it will end with you tripping an elderly man while in pursuit.”
“The fool tripped over his own two feet,” Sawyer groused, making Royce grin. “God, do you want to guess how many times I jerked off while thinking about you on your motorcycle? You added extra swagger to your strut after climbing off the beast.”
“Hey, now. I don’t strut.” Royce’s voice was barely more than a croak since his mouth had suddenly gone dry. “We have a homicide to solve, so let’s keep our focus there.”
Sawyer hummed in the back of his throat. “Yeah, okay.”
To distract himself, Royce turned his attention back to the piece of paper Blakemore gave them. He skipped past the names of the club employees to reach the guy Blakemore had spent every non-working hour with since Friday evening.
“Holy shit,” Royce said, then started laughing.
“What?” Sawyer strained to get a look at the page.
“Keep your eyes on the road,” Royce admonished playfully.
“Is it someone we know?” Sawyer wanted to know.
Royce continued to laugh as he turned off the flashlight and pulled up the contact he was looking for on his phone. He placed the call on speakerphone to appease Sawyer’s curiosity.
“This had better be really fucking good.” Jonah’s voice was heavy with sleep and extra gravelly.
Sawyer’s mouth gaped open, and Royce had to stifle a laugh.
“I bet you are exhausted after the weekend you had,” Royce replied.
“And how would you know what I did this weekend?” Jonah asked, sounding alert suddenly.
“He’s about five-ten, has white-blond hair and really light blue eyes,” Royce countered.
“And he bought you Chinese food,” Sawyer added.
“What the fuck is going on?” Jonah demanded to know. “Is something wrong with Kendall?”
“He’s physically fine, but someone important to him died over the weekend,” Royce said, then filled Jonah in the rest of the way.
“Vivian Gross is a victim of a copycat killing, and Kendall is her roommate and was the one who found her body,” Jonah slowly repeated like he couldn’t believe it.