Page 20 of My Killer Blind Date

‘Ask away.’

‘There was an employee at the funeral home before my time. Zoe. Did you know her well?’

He doesn’t react in any visible way, but he does take an even longer drag, like he’s trying to delay his response.

‘I know she disappeared,’ he finally says. ‘Fucking tragic. Great girl.’

Does this seem like the reaction of a serial killer?

‘Yeah, tragic,’ I echo. ‘Do you have any idea what happened?’

His eyes narrow. ‘Did you know her?’

‘Someone at Anderson’s mentioned her,’ I demur. ‘I was just curious if you’ve heard anything?’

‘She worked reception. I’m in the crematory.’ He taps the cigarette, scattering ash. ‘Zoe’s a people person, you know? I’m not. Oil and water. You get me?’

Tingles move up my spine. He just used the present tense and it’s weirding me out, because he also just said her disappearance was ‘fucking tragic,’ which I assumed meant he thought she was dead. A slip? Or does he know something?

‘I just wonder, you know?’ I press. ‘What happened.’

Devin levels his gaze at me. ‘I think we can both cut the bullshit. I know you’re her roommate.’

Damn. OK. Did not expect that. I lick my lips.

‘Yeah … I was her roommate. But if we’re laying our cards on the table, you weren’t oil and water. I know you were friends.’

He smiles grimly. ‘Fine. You got me. For the record, our personalities are really different. But we got along.’

‘You had lunch the day she disappeared.’

He hesitates. ‘Yeah. We did.’

‘Did she talk about the guy she was going out with that night?’

He tilts his head and takes a long drag before speaking, then says, ‘If you don’t mind me being blunt, I gather from your questions that you think she’s dead. I disagree. She was unhappy in her situation. She wanted to move, get away from the area. So I think it’s reasonable to assume that’s what she did.’

‘Unhappy in her “situation?”’ This is news to me. ‘What does that mean?’

His mouth turns up, but the smile doesn’t reach his eyes. ‘That was just her. Restless, you know? On guard, on the move. Never easy in her own skin.’ He pauses. ‘Angry.’

My stomach churns. It doesn’t feel good to hear Devin’s take on Zoe. On guard? Never easy in her skin? She was the most confident person I knew! Though it’s not like it was always sunshine and rainbows …

A memory rolls over me, from a couple years ago. Zoe coming back home with her portfolio from a day of gallery outreach, looking defeated. I didn’t have to ask to know she’d been rejected. Again. At first, she sank into the couch and glowered. But by the time I brought her a beer, she turned a dazzling smile on me, like she’d flipped a switch. ‘Fuck these art snobs, right? I just have to make a piece so brilliant, they can’t say no.’

She got that tattoo shortly after. ‘Live Free or Die.’ ‘This is it,’ she said to me as she unwrapped it, the script curling up her ankle. ‘This is what I’m living by, Margot. I won’t let anyone keep me down. I’d rather be dead.’ Now it seems ominous. Prophetic.

And then it hits me – the potential connection between Liam and Zoe. The gallery! Of course. I already know that’s where Liam met Arjun. What if he’d met Zoe there previously? Maybe they talked and he shared he was dipping into art collecting. Maybe Zoe smelled money, and tried to convince him to buy one of her pieces, but it turned out he was more interested in her body than her art. Liam is obviously a player. And it’s not hard to imagine how angry Zoe might have been when she caught on to his angle. How things might have gone tremendously south from there.

But I’m getting sidetracked. I need to drill down on what Devin knows about her last date.

‘So, back to the guy she went out with on the day she disappeared. Did she mention him to you?’

‘Uh … maybe?’ Devin takes a final short drag, then throws down the cigarette butt.

‘What about his name? Was it by chance – Liam?’ For some reason, my heart is pounding. I can’t tell if I want him to say yes or no.

Devin’s eyes squint. ‘Maybe? That name does ring a bell …’