Page 93 of My Killer Blind Date

‘Whoa.’

‘Yeah.’ I quickly recap my conversation with Colby and what I saw in the video she shared.

‘What motivated Zoe to paint them?’ muses Liam once I’ve finished.

‘She painted them after they disappeared. So maybe she was drawing attention to victims of violence? Which made her a target somehow …’ I pause. ‘Why did you buy her painting, by the way?’

Liam shakes his head. ‘It was just so powerful. It spoke to me. And then Simon offered me an insane discount … I was going to hang it in my living room, but only once I succeeded in reuniting Zoe with her parents. As a kind of reward for myself.’ He exhales. ‘Stupid.’

‘Not stupid,’ I say softly.

We’re quiet for a moment as he refills his coffee.

When he turns back around, his gaze is serious. ‘I’ve looked at the timeline between victims, and if Brooke is connected, she could still be alive.’

‘I know.’ I frown. ‘But is she connected? Zoe didn’t paint Brooke. And Brooke is married. The others weren’t.’

‘It’s still worth following that thread.’

I tap my fingers on the counter. ‘Or, do you think there’s an influencer angle here? I mean, Brooke was one. Zoe was kind of one, with her art? And Crystal, with her BDSM?’

‘Kayleigh, though.’

‘Pro life influencer?’ I try, then shake my head.

‘Yeah, that’s a stretch,’ Liam agrees.

I draw up a knee and sip my coffee. Each of the victims was outspoken. Each had such a strong viewpoint – but their viewpoints don’t seem to have much in common. Is the connection about suppressing women’s voices?

‘I need to get to work soon,’ I say with true chagrin.

‘I told you, call in sick,’ says Liam gently. ‘In fact, I insist on it.’

Yesterday I felt resistant. But today, I see it clearly: I haven’t been taking care of myself for a long time. It’s time to start.

‘You know, I think I’ll call out sick for the rest of the week.’ As soon as I say this, I feel lighter. After all, I am sick. Heartsick.

Liam gives me a smile of approval. ‘Thattagirl. And I’ll get those eggs started.’

‘Let me just make the call,’ I say, and step back into my bedroom.

The deed is quickly done, and Bill is very understanding, but before I can hang up, Bill says,

‘By the way, I wanted to apologize for yesterday. Devin found the ashes. They were still in the storage area in an identical urn. Easy to see how the mistake was made.’

After we disconnect, I just stand there for a second. I should feel relieved. One less problem. But … a mistake with the urn? I press a finger into my left temple and massage vigorously as I return to the kitchen, where Liam has located the eggs and the bread.

‘You look worried.’ He flips up the top on the egg carton even as he steals glances at me. ‘Everything OK?’

I huff out my breath and rub my forehead. ‘Kind of. I got the rest of the week off. But something happened yesterday with Zoe’s ashes. After the memorial, they weren’t in the urn. Bill kind of freaked out. But apparently they just turned up in the storage closet.’

‘All’s well that ends well?’

‘Yeah.’ I lift my coffee mug, noticing I’m nearly at the bottom. ‘It’s just, the urn was labeled. I labeled it myself.’ I shake my head slowly, then more vehemently, and set my coffee back down. ‘Something’s off. Someone must have put the ashes from her foot into a different container. And who knows where the other bag of ashes ended up …’

‘Why would anyone do that?’

‘Literally no idea.’