Page 64 of Viper

“Can’t seem to find anything to indicate he’s in a relationship.”

“There’s gotta be an ex out there who knows what a sick fuck he is and is too scared to speak.”

Troy sighed, rubbing his fingertips over the stubble on his upper lip. “Agreed, but where the hell am I gonna find that?”

“College yearbook? There’s a website that sells them for a fee . . . hang on.” Havoc reached for Troy’s keyboard and pulled up a site. “There. Only $29.95.”

He scoffed and paid the fee. “I’ve spent better money on worse.”

“Not much longer for the cop’s details.”

“Good,” Troy said, distracted. Fatigue was starting to creep in and fuzz the edges of his focus. He was tempted to make a pot of coffee, but if they didn’t find anything concrete, he’d need to sleep before morning.

He selected the college and Craig’s graduating year, then gained access to hundreds of pictures from the yearbook. Damn, this would take a while. First, he found Craig’s photo from 2003 in the student index. The fuck looked like a prick twenty-three years ago, too. He had a hard, mean glint in his eyes, but given his stupid, award-winning smile, it was no surprise the douchebag took the spotlight on several pages.

Troy rubbed his eyes and fought off a yawn. He hadn’t thought it possible to hate Craig any more, but here he was.

He flicked through photos of the senior ball and was about to take a break when a group shot made him freeze. Craig stood in the center with one arm looped around a young man’s neck and the other around a young woman’s.

He looked at the caption beneath the photo. The guy’s name was Benjamin Gagner and the woman’s Veronica Welp.

Veronica’s expression was what had caught his eye. Unlike the other two in the picture, she wasn’t laughing.

Tension scored the edges of her eyes, and her mouth appeared frozen in a stoic smile. Based on the angle of her body, it appeared Craig had pulled her into the photo rather quickly. Instead of bracing herself on Craig to counteract the awkward tilt of her body, she’d kept her left arm wedged between herself and Craig’s side and her right thrown back toward her hip as if she couldn’t stand to touch him.

“Who’s that?” Havoc asked.

“Don’t know. But I wouldn’t mind giving Veronica a call if I can track her down.”

“Write down her name,” Havoc said, tapping a pen to a piece of paper. “I’ll look in the morning.”

Havoc’s computer dinged and he turned his attention to the screen. After a couple of minutes, he straightened. “Here we go,” he sang. “Looks like Don was transferred to the local PD from Tulsa in 2019.”

Troy read off his friend’s screen as Havoc summarized the information aloud.

“Don has one count of off-duty misconduct, from 2016, and two counts of excessive force, from 2018. Both offenses in Tulsa.”

“What about here in Florida? Any infractions?”

“He was put on corrective action last year for wrongful arrest and search.” Havoc clicked his tongue. “That’s it so far. I’m gonna bet we’re safe to assume he’s helping Craig avoid getting caught.”

“Get his address—and his schedule if you can.”

“I can get his address. I’ll need to reach out to my contact for the schedule. I’ll message her now but likely won’t hear back until the morning.”

Havoc stretched out his arms in front of him before shutting his laptop and standing. “I’m going to head back to my place. I’ll come by early.”

“Why not just crash here?” Troy said, nodding toward the couch. “It’s already after two. We’ll be lucky to get a couple hours.”

Havoc shrugged. “Yeah, that’ll save me the walk. Thanks.”

Troy made his way to the bedroom and waved to Havoc as his friend flopped onto the couch and folded his arms across his chest.

After closing the bedroom door softly, Troy walked to the bed. Moonlight spilled through the slats in the blinds, illuminating Paige’s form snuggled exactly how he’d left her. He kicked off his clothes and lifted the covers. Slipping in behind her warm, soft body was like coming home.

She sighed and murmured something unintelligible. He wrapped his arm around her waist and brought his face close to her ear.

In seconds he was asleep.