I’m already shaking my head.
“I’m not saying he didn’t do that, or that he didn’t have that information, but you didn’t see the look on his face when I started making connections. When he started making connections and realized that I was the Seattle Slayer’s daughter.” I pick up the book on my nightstand—Fleeing Under a Summer Rain. I need to read or at least skim this today, just to see if there’s anything real contained in its pages.
Tess primarily writes true crime which means that her work is based on real-life events. This is one of her very few exceptions to that rule—supposedly. It could very well be just a revenge fantasy, one where her estranged daughter murders the man that she blames for so many of the wrongs in her life.
But I have no idea.
It’s worth a few hours of my time anyway.
“What about the other maid?” Chas asks, gesturing with his head toward the door. “Delphine or whatever her name is. She skeeves me out, I won’t lie.” He snatches the chip bag back from Maxx, and the two of them glare at each other for a second. “She has access to the whole house, moves around like she’s invisible. How easy would it have been for her to let the Slayer in or fuck with the cameras? Better yet, maybe she’s the one that dragged Parrish out of here? Stabbed a needle in his neck the same way she could’ve done to you the night you ended up in the woods.”
It’s a good theory, one that I’ve entertained myself. At this point, everyone’s a suspect. Even Paul.
“That’s all true. But she did just pass a federal background check.”
Chasm snorts.
“Just because she’s clean on paper but doesn’t mean she’s an angel with a halo. How do we know she isn’t working for the Slayer? It’d make perfect sense. She didn’t start working here until like, two weeks before you moved in.”
I think about that for a minute. Delphine really does look guilty, doesn’t she?
“Let’s keep digging into her then,” I say, wondering if we might be able to follow her when she leaves at the end of the day. “Also, I’m sorry, but Chas, your dad looks guilty as fuck.” I give him a look and he sighs, his body sagging against me. Before I can fully register what he’s doing, he’s handing Maxx the chip bag and then dragging me into his lap.
“Let’s check him out, too. I’ll go home today and video chat you so you can see the wine cellar.” Chasm scrubs a hand over his face, his gaze getting this faraway sort of look to it when he mentions going home, like it’s some poisonous, terrible thing.
“I want to go; I want to see it for myself,” I say, but he looks down at me like I’m a crazy person.
“How do you propose getting out of this house and back without Tess realizing you’ve left?” he asks dryly, giving Maxx a look next. The two of them turn back to me. “I mean, you’ve seen her, right? She can be sort of … insane. Especially now. And with good reason, honestly.”
I nibble on my thumbnail for a second, but I already know that Chasm’s right.
“You deal with your dad,” Maxx says, voice confident and self-assured, like he’s the leader of our little group. “And I’ll track Delphine when she leaves today. I have to work at the barcade tonight anyway.” He looks around briefly, considering the possibility of more cameras, ones that we don’t know about. But we have to have somewhere in this house to talk; it’s worth the risk. “Do you think the Slayer might’ve collected any extra cameras he had around here in preparation for the police search? He had to know they’d go over this house with a fine-tooth comb. They would’ve used a fancy-ass bug detector for sure.”
“Let’s hope so,” I say, happy to have some sort of plan in place—and also wondering if we might be able to get hold of a bug detector. I’ll have to research that and see if it’s feasible. “Shall we start with our classwork? Get that out of the way first. Then you two can take off, and I can keep looking into the key situation. Also.” I pick up Tess’ book again and tap my knuckles against it. “I’m going to go over this. On Tuesday, we can head over to Mr. Volli’s house after school for a quick look. Don’t forget that Monday is Memorial Day.”
It’s highly unlikely that Parrish is there. Or that there are any clues at all, for that matter.
The Slayer seems to want me to find Parrish, but he isn’t making it easy.
“Japanese first,” Chasm instructs, pressing a kiss to the side of my head that has me flushing from head to toe. It’s one thing to do these sorts of things alone, in the dark. It’s a whole other ballgame to do it during the day with X’s sharp gaze on us. “He warned you not to fail your classes, didn’t he? I have a feeling we wouldn’t enjoy the consequences if you did.”
