Page 30 of Five for Silver

Chad sat bolt upright. “What?”

His stomach rolled, and when he glanced downat Merc, Merc lifted his head. His long tongue hung out as hepanted, and Chad pictured the scene in his head—Merc boundingacross the fields all gleeful and eager for praise with an arm inhis mouth.

Romeo tilted his head, his eyes lost inthought. “I can’t tell whose it is.”

“What?”

“I’ll just have to guess and throw it inwith one of them.”

One of them. The bodies in thefield.

It had been over four months since theirlast kill. Graham Brennan. He killed his wife and her sister. Romeohadn’t had much luck with the cold cases since, but he seemed incontrol.

“Please say you’re joking?”

Chad couldn’t shift the imagery of Mercholding a rotting arm from his head. Maggots and bones, with thestench of rot, dropping it at Romeo’s feet.

Romeo’s serious face cracked. “Of course,I’m joking.”

“Damn it, Romeo,” Chad clutched his chest.“Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

“I’m trying to make you laugh.”

“That’s not the kind of thing I’d findfunny.”

“I know that now, but I found it funny, andso did Mercutio.” He patted Merc on the head. “I walked him aroundthe field, threw him a ball, found him a stick to chomp on, andlooked up some treat recipes online.”

“That sounds … that sounds positive.”

“Believe it or not, I have been around dogsbefore, I just had no personal interest in owning one. He’s herenow, and the least I can do is make sure he’s happy and entertaineduntil you get home. You should have more faith in me.”

“Forgive me,” Chad lifted an eyebrow, “but Idid come home to you growling and threatening to kill him.”

Romeo shrugged. “He enjoyed it.”

Chad settled back down on Romeo’s thigh.

“Why the rough day?” Romeo asked. “I thoughtit was an opened and closed case.”

“It was. Dave gave us his verdict and wespent the rest of the day doing paperwork.”

“So in what way was it rough?”

“I met my stalker.”

Romeo stiffened.

His disapproving stare burned the side ofChad’s face. Chad flipped onto his back, not shying away fromRomeo’s anger.

“You know, the stalker that Keeley wasn’tsure existed—”

Romeo’s eye twitched. “The one you wouldn’treport…”

Chad sat up. “Yeah. No. It wasn’t like that.If I was wrong, it would be a red flag for my DI. He already thinksI’m on the brink of a breakdown after what happened with Tate.”

“But you weren’t wrong?” Romeo growled. “Youwere being stalked?”

“Not exactly. I did a check on the numberplate of her truck and went to confront her.”

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