Page 49 of Five for Silver

“You haven’t seen it for five days atmost—”

“Five days too long.”

“The feeling is … mutual.” Chadadmitted.

Josh was all smiles, bright eyes, andruffled blond hair. He emitted happy vibes, and Chad needed to soakthem up.

“Do you hear that, Merc? Chad loves me. Ibought pepperoni. It should still be warm, tuck in.”

“Thanks,” Chad flipped the lid and grabbed aslice. Merc jumped out of Josh’s lap and sat by Chad’s leg.

“Food wins every time.” Chad snorted.

Josh got back to his feet, dusting hisknees. He dropped down beside Chad and took a slice. They ate insilence with their shoulders touching, until Chad’s thoughts chasedaway the good vibes.

“Anything exciting happen at thestation?”

“Not really, a badly decayed body floated upfrom the riverbed, that’s what me and Faye are working on, tryingto find out who he is.”

“And Ally?”

Josh winced. “Ally is on leave.”

Chad looked away. “For how long?”

“Indefinite leave, the DI said.”

“Oh.”

“How’s it going with Vincent?”

Chad sighed. “It’s not. We’ve had one…visitwith him where all he did was describe Harriet as beautiful, andthe rest of the week he’s been too sick to speak to us.”

“You’re being paid to sit at home and donothing?”

“I’m not doing nothing.” He shuddered. “I’vebeen reading through all the case files and reading transcribes ofVincent talking about how fun it is for him to cut up bodies.”

Josh eyed him. “No wonder you look like youhaven’t slept for days.”

“Screw you.”

“Hurts because it’s true,” Josh repeated. Hebit his lip. “They used some of the tapes in the documentary. Icouldn’t sleep after I watched it, swear I could hear his voice.”He shuddered. “What about that James Poole? He looked on edge tosay the least.”

Chad nodded. “He lacks patience, and there’san angry side to him, that’s for sure. He called me yesterday,spitting and cursing down the phone at my lack of ideas, lack ofpossible locations. The landscape has changed, though, so most ofthe countryside has now been built on top of.”

“And how’s Lucy coping?” Josh asked. “Shelooked about ready to shatter when we saw her at the farm.”

“Hasn’t shattered yet, but it looksinevitable.”

“And the superintendent?”

“Hardly spoken to him. He wants me to reportto James who will report to him.”

“Real friendly bunch, then?”

Chad sighed, picking up another slice ofpizza. He checked no one was in earshot. “This is going to soundcrazy, but … what if…”

“What if?”

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