Page 66 of Romance Is Dead

“Well, in my ‘Introduction to Criminal Justice’ class—”

“My aunt almost became a cop and she—”

“Enough!” Natasha raised her voice. “I’m simply going by what the professionals have told me. You’ll all receive an email tomorrow with the updated schedule. Let me know if you have any questions.” She stepped back from the podium, making it clear the meeting was over.

As people stood and started to trickle out, dread dripped through my body. I’d known the killer would eventually find out that I’d gone to the police, but now it was real.

And they might be in the room with me right now.

Less than an hour later, Teddy and I were called into our interviews first, summoned one by one to the same conference room where Natasha had briefed us. My session was quick—I simply confirmed what I’d already told the police, which seemed to satisfy the two detectives conducting the interviews. Teddy was next, and he gave me a little fist bump before slipping into the room and closing the door behind him.

Anxious, I waited nearby in the hotel lobby. I could have returned to my room, which would have been much more comfortable than the lumpy armchair I found pushed against the wall. But after the way he’d been there for me the day before, I found myself not wanting to be further away from Teddy than I needed to be. His presence was comforting, grounding. I should be distancing myself, but I somehow couldn’t force myself to.

Trying to occupy my mind, I scrolled through the news, which for me meant checking the tabloid sites—nosy for gossip while praying my name wouldn’t show up. Minutes into my scrolling, a text popped up on my screen, obscuring a headline teasing a new dating reality show:

Dad: Alright Squish, I’ve given it almost twenty-four hours. Are you alright?

Whoops. I hadn’t called my dad to tell him about what happened to Brent, mostly because I forgot, but also because I didn’t want to. It would only make him worry, and the last thing I needed was Puzzle Face himself storming onto set asking questions.

Quinn: How’d you even hear about that?

Dad: I can’t give away my secrets! I’ve got eyes and ears everywhere.

Quinn: There’s an active investigation, Dad.

Dad: Ok, ok. Well, you’ll never believe who sent me a Facebook friend request the other day.

I waited for seven minutes, wondering what this could possibly have to do with Brent, but the answer never came.

Quinn: Who?

Dad: Scott Rossi! We got to talking and he said I’d raised an impressive young woman for a daughter, by the way. Anyway, he told me about what happened to that young man. You ok?

Huh. Who would have thought our buddy Scott had a secret soft side?

Quinn: I’m fine! I thought you and Scott hated each other?

Dad: Old age is making us soft, I guess! Told him all about your career, how proud I am of you. He has a little girl, too, though she’s not as successful as you??

A churning started in my stomach—a suspicion of just where this conversation was going. Sure enough, ten seconds later, another message came through.

Dad: Don’t want to pressure you, but do you have any thoughts about that movie I pitched you?

I squeezed my eyes shut. The reality was I’d forgotten about it completely. The reality was I was never making another movie again. The reality was I’d have to tell my dad all of this someday, but today couldn’t be the day.

Quinn: I’m late for my call time! I’ll call you later.

The guilt felt awful, but I also couldn’t deny the relief I felt shutting down the conversation. Was the future eventually going to catch up with me? Yes. But that was future Quinn’s problem.

A few minutes later, the door to the conference room cracked open and Teddy emerged.

I jumped to my feet. “How’d it go? You didn’t tell them too much, right? Just what we already told them yesterday?”

“Nope, I told them all about our investigation and everything we’ve been up to.”

“You what?” I felt the blood drain from my face. “Why would you do that?”

Teddy rolled his eyes. “Relax, Jigsaw. It went fine. You can trust me, you know. We’ve talked about this.”

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