In Other Words...Murder

by In Other Words. . . Murder [MM] (retail) (epub)

  Nick was on board all right. He marched up the stairs, kid and cops trailing, and let himself into the Foster boy’s apartment for the second time that evening.

  Perry followed him in, staring around the rooms like he’d never seen them before. The night was taking on a hallucinatory quality. Granted, he was somewhat sleep deprived. He stared at his suitcase in the middle of the floor. It seemed a lifetime ago that he had walked out of Marcel’s wood-framed Victorian and caught the plane back to Vermont.

  He trailed Nick into the bathroom. Sure enough, the tub was empty—and sparkling clean.

  Nick ran his fingers along the rim. “Damp,” he commented. Perry stared at him. The deputies crowding the doorway also stared at him.

  Pushing through them, Nick headed toward the bedroom, zeroing in on the windowsill.

  A shoe stood in plain sight on the ledge. It was black, small—maybe a size 9—in good shape.

  A muscle clenched in Nick’s jaw as he examined the loafer. “This isn’t the shoe.”

  “See for yourself, buddy. It’s the only shoe here.”

  Nick tossed the shoe to Perry, who caught it and swallowed. “This is my shoe,” he said as though he feared his shoe was guilty of some misdemeanor.

  “Yep, that’s what we figured.”

  “I thought you didn’t notice any shoes?” Reno retorted.

  “We didn’t notice any suspicious shoes.”

  “Shut up, Abe,” the older deputy muttered.

  Nick started to speak, then bit it back. This was a losing proposition. The cops had made up their minds about twenty minutes earlier; that was plain.

  He glanced at the kid, and it was obvious that Foster knew it was all over, although he was gazing at Nick expectantly. Why? What did he imagine Nick could do about this? Even if Nick wanted to do something about it.

  He stared back, and the kid looked away, gritting his jaw. His hands were shaking and he shoved them into his pockets.

  The deputies took their leave.

  “We’ll say good night, folks. Keep safe.” The senior officer, last out the door, tipped the brim of his rain-spattered hat.

  Nick caught the door before it closed on their heels. He glanced back at Perry Foster. The kid was focused on the tub, framed in the bathroom doorway.

  The underbreath comments of the deputies died away with the sound of their boots on the staircase.

  Situation defused, Nick thought. Rack time at last. “I guess that’s it,” he said. “I guess I’ll say good night too.”

  Foster’s head jerked his way. “You’re going?”

  “Yeah.” Nick was elaborately casual in response to the note he didn’t want to hear in Foster’s voice. “It’s all clear here.”

  Foster was a frail-looking kid. He lived on his own and presumably held a job, so he couldn’t be fourteen, though that’s how old he looked. His wrists were thin, and bony knees poked out of the holes of his fashionably ripped Levi’s. There were blue veins beneath the pale skin of his hands. Nick thought of the Froot Loops cereal and the asthma chart on the refrigerator.

  Hell.

  “Thanks,” Foster managed huskily. “I know you probably think I’m psycho too, so I appreciate your helping me.”

  “I don’t think you’re psycho.” Actually he had no idea if the kid was psycho or not. “I think you saw something. But whatever it was, it’s gone now. It’s over.”

  Nick thought of the shoe with the hole in it; he should have noticed right away it was too big for a pup the size of Foster. Someone had switched that shoe after Nick left. Someone had swabbed down the tub and the floor. Someone had balls of steel. But it was not Nick’s problem. It was not his job to save the world. Not anymore.

  “Yeah, well…” The kid managed one unconvincing smile. “Maybe I can get a hotel room in town.” He picked up his suitcase. “I don’t want to stay here tonight.”

  Nick’s nod was curt. Great idea. Best idea yet. Except… A gust of wind shook the house. The lights flickered. From across the room, Reno heard Foster give a soft gasp. His eyes looked enormous. Like Bambi after his mom bought it in the woods.

  It was a dark and lousy night. Not a night to be out driving if you didn’t have to. The radio crackled with weather advisories. Anyway, what kind of bastard would send an asthmatic kid out in a rainstorm?

  “Hell,” he growled. “You can stay with me tonight.”

  There was that wash of color in the pointed face. “I don’t want to be any trouble,” Foster said hopefully.

  Nick snorted.

  About the Author

  Author of over sixty titles of classic Male/Male fiction featuring twisty mystery, kickass adventure, and unapologetic man-on-man romance, JOSH LANYON’S work has been translated into eleven languages. Her FBI thriller Fair Game was the first Male/Male title to be published by Harlequin Mondadori, then the largest romance publisher in Italy. Stranger on the Shore (Harper Collins Italia) was the first M/M title to be published in print. In 2016 Fatal Shadows placed #5 in Japan’s annual Boy Love novel list (the first and only title by a foreign author to place on the list). The Adrien English series was awarded the All Time Favorite Couple by the Goodreads M/M Romance Group.

  She is an Eppie Award winner, a four-time Lambda Literary Award finalist (twice for Gay Mystery), An Edgar nominee, and the first ever recipient of the Goodreads All Time Favorite M/M Author award.

  Josh is married and lives in Southern California.

  Find other Josh Lanyon titles at www.joshlanyon.com

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  AUTHOR NOTES

  Keen-eyed readers will note that the street Kit and J.X. live on is now named Cherry Lane. This was the original intended name for their home address; however, somehow, when finalizing The Boy with the Painful Tattoo, I ended up changing the name back to the street that served as my inspiration.

  Readers may also view with skepticism the devious machinations of our primary villain; regular viewers of the Investigation Discovery channel will be aware the most outlandish details were inspired by real events.

  Special thanks to my Patrons

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  If you enjoyed this story, check the following titles by Josh Lanyon

  Novels

  The ADRIEN ENGLISH Mysteries

  Fatal Shadows

  A Dangerous Thing

  The Hell You Say

  Death of a Pirate King

  The Dark Tide

  Stranger Things Have Happened

  So This is Christmas

  The HOLMES & MORIARITY Mysteries

  Somebody Killed His Editor

  All She Wrote

  The Boy with the Painful Tattoo

  The ALL’S FAIR Trilogy

  Fair Game

  Fair Play

  Fair Chance

  The ART OF MURDER Trilogy

  The Mermaid Murders

  The Monet Murders

  The Magician Murders

  Other novels

  This Rough Magic (A SHOT IN THE DARK Series)

  The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks

  Mexican Heat (with Laura Baumbach)

  Strange Fortune

  Come Unto These Yellow Sands

  Stranger on the Shore

  Winter Kill

  Jefferson Blythe, Esquire

  Murder in Pastel

  The Curse of the Blue Scarab

  The Ghost Had an Early Check-out

  Murder Takes the High Road

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  Old Poison

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  Dead Run

  Kick Start

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  I Spy Something Bloody