Page 331 of Good Boys Don’t Bite

Elliot glanced toward the open storage-room door. The hidden phone. Saint. Listening, maybe. Watching somehow. Ronan understood the look. He shut the door. Hard.

“Better?”

“No.”

“Great.”

Ronan walked into the kitchen. Elliot remained several feet away. Again with the distance. Ronan was beginning to realize they used distance differently. When Ronan moved away, he needed room to think. When Elliot moved away, he expected punishment. That difference hurt more now that Ronan knew it existed.

“Who was there?”

Elliot folded his arms.

“I didn’t see their face.”

Ronan went still.

“So you really don’t know.”

“No.”

“Male?”

“I assumed.”

“Why?”

“Build.”

“Voice?”

“No.”

“Then what happened?”

Elliot looked toward the windows. Cameras were being installed outside. Ronan could hear workers talking near the side of the house, ladders shifting against siding, the occasional scrape of metal. Normal people. Normal Tuesday morning. Inside, his stepbrother was explaining the first murder of five. Ronan hated that his brain could now put those things in the same sentence.

“Tyler left the bar at eleven twenty-eight,” Elliot said.

Ronan waited.

“I followed him.”

“Why?”

“I already knew what he was doing.”

“That doesn’t answer.”

“I’d warned him.”

“How?”

“Anonymous message first.”

“Threat?”

“Warning.”