Page 39 of My Killer Blind Date

‘I’m not sure. I try not to pry into my employees’ private lives, but in this case, I wish I had.’ He sets the razor down gently. ‘I came in here to open up one morning and found her asleep in her office. Apparently she’d spent the night here. She said things had taken a turn from bad to worse, and she had nowhere else to go.’ He pulls out a Kleenex from the box on the cart and dabs at his nose, then his left eye. ‘I feel terrible that I didn’t press her for details. But I did tell the detective that they should look into the roommate, whoever that piece of work was.’ He gives me a pointed look. ‘I’m aware you’re new. But we’re a family here, for better and for worse. If you’re ever in trouble, please say something.’ His soft expression takes a sudden, hard edge. ‘I’d do anything for family.’

‘Thanks,’ I murmur, doubling my attention down on the next curler.

I think I might be sick.

Is this true? Did Zoe feel like she couldn’t come home to me? Yes, we had our tiffs, our little conflicts, but – Why the hell were you making me the bad guy, Zoe?

Or maybe Bill isn’t being totally truthful. Does he have something to hide, and needs a convenient scapegoat, like an innocent roommate? After all, he has plenty of ways to dispose of a body …

A clomping sound of footsteps draws both our eyes. An orange head appears, attached to a plaid mini dress. Elsie, holding a bouquet of orange flowers so large, her entire face is invisible.

‘Special delivery for Margot,’ she says in a tone of such extreme neutrality, it manages to feel aggressive.

‘Oh my God,’ I say. ‘Here – let me take those—’ Elsie dumps the bouquet into my arms. It’s insane.

‘Zinnias, calendulas, dahlias, begonias,’ Elsie recites with a sniff. ‘Someone spent a lot of money.’ She looks me dead in the eye. ‘Lucky girl.’

‘Uh, thanks?’ I look for somewhere to put them down as Elsie clomps back off. The only spot I can see is Vicky Piscetti’s chest.

‘Sorry, Bill, I … I’d better find a place for these! I’ll be back!’ I scurry upstairs. In the privacy of the small coat room where I stowed my purse, I fish out the card buried in the bouquet.

Sorry for ending our lovely date so abruptly. Can’t wait to see you again. How about Saturday? And are you ok with activities on the water? Liam xo

My heart pitter pats in my chest as I take in the note, the heady smell of the arrangement, the knowledge of how much this must have cost – a couple hundred, easy. I stuff the card back into the flowers and pull out my phone to text him, because it’s an obvious yes. I need to keep investigating him, and however complicated this all feels, at least he’s making it easy to see him again.

The flowers are beautiful!! Saturday sounds great. Love the water. What time?

As I hit send, a little tremor of anxiety does go up my spine, because ‘water’ makes me think of the beach where Kayleigh and Crystal’s bodies were found … but it’s not like the killer drowned them. They were drugged and smothered, frozen, then dumped on that beach months later. Water had nothing to do with their demise.

I look around the coat closet, but there’s nowhere in here to really put the flowers. Maybe I could grab an empty urn from storage in the basement to temporarily keep them hydrated? That’s not too weird, right?

As I exit the coat room, I nearly bump into Devin.

‘Whoa! Sorry! These flowers make it hard to see!’ I joke as a piece of paper flutters to the ground – urgh, the card! Devin grabs it before it touches the floor and gives it a glance.

‘Liam,’ he says, his brows lowering before his eyes snap back up to me. ‘What the fuck, Margot.’

Heat fills my face. Even though Devin told me not to go looking for trouble, he does not get to question my decisions.

‘It’s not a crime to go on a date.’

He pokes the card back into the flowers with a dark expression.

‘Yeah … I should probably tell you the thing I just remembered.’

‘What?’

‘Whoever Zoe saw that last day? He was love bombing her.’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘Flowers.’ Devin’s tone is grim. ‘I remember now. A giant bouquet, just like this one. Two or three days before their date. A red velvet cupcake with a heart. Then, that last day, a single rose.’

‘And that was all from Liam?’ I’m not even sure if I should believe him. Pretty convenient he remembers this now.

Devin frowns. ‘Like I said, it was hard to keep track of the names of all the guys. But don’t you think it’s a hell of a coincidence that this guy, who by the way you already suspect, is doing the same to you?’

‘Flowers aren’t that uncommon as a gift.’