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Monsters Got Blamed for Murder, So I Relived the Victim's Last Hour novel · Chapter 20 of 32

Chapter 20: The Board

Halina's POV

The fire stairs of the County Building smelled of floor wax and old coffee, and at 9:35 on Monday morning we had them to ourselves.

Reiss stopped on the landing between the third and fourth floors and held out his phone.

"Joliet," he said. "Wednesday."

I looked at the photograph for a long time, a silver ring grown into a gray toe under a skin of frost.

A blue tag beside it read 42,016.

He told me about the hall, the eight racks, the clipboards with a checkmark in the FIND column.

He told me about the ninth rack and the Director's hold.

He said it so evenly that I could hear what he was not saying.

"It's probably not hers," he said. "There are a million rings like that."

"There are," I said.

"I couldn't read the inside. It's grown in."

"Then we'll get it out," I said. "With a saw and a court order, and with me standing next to you."

He looked at the wall, and I saw his jaw work.

"I should have told you Wednesday night."

"You told me what you could carry."

I put my hand flat on his chest, over the gray windbreaker and the Kevlar, and I felt his heart going hard under both.

The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–16 of Monsters Got Blamed for Murder, So I Relived the Victim's Last Hour are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.

← Chapter 19 · All chapters · Chapter 21 →

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