Love Lies Bleeding by Remmy Duchene (carter reed txt) 📕

"Oh right, that's a much better theory." He rolled his eyes dramatically.

"Will I see you later?"

Anderson eyed him for a moment then smiled. "You know where I'm staying."

Leo nodded with a smirk. "Oh yes, I do. Do you have to spend time with this Byung guy? Can't I just steal you away for some alone time?"

Anderson thought about it and made a face. "Let me make a call?"

He left the room, pulling his phone from his pocket, and walked by Daniel going the other way. The man looked at him in a way that set Anderson's skin crawling. It was a simple kind of stare that lasted too long.

There's that paranoia again, Andy boy.

"Hello? Anderson?"

"What?"

"You called me."

"Oh!" Anderson shook his head and stepped out into the light. "I know I'm supposed to meet you for something to eat."

"Er… what's going on?"

"How mad would you be if I didn't come—if I went with Leo instead? I don't have to. I could tell him I'll take a rain check and meet you."

"So you can use me as an excuse if things don't work out with your cop? No way. We can get together tomorrow."

"You suck."

"That's what she said."

Anderson made a face but laughed. "I love you, you know… Thanks for this."

"You're welcome. There is a catch though."

"That is?"

"I need details when we get together."

Anderson chuckled. "Yeah. I promise."

Hurrying back inside, he dumped his phone into his pocket and leaned against the doorframe watching Leo fussing over the papers on the desk again. "So you're taking me out for some food?"

"A cop's idea of food."

"What's that?"

Leo smirked at him like a sexy minx up to something dangerous. Anderson moaned and bit his lower lip while backing up. If he stayed where he was, he was sure he would do something like dive across the space and rip Leo's clothes off.

"Let me talk to Daniel before we go."

Anderson exited the station then and sat outside on a step waiting for Leo to come out. Instead, when he looked up, Daniel walked out to sit beside him. Anderson said nothing but he suddenly felt as though he was being touched by a ghost.

"What's going on between you and Leo?"

"I don't know if that's any of your business," Anderson replied, "but nothing."

"Are you sure? Because the way he's acting, it doesn't seem like nothing."

"I'm sorry. How is this any of your concern?"

Daniel said nothing. He rose and climbed the steps to the top. Anderson turned to look over his shoulder at the man staring at him. When Leo came out, the two bumped fists and stopped to have a brief conversation before Daniel entered the building. Anderson rose and walked with Leo south from the station and toward Times Square. Anderson heard music and stopped to search the crowded sidewalks for where it was coming from. He smiled and walked over to peer around the people gathering around. The musician was playing a song he'd only heard once, a few years prior in Cuba during an educational exchange.

"You wanna dance?" a woman beside him asked.

"Er… sure!" Anderson said, exchanging looks with Leo before taking the woman in his arms and spinning her around. He always did love the Salsa. When he was finished, he kissed her cheek in thanks and walked to stand beside Leo.

"I didn't know you danced like that," Leo said. "How did you learn the Salsa?"

"When I was a kid, I took lessons. And if you tell anyone, I'll deny it."

Leo groaned. "What else is there to know about you?"

"I'm like an onion."

They continued walking with Leo laughing. "An onion?"

Anderson nodded. "Oh yeah, baby. I got layers. But seriously, when I was a kid, my mom made me take lessons. I started out in hip-hop but to impress this boy, when I turned fourteen, I took some ballroom."

"You knew you were gay at fourteen?"

"I knew I was gay at ten."

They stopped at a hot dog stand, ordered food, then walked to a short wall and sat.

Chapter Eleven

Another body popped up. This time it was someone Leo knew, but not intimately. By the time the crime scene was clear, Leo tried calling Anderson but didn't have any luck. After leaving a message, he gathered his files, all the pictures and results, and went in for a meeting with his partner. Leo sat on the arm of Daniel's chair and read through the medical examiner's report while Daniel read through cases with a similar MO. All of them were close to the ones they were dealing with but none had the love-lies-bleeding flower or powdered versions of it. Sighing, Leo dropped the file and took a drink from his coffee.

"This is nuts!" Leo exclaimed. "There is no way this guy is that good."

"Maybe he just hasn't made a mistake yet."

"But that would mean we need another body and I don't think I could deal with that." Leo rubbed his eyes and walked across the room before turning to face Daniel. "All right. Aside from the headless bodies and the flower, these are just murders. But he's not doing anything else to the bodies—no markings, no DNA, no fiber—nothing. How can he be so clean? I'm starting to think this person is a cop."

"Don't even joke about that." Daniel frowned. "Let's run this again."

"I know. Bad joke. But these scenes are way too clean."

The two sat and ran the case two more times but by the time they finished, they were no closer to any kind of breaks or developments. Their lab guy brought the results from the information pulled from the victims' hard drives but nothing added any more light.

"We need a break," Daniel said. "I need a cigarette."

"So do I and I don't even smoke."

There was so much going on, he hadn't even had time to go see Coach Jessops. Though he was worried, he could push it to the back of his mind since the coach had a squad car sitting on the house for the time being. His captain hollered