“I’m innocent.”
Dannel and Osian exchanged a glance before turning back to Ethan, who’d practically slammed into their flat. “Are you?”
“Detectives called me this morning. I can’t believe you got me off.” Ethan glared when Osian chuckled. “You know what I meant.”
“Not really.” Dannel glanced between his laughing boyfriend and their angry friend. “What did the police say?”
“They found video from one of the fans at Comic Con. It shows me away from Gemma at the time of her death.” Ethan grabbed Osian into a hug. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”
Dannel moved around to put the sofa between him and the overexcited Ethan. “Have they found anything on Noah?”
“No idea.” Ethan shrugged.
Several hours later, they got the answer when Detective Khan rang to ask them to come down to the station. He sent a car to pick them up. Dannel wanted to say it was unnecessary, but they had been poisoned at the theatre.
Poisoned.
They’d had two days of recovery. Dannel continued to struggle with processing the attack. He didn’t understand why.
Why would someone want to hurt them?
Why would they want to hurt anyone?
“You could’ve stayed at home.” Osian broke the silence in the police vehicle. “I’m sure the detectives didn’t need both of us.”
“I’m fine,” Dannel insisted, probably too loudly. He wished for the millionth time it was easier to figure out the volume of his own words. “Inside voice?”
“Definitely.” Osian reached his hand out to grab Dannel’s. “Neither of us are fine. We will be. It’s okay for us to not be okay, though.”
“I don’t understand why.” He huffed in pure frustration. “Why is someone doing this?”
“We may never have an answer, love. Their reasoning might not be logical to anyone other than themselves.” Osian had a point. A good one. Dannel just didn’t find it helpful. “Ready for the police?”
“Is anyone?” Dannel followed Osian out of the vehicle, making sure to thank the constable who’d picked them up. They went quickly into the station to avoid the drizzly rain. “I’m becoming as familiar with this place as I am with the fire station.”
They were met by one of the detectives who led them through the building into a small conference room. Dannel noticed a video playing on the large monitor on the wall. They’d obviously been going through the footage from the convention.
“We hoped you might sit through a few videos. I’ve put together a timeline from when we know Gemma was called until when we believe the murder occurred.” Detective Inspector Khan sat in front of a laptop. “I’m interested in seeing if anyone in the crowd catches your attention.”
It was the most boring movie in history. They watched the videos slowed down dramatically, because normal speed had made the faces a blur for Dannel. He had to force himself to focus.
“Wait.” Osian leaned forward so far, he almost tipped out of his chair. “Was that Noah? Wanker claimed he wasn’t anywhere near Gemma.”
The video clearly showed Gemma and Noah. They were just visible on the bottom left corner of the screen, almost hidden behind a group of Avengers. The two appeared to be having an argument from their animated gesturing.
“It, unfortunately, doesn’t prove he was in the room,” Detective Inspector Powell pointed out. “Take note of what he’s wearing. I’ll see if I can track his progress through our collection of footage.”
“She looks so familiar.” Osian had continued watching the video as it progressed and Noah and Gemma appeared to go in separate directions. He paused the image and moved up closer to the screen. “I know her.”
Dannel joined him by the monitor. He stared at the slightly pixelated face. “I don’t recognise her. She’s not one of our cosplay group. Maybe you helped her as a paramedic?”
“Maybe.” Osian didn’t sound convinced.
They spent another hour watching and rewatching video clips. Dannel had a feeling they’d be replaying in his sleep whenever he closed his eyes. From what they had available, they weren’t able to determine who’d entered the room with Gemma.
“We’ll reach out to the community again. I’m sure there’s more than this,” Osian promised. “They all want to help any way they can. Gemma meant a lot to them.”
“Home?” Dannel had been slowly shutting down. He’d pushed so far outside of his usual comfort zone for the last few weeks. His usual buffer zone had been eroded away entirely. “Let’s go home.”
Osian got to his feet immediately. “We’ll let you know if we hear about any additional footage.”
The detectives were surprisingly understanding. They didn’t try to force them to stay longer. Dannel had his earbuds in and the Hamilton soundtrack playing before he and Osian had even stepped out of the building.
Yet another constable appeared to give them a lift home, despite their protests. The police obviously considered the threat to their lives to be real. He did appreciate the thought.
When they arrived at their building, Dannel fled inside up to their bedroom. He slipped under the duvet. With the volume turned up, he managed to slowly bleed off the stress to the strains of his favourite soundtrack.
“Fancy dinner?” Osian poked his head into the room a few hours later. “Ian brought over half a pizza. They apparently got his order wrong and gave him a second one for free. Evie had some, and we get the rest.”
“Sure.” Dannel didn’t move from underneath the blanket. He did ease his earbuds out. “What kind of pizza?”
“No idea. It’s free. It’s pizza.”
“Your favourite kind.” Dannel chuckled wryly. “Pizza it is. Any word about Noah?”
“Doubt we’re the first ones the detectives will call. We could always—”
“Ossie.”
“Yes, love?” Osian smiled sweetly at him.
“Not sure we should stick our noses in any further.” Dannel hadn’t been able to shake the fear from waking up in the hospital. It made him angry. “Then again, I want to stop whoever is doing this.”
Anger always made him brave. Noah might be more willing to answer questions, given they’d seen him arguing with Gemma. Dannel supposed he could’ve lied to avoid seeming suspicious.
Lying only served to make him more suspicious, not less. Dannel wondered if Noah was capable of murder. The former couple had definitely been arguing, but did that mean he’d committed the crime?
“Pizza first.” Osian flopped onto the bed, draping himself across Dannel’s legs. “We’ll scarf down dinner and track down the glamour model when we’re done.”