Fit to Die by Daniel Kalla

Author:Daniel Kalla
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2023-05-09T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 29

Cari can’t stifle her yawn as she sits across the table from the other two detectives inside the coffee shop. Theo glances from her to Anson, who had yawned only a minute or two earlier. “Am I the only one who got a decent night’s sleep?” he asks.

“I had a bit more wine than I’m used to,” Cari says, as she reaches for her coffee. “Plus, I’ve got jet lag as an excuse. Or do you have to change time zones for that to count?”

Anson shrugs unapologetically at Theo. “You and Eleni should’ve come.”

“And leave all five boys alone in the house? There aren’t enough firemen in this city to handle that potential blaze.” Theo chuckles. “Plus, I was doing some actual police work.”

“What a pleasant change for you,” Anson says. “What kind of work?”

“For starters, I confirmed that both Dr. Markstrom and Braden Hollands have returned to LA.”

“Oh, perfect.”

“I’ll be going back tomorrow, myself,” Cari says. “I’ll go see them both.”

“That will help, thanks,” Theo says.

“I wonder,” Anson says with a doleful shake of his head. “It’ll be tough enough to figure out if Markstrom gave Rain the DNP. But proving it?”

“One step at a time, Eeyore.”

Cari enjoys the yin and yang of the other two detectives’ personalities. Their rapport reminds her of what her partnership used to be like with Mattias before they complicated it with sex and love. And she even recognizes a similarity to their respective approaches: Theo is more detail oriented like Mattias, while Anson is more intuitive like she is.

“Also, Babar forwarded me something interesting,” Theo continues.

“What’s that?” Cari asks.

He pulls his phone out of his pocket and lays it on the table. A crack snakes up all the way from the bottom corner to the far one. Anson frowns at him. “You still haven’t heard of screen protectors?”

Ignoring the comment, Theo says, “I didn’t quite follow all the technical explanation, but Babar dug up a video promo for Dr. Slim Pharmaceuticals.”

“I thought that site was dead,” Cari says.

Anson nods. “Haven’t all the Dr. X Pharmaceuticals gone dark?”

“They have, yes,” Theo says. “It’s a bit confusing, and I wasn’t about to ask Babar to explain it twice—trust me. But it has something to do with screen recording or capture. In other words, some user recorded the original TikTok video and then uploaded it to his or her own page.”

Cari points to the screen. “Can we?”

Theo taps a button. The electronic beat of a typical TikTok soundtrack plays even before a young woman appears in the narrow frame that fills only the center of the screen. With long hair and minimal makeup, she looks to be twentyish and has a cute though not particularly memorable face. In gray yoga pants and a matching bra top, she has the lean, sculpted physique of a beach volleyball player.

The woman is standing slightly off-center in the frame. And the camera is set low enough that she has to look down to gaze into the lens. The whole clip feels amateurish which, Cari suspects, is by design.

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