Yolks on You Box Set

Chapter 12-1

Chapter 12

He left Kiko alone about the murder until they were finished eating, instead lightly brainstorming the many outrageous things Kiko could do to make the Yolks on You café unique.

“It’d need a better name than the Yolks on You Café,” said Kiko.

“Just call the entire thing Yolks on You. A restaurant and store.” He paused to finish his burger and have the rest of his fries. “You were right about the potatoes. And the burger wasn’t bad.”

“I don’t know, c***s and Cream Café has a nice alliterative sound to it. It evokes the country atmosphere, the morning, breakfast—”

“And porn,” said Dom, but Kiko was grinning at him. He leaned closer.

“What do you think? Would you come?”

Dom cleared his throat, noticing the waitress on her way over with the check. As Kiko leaned back he pulled his notepad to him, checking over what he had written. So many businesses and parties eligible for the money, and only the school crossed off. And he could be mistaken about even that. He frowned. He had to start somewhere; crossing out the least likely candidates seemed the best way to go about getting a list of suspects he could look into further.

“Dom.”

He looked up. Kiko was staring at him, leaning back in his seat.

“I said are we onto this again?”

“Help me figure some things out,” said Dom, expecting Kiko to resist, but instead the man nodded. “And then—”

“And then you’ll pay more attention when I’m talking about c***s. So. What have you got?”

“A list of everyone who can win the prize money,” said Dom. “With the school crossed out. We need to get this list down to a manageable size and figure out who from the remaining names must have done it.”

“Okay,” said Kiko. “Makes sense. I just don’t know how you’re going to whittle down the suspects. I still don’t know why you crossed off the school but not the church.”

“You want me to cross off the church,” said Dom, frowning at his pad. He liked having the church on the list; it had a nice unexpectedness to it, he thought. “But wouldn’t it just be—”

“No,” said Kiko, shaking his head and leaning forward. “Remember this isn’t a TV show? There’s not always a dramatic ending. Usually what happens is that the culprit for these things is the most obvious. Most murders are committed by exactly the person you’d think—an angry lover or disgruntled relative or generally the person closest to the victim that has reason.”

“But these explosions aren’t like that.”

“It’s still going to be the most obvious person, I guarantee you that,” said Kiko. “What we’re trying to figure out is who is the most obvious. Anyone from the church would be a twist. Cross them off.”

Reluctantly, Dom took up his pen and did so. As much as the idea was more interesting, he really did want to figure out who was setting explosives, and Kiko made sense. He looked up when he was finished.

“Anyone else on your definitely-not list, Detective Enrique?”

Kiko ignored him, pulling the pad to the side to better read Dom’s somewhat sloppy handwriting. Dom actually liked the look of his face in concentration; it was different than the chipper persona Kiko projected normally, gave him a bit more depth. He realized he was examining Kiko’s face with approval when those lips opened.

“I’d cross off the bank, too. Also the hotel. There was a rumor about six months back that the owners inherited rather a lot. It seemed to be true enough to me, and that means they wouldn’t have the need for the money. No to Joylove’s, too.”

“Are you sure?” asked Dom. He’d scratched off the bank and the hotel as Kiko was talking, but hesitated at Joylove’s. Perhaps it was only the explosion, but he didn’t feel good about the place. “If they won it once, they’ve had a taste.”

Kiko shook his head.

“No. Joy and Briana wouldn’t.”

“But you said they haven’t really tried since. What if they don’t have the funds to try? Or maybe they do, but it’s just easier this way.”

Kiko sighed.

“One of the explosions happened at their shop.”

“To throw the cops off the scent.”

Kiko shook his head. Dom still hesitated to cross them off, though. As he was considering just who to believe, Kiko or his own uneasiness, the waitress came back and handed Kiko his card. Dom blinked.

“Did you just pay for me?” he asked. Kiko grinned.

“I said it was a date, and I did do the inviting. Just,” he said as Dom opened his mouth, “accept it, please. Having the money argument is too exhausting.”

Dom closed his mouth. He agreed with that, and it annoyed him. He’d had no intention of allowing Kiko to pay for him, not with the situation as it was. It was only the weekend, and he’d budgeted to pay for himself. He’d almost be irritated at feeling like he should do something to pay Kiko back, except that he’d been hauling boxes for the man all day already. So it probably was fair. He was already intending to go along with anything more arousing that came up. He forced himself to shrug.

“All right then.”

“This is for helping me with the Grand Hunt,” said Kiko quickly, as though suddenly worried Dom had gotten the wrong message. “I’m not trying to force you to do anything you don’t want—”

“You called it a date,” said Dom, watching Kiko squirm.

“I don’t mean it like that,” he said. “I don’t want you to feel obligated—”

Dom laughed. The confident, joking Kiko was actually endearing flustered like this.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’m not so easily swayed into feeling like I owe anyone for a burger. But I’m here for more than a burger anyway.”

“Those potatoes were unfair,” said Kiko.

“And the cheese curds,” said Dom, grabbing his notepad and standing. “We should probably get going. It looks like there’s even more eggs to hide tonight than last night.”