Humpty Dumpty: The killer wants us to put him back together again (Book 1 of the Nursery Rhyme Murders Series) by Carolyn McCray, Ben Hopkin Page A

keep her from answering.
    “There was another body part found. A leg this time. Out in Virginia.”
    “We headed there first?”
    “No,” she responded. “We’ll fly there from South Carolina, then rent a car and drive back to Quantico.”
    “Yeah, whatever. I’ve already lost interest.” He picked up another t-shirt.
    Grabbing the shirt out of his hands, Coop stalked over to the nearest rack of dress shirts and pulled out three of them. She handed them to him.
    “You try on these. I’ll bring you slacks.”
    “I’m not going—”
    She cut him off with a flourish. “Try them on, or I clear out the rest of the alcohol from your minibar.”
    Joshua thought for a moment, then took the shirts and headed toward the back. Whatever else she might or might not be doing, Agent Cooper was not playing fair.
    He had also never had more respect for her than he did right now.
    * * *
    When Sariah got Joshua back to the hotel, several sets of clothing heavier, the first thing she saw when she entered into the foyer was Had, chatting with the concierge. From what she could tell, he’d never made it up to his room.
    “Had, you were supposed to be sleeping,” she chided the cop.
    “I know. I’m sorry.” He motioned to the man behind the desk. “But Robert’s from South Africa. South Africa ! He’s got the coolest accent I’ve ever heard.”
    “That’s great, but I need you on your A game when we get to South Carolina.”
    “It’s okay. I’ll just sleep on the plane.”
    Sariah sighed. “The flight’s only an hour and a half.”
    “That’s more than enough,” Had assured her. He waved to his new friend at the desk and followed Sariah out to the rooms. “There are not as many lions in South Africa as I would’ve thought, but they have them in parks and stuff. They do have leopards, though. And not any elephants, either. Weird, right?”
    “Yes. Weird.”
    Had continued to talk about the various species of South African animals all through the cab ride out to the airport, during which Bilal gave them a card for his cousin who drove a cab in Charleston. The young cop didn’t stop as they went through the line at security and he was still going without a pause while they hit the gift shop to pick up some snacks for the flight.
    And it didn’t stop there.
    “They do have monkeys, but only one main species,” he stated with emphasis as they walked toward their gate.
    “Shut up,” Joshua muttered, holding his head.
    Had turned back to Sariah. “And you’d think they were everywhere, but it’s only in certain parts of the country.”
    “Shut. Up.” Joshua’s voice was a little stronger this time.
    “And there are like no gazelles down there. Don’t you think that’s freaky?”
    A form flew past Sariah, ramming into Had, pushing the cop up against the nearest wall. A fist flew into Had’s face, whipping his head around with a snap.
    It was Joshua.
    “I said shut up . What part of that did you not understand?”
    “Hey, hey, hey !” Sariah grappled with Joshua, pulling him away from the battered young man. Joshua pulled out of her grasp, stalking away from both of them. She moved closer to Had, who was touching his face, testing out the red mark that Joshua’s fist had left. “You okay, Had?”
    He winced as one of his pokes seemed to find a sore spot. “Yeah,” he muttered, his tone sheepish.
    “Do you want to press charges?” Sariah pitched her voice loud enough so that Joshua could hear it.
    “What? No.” Had laughed at her question. “That’s was just brother kinda stuff. He asked me to be quiet; I wouldn’t shut my trap.” He got a wistful look on his face. “I think we’re really starting to get close.”
    Sariah just shook her head. They moved off toward their gate, and there were no further incidents of violence before they were called to board the plane.
    Moving through the cabin of the airplane, Joshua went straight to his seat, put some plugs Sariah had purchased for him at