"It's my favorite drink. You should try it."

Justin shot me an irritated look.

I rolled my eyes, set the glass down on the table, and muttered under my breath.

"Drink it or don't. See if I care."

I had no idea what his problem was. Justin acted like he had some kind of personal grudge against me. Every time he saw me, his face went cold.

I racked my brain for the longest time and couldn't figure it out.

So I just asked him.

"Justin, do you have something against me?"

He let out a cold scoff and didn't answer, but turned to look at a childhood photo of me hanging on the wall.

"You clearly weren't a sweetheart even as a kid."

That set me off. I shot to my feet, my eyes stinging red.

"Justin, what is that supposed to mean?"

"Why do you have so many assumptions about me? Do you honestly believe, deep down, that I'm the one who killed them?"

My eyes burned, and the tears came pouring down before I could stop them.

Justin froze for a second, then panicked. He grabbed a tissue and shoved it toward me.

"Don't cry."

His voice came out stiff and awkward. "That's not what I meant. Don't overthink it."

But this time, I wasn't backing down.

"Then what did you mean?"

"You've been on the task force since my earlier boyfriends died. Every time you see me, you get angry."

"This time it was Richard. My boyfriend, Richard Finch."

"He's gone, and I'm the one hurting the most. And you still blame me for it."

Justin stared at me in silence for a long time before finally letting out a sigh.

"I just think you're a bit of a... femme fatale."

"And I feel bad about those lives. That's all."

"No matter what it takes, we will get to the bottom of every single one of your cases. I promise you that."

I burst out laughing. Justin laughed too.

He picked up the juice from the table and took a few sips.

After that, the hostility in his eyes when he looked at me seemed to fade.

We followed the same routine as before, ate the dumplings, and waited on edge for the killer to make a move.

But the last dumpling was eaten.

And Justin hadn't noticed a single thing out of the ordinary.

"I'm not dead?"

The dumplings had already been tested for poison by the task force beforehand. There was never going to be a surprise there.

From start to finish, nothing suspicious had happened at all.

Everyone found it even stranger now.

"Could we have been looking in the wrong direction?"