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Major was just putting his updated list back in the safe in his closet when Ravi burst through the door into his room.

"Ooh! Sorry. I didn't know you were home; I was looking for my nail clippers."

Wasn't that just what he needed—proof that Ravi had no boundaries and nothing was safe. Major was glad he had been taking precautions all along … but maybe he needed to go a step further. Feigning casual acceptance of the intrusion, he said, "Be honest, man. When I leave the house, you like to try on my clothes just to feel close to me."

"Sometimes." Pointing at the closet, Ravi asked, "When did you get a safe?"

Crap. He had thought he'd moved fast enough to prevent Ravi from seeing it.

"I should get one, shouldn't I. Seems very adult and—"

Ravi stopped babbling when Major shut the closet door. Firmly, hoping to cut off any further conversation in the process.

Major waited for his roommate to go away, but it was hard to get Ravi off a topic when he was interested. "Is it fireproof?"

"It's just a safe."

"Well, do you have room in there for my green card, and my—"

"I don't. It's … full. There's lots of stuff!" 'Lots of stuff'? Yes, that lameness was absolutely guaranteed to squash Ravi's endless curiosity. Major could have kicked himself for not having come up with a better story just in case this happened. He should have been more prepared.

Ravi's face twisted in confusion. "All right, then. That's that."

But Major was willing to bet that was not going to be that. So on top of everything else going on, he had to find a new place to hide things because he wasn't secure enough in his own house. And, just to rub it in, Ravi spotted the nail clippers on Major's nightstand on his way out and took them with him—ostentatiously.

Tension persisted within the house until the next day, Ravi making a lame excuse to avoid game night. The following morning, as Major was grazing for a light breakfast, Ravi was reading the paper, pointedly not sharing his usual running commentary. It stung. Major had come to like and respect his roommate in the time they had lived together, and being at odds with him was not enjoyable. He hated that this situation forced him to lie to the people he most wanted to tell the truth to.

He took a drink from the milk carton, gagging at the taste and pouring it out. "Guh. The milk's gone bad."

"Did it? I just bought it yesterday." Ravi's tone was carefully neutral.

"The world's an imperfect place." Wasn't that the truth.

Ravi flipped a page of the paper. After a moment of silence, he called out urgently, "Major, look at this."

Major came to look, alarm spiking through him when he saw the headline: "SEATTLE IN SHOCK OVER CHAO$ KILLER'S REIGN OF TERROR." His greatest hits. Literally.

Worse yet, while every other victim was shown in a headshot, Minor's owner was shown with his dog. Damn it!

And Ravi was pointing right at the picture. "Doesn't that look like Minor?"

"Just looks like every other basset hound in the world."

Ravi frowned at the picture, studying it closely. "No, but the markings … Look at the timeline. Colin Andrews went missing on November 13th. That's the day you brought Minor home."

It was? Major had been so strung out on Utopium at that point he wouldn't have known what day that had been. He frowned at Ravi. "You remember the exact day I brought him home?"

"Same day Peyton showed up on our doorstep, so … yeah."

"Ah." Major nodded, understanding perfectly. He wondered if Ravi was ever going to get anywhere with Peyton. She showed little sign of any real interest in Ravi other than as a friend, but with Peyton it was hard to tell. Sometimes that meant she liked you more, if she was comfortable enough to be casual with you. He had hoped that Peyton's name coming up in the conversation would distract Ravi from the dog, but no such luck.

Still staring at the picture of the dog, Ravi exclaimed, "This is unbelievable! Maybe you should call the police. It's possible you saw the Chaos Killer and you don't know it."

Oh, he'd seen the Chaos Killer, all right, and he knew it all too well. And he could only imagine Clive's response if he called the police and fessed up to having had the dog of one of the victims at his house.

"Ravi, that's not even Minor."

"Colin Andrews' dog Penny was found on a bus on January 14th. Isn't that right around the time you took Minor back to his owner? How'd he wind up on a bus?"

Major forced a laugh. "I think you're losing it, my friend. That's not Minor." Unable to continue the conversation without throwing up from anxiety, he punched Ravi lightly on the arm and turned to leave the kitchen. "I gotta go to work."

"Major!" Ravi called after him, but he didn't stop. He couldn't. His roommate was skating way too close to the truth as it was. He had the sickening sensation of time running out, and the even more sickening awareness that he didn't have the faintest idea how to stop it.