by BIBA PEARCE
There was a pause. “How do you know about that?”
“I’ve got the exclusive,” she said. “Approved by the department.”
“Ah, yes. Well, you know I can’t discuss any details of the case.”
“Of course. I’m sorry. It’s just—I didn’t think Natalia’s death was related to the other girls.”
“Apparently it is. I, for one, am glad the whole thing is over. It’s been a major pain in the ass.”
Not as much as for the victims or their families, she felt like saying.
“Why don’t we get together next week? We’ll go out for dinner like old times.”
“Sounds great.”
Kenzie tried to make sense of it. How could Natalia be one of the Strangler’s victims? Had he really confessed, or were they trying to pin her death on him to close the case?
They said goodbye and she sat there, staring at the wall.
Was there any actual evidence? What about the different MOs? The strangulation marks on her neck? That she hadn’t been sexually assaulted? How did they explain that?
She tried to call Reid, but it went straight to voicemail.
Damnit. He was avoiding her calls.
She thought about Bella and the way she’d been dancing on the beach.
Some things are worth waiting for.
What a load of crap to throw them off the scent. To throw her off the scent because she’d seen Bella and Snake together on the beach.
Then the attack. The heels on the sidewalk. The perfume.
No way had the Strangler killed Natalia.
43
As the sun sank into the Atlantic, Kenzie arrived at the Herald’s offices. The night concierge greeted her by name. That ought to tell her she needed to get a life.
Still, here she was, unable to let go.
She wasn’t even sure what she was looking for, other than something she’d missed. Something to tie Bella to Natalia’s murder.
She began by scrolling through the picture archives, looking for all the press shots they had of Snake and Natalia. The engagement party, the wedding, the record launch. There were tons, all filed on the cloud, at a finger’s reach should they ever need them for an article or entertainment piece.
She began with the engagement party. Happy smiles, champagne, and laughter. Natalia looked beautiful in a flowing sapphire gown, her dark hair up in a chignon. The party was held at Snake’s mansion, and there were plenty of shots of the happy couple on the terrace, by the pool, on the lawn, the palm trees majestic overhead. She saw Bella in the periphery, her eyes glued on Natalia.
Then came the confrontation. Bella screaming at Natalia, her mouth a bright red slash. Natalia looking scared, tears glistening on her face. Snake with his arm around his fiancée, shouting at his ex. Even a fuming Bella being led from the house by a beefy security guard. The photographer had captured it all.
Kenzie could feel the animosity through the screen. There were one or two later shots of a devastated Natalia being comforted by her husband-to-be. Touching photos. They never made it into the press.
Rubbing the grit out of her eyes, she moved on to the next. The wedding. Bella hadn’t been invited for obvious reasons, so Kenzie scrolled through these quickly. The wedding dress was exquisite, and Natalia resembled the pampered heiress she was. Her father stood in the shadows, looking over her.
The vows. The guests. Confetti for a beautiful bride.
Then on to the reception. The dinner, the speeches, and finally, the first dance.
They looked blissful. What a shame someone had stolen it all away.
Her vision blurring, Kenzie got up and made herself a pot of coffee. The office was quiet, the big screen television on the wall that usually showed the latest news was off, the air conditioner silent, and only her computer flickered from across the floor.
She liked it like this. Peace in which to work and think. It was easier to switch on when the rest of the world switched off.
Back at her desk, she brought up the photographs of the launch party at the Sand Club. There were quite a few. She started at the beginning, with the guests arriving at the venue. The paparazzi had staked out the place, waiting to see who had been invited.
The guests who were checking into the hotel came first. She recognized several of them. Then Snake and Natalia arrived, leaving Snake’s Lamborghini outside the front entrance. They walked in, hand in hand.
She scrolled on. The night of the party. Glamorous guests, more drinking, more laughing. Bella swirled around in her emerald-green dress, her arm linked with Dave’s. Except for the moment when she had that altercation with Natalia. Once again, Snake had intervened. Why the hell did he keep inviting Bella to these things? The woman was a menace.
Dave rushed up, embarrassed. He took Bella’s arm. She let him usher her out. Looking at the photographs, Bella certainly appeared drunk. Her cheeks were flushed. She gripped Dave’s arm, and she was clearly upset.
Was Dave her accomplice? He was the right height, but was he capable of murder?
Kenzie stared at a picture of him handing Bella a glass of champagne. A smiling face with pale blue eyes. It was possible, she supposed, but she just couldn’t see it.
She sighed. This was getting her nowhere.
She scrolled back to the beginning of the night and started again. There must be something. What weren’t they seeing?
At three in the morning, she found what she was looking for.
“Someone got to him.” Reid paced up and down the squad room.
“But who?” Pérez ran a tired hand through his hair.
“I don’t know. Bella somehow?”
“Now you’re being ridiculous,” his boss said. “Bella Montague hasn’t been anywhere near the station since she was questioned and released. She had no access to Halston.”
“What about his lawyer?” Reid asked. “She could have approached him.”
“Look, I know this isn’t adding up, but Halston's a sick man. A psychopath. If he’s confessed to Natalia’s murder, we’re going to charge him with that, along with all the others.”
“Don’t you want to find out what really happened?” Reid scowled at him.
“I know what happened. That man killed her.”
“He didn’t,” Reid argued. “Can’t you see he’s lying? Someone fed him information about it. The suitcase, the beach, but they didn’t tell him about the yellow dress.”
Pérez pursed his lips. “Look, it’s late. Let’s pick this up in the morning.”
“Halston will be charged and taken away in the morning,” Reid said. “We have to figure this out now.”
“Garrett, I’ve had enough. This has been a long day and I want to go home. Halston is going to be charged with Natalia’s murder along with all the others. Do you understand me?”
Reid inhaled. “But Lieutenant—”
“Leave it, Reid. That’s an order.”
“I thought we were here to uncover the truth,” he said, after the lieutenant turned his back. “Since when doesn’t that matter anymore?”
Pérez ignored him.
Reid turned and stormed out.
Reid drove home through the breaking dawn. He pulled in beside his cabin and frowned. What was Kenzie doing here?
He walked up to the window of her car and knocked. She was sound asleep in the back seat, curled up like a child. She jerked awake, then sat up, rubbing sleep from her eyes.
He waited as she climbed out.
“Oh, thank goodness you’re home. There’s something I have to tell you.”
He noticed she was shaking.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, yes. It’s just too much caffeine. I’m fine.”
“Come inside.” He noticed her jeans, wrinkled T-shirt, and sandals. “You look like you’ve been up all night.”
“I have.” She squinted at him. “Where have you been?”
“At the station. Halston confessed to Natalia’s murder.”
“
I heard.”
“You did?” Then he twigged. “Ah, your dickhead source.”
“No, not him. You were right about him. He’s a liar. I told him I never wanted to see him again. Well done for punching him in the nose, by the way. He deserved it.”
Reid spun around. “You told him you never wanted to see him again?” Why did that make him happy?
“Yes. I’m so sorry about that. I’ll never trust anything he says ever again.”
“Not your fault.” He opened the door.
She followed him in. He was still thinking about Ortega when he remembered what she’d said about Halston.
“How did you find out?”
“Vic Reynolds. I called you, but you didn’t pick up. I thought you were avoiding me.”
“I was.”
She snorted. “Anyway, he told me Halston confessed to Natalia’s murder. I couldn’t believe it. Why confess to a murder you didn’t commit?”
“That’s what I can’t understand,” Reid said, going into the kitchen.
Kenzie padded after him.
“He’s already going down for at least nine other murders, so I suppose what’s one more?”
“Another life sentence,” said Kenzie.
Reid put on a pot of coffee.
“Unless he wants the prestige of saying he killed Natalia Cruz,” Kenzie said.
“I think someone got to him,” Reid admitted.
Kenzie’s eyes widened. “You think Bella got him to confess to Natalia’s murder?”
He smiled. She’d already known what he was thinking. He liked how she did that.
“I think she spoke to his lawyer, got him to ask Halston to confess. There must have been a payoff. I can’t see him doing it for nothing.”
“No, but what could she have offered him? Money wouldn't do him any good. He doesn't have family, other than his brother.”
“I don’t know, but it must be something.”
He poured them each a cup of coffee. “Now, what are you doing here? You said you found something?”
“God, yes.” She perked up. “I went back to the office last night. I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to go through the old photo archives looking for anything we might have missed.”
“Kenzie, it’s been a long night. If you’ve found something, please just tell me what it is.”
She grinned. “Sorry. I know how they did it. I know how they killed Natalia.”
44
“They?” Reid stared at her.
“Bella and Snake.” Lack of sleep and too much caffeine made her stumble over her words.
“Hang on.” Reid held up a hand. “You’re telling me they were in it together?”
“Yes, that’s what I’m saying.”
“Okay, you’ve lost me. Can we go through this slowly? I’m not operating on all cylinders right now.”
“Sure.”
He set the two cups of coffee on the table, then sank into a chair. Kenzie sat opposite him, drumming her fingers on the table. She felt wired.
“So, what did you discover?”
“I went back to the day of the launch party,” she said. “There were several paparazzi shots of the guests arriving.”
“Okay, and what does this tell us?”
“Natalia and Snake arrived earlier that morning. They were staying in the hotel. Natalia had this massive suitcase with flowers all over it.”
“The one they couldn't find after she went missing?”
“That one.”
Reid shook his head. “I don’t see how—” Then his eyes widened.
Kenzie smiled.
He stared at her. “You’re not suggesting—”
She nodded.
“Oh my God.”
“It’s possible,” she said. “The case is that big.”
There was a pause as Reid processed what she’d said. She could almost hear his brain ticking over. “He hid her body in the suitcase.”
“I think so.” She wrapped her hands around the cup, more for warmth than anything else. “Snake spiked his own wife’s drink sometime during the night, or even earlier, who knows? She developed a headache, felt sick, and he escorted her back to the room. We saw them on the security camera.”
Reid was nodding along as she talked.
“The only time we didn’t see them is during those few minutes he was inside their room.”
“And that’s when he killed her,” surmised Reid.
Kenzie gave a tight nod. “I think he strangled her and hid her body in the suitcase, which he stashed in one of the wardrobes. Then he went back to the party. We saw him shout something into the room before he left.”
“That was all for show.” Reid’s gaze was fixed on Kenzie’s widened eyes.
“Exactly. He knew the police would check the tape. He went back to the party, socialized, and pretended like nothing had happened.”
“Meanwhile, his wife was lying dead in the room.”
Kenzie met his gaze. “Yes. Then, after the party, he goes back to the room. Everyone’s a little drunk. He pretends to look for Natalia, but she’s not there. He calls his buddies, who come up to help him search.”
“They look in the bedroom and the bathroom, but they don’t check the closet,” said Reid.
“Or maybe Snake checks the closet and says she’s not in there. None of them were looking for the suitcase at that stage. Snake only told the police about that the next morning when he reported her missing.”
“Then they search the rest of the hotel, but of course she’s not there either.” Reid followed Kenzie in her thought process.
Kenzie continued, “His friends leave. He goes back to the room and takes the suitcase out of the closet. Now this is when it gets tricky. He wheels it down to the beach, which must have been difficult, considering there was a body inside. Bella’s parked along the beach somewhere off the radar. They load the case into the car and drive out to the Glades to get rid of it.”
“And that’s why we didn’t find any trace of Natalia’s DNA in the car,” said Reid. “She was in the suitcase the whole time.”
“Correct.” Kenzie felt a surge of adrenaline. That and the coffee were what was keeping her going.
“We picked her up on the road camera on her way to the Glades. Eleven minutes past two in the morning, and the guy sitting next to her was none other than her ex-boyfriend, DJ Snake.”
They sat and stared at each other.
Reid gave a low whistle. “It makes sense.”
“The only thing I haven’t figured out, is why,” Kenzie said. “From everything I’ve seen, they were happy together.”
“A wise woman once told me appearances could be deceiving,” he said.
She couldn’t resist smiling.
“How are we going to prove it?” asked Reid.
“We need to find that suitcase,” said Kenzie. “It’s a pity we can’t search Bella’s place.”
“I might be able to arrange that,” he said. “If we can prove she bribed Halston to take the blame for Natalia.”
“How are you going to do that?”
“Bring his attorney in. We’ll make a big deal of it, put the fear of God into him. I think he’ll talk. The attorney won’t risk his reputation for a serial killer.”
“Will that be enough for you to get a warrant for her apartment?”
“I think so. They won’t be able to brush it under the rug then.”
Kenzie grinned. “Okay, sounds good.” She stifled a yawn. “Do you mind if I crash on your couch for a few hours? I’m way too exhausted to drive home. I’d probably end up in the swamp if I tried.”
“Sure, take my bedroom. I’ve got some calls to make.”
“You haven’t slept either.”
“I’ll sleep when this case is over.” He winked at her. “I can handle it.”
He looked exhausted too. His hair was disheveled, his shirt creased, and his chin covered in stubble.
“Okay, tough guy. Wake me if anything happens.”
“Will do.”
She went into the bedroom and lay down. God, it felt good to close her eyes. Her head was aching, and she had the shakes from too much caffeine. Just a few hours’ sleep was all she needed to see her through the day.
The last thing she heard before she passed out was Reid saying, “Sorry to wake you, Lieutenant, but you’re never going to believe this.”
45
“Miami PD, Open up!”
There was no answer.
Reid nodded to the team of officers. They battered the door down and charged inside, weapons drawn. In his hand, Reid held the search warrant that had come through only an hour before.
“Clear,” shouted one of the officers. “Bella Montague is not here.”
“Okay, let’s search the property. We’re looking for a large floral suitcase, or anything that looks like it might belong to Natalia Cruz.”
“Yes, sir.”
They spread out and systematically went through each room. It wasn’t a big apartment, and it wasn’t in the best part of town, although it was tastefully decorated. Like Kenzie had said, Bella Montague didn’t come from money. Compared to her wealthy friends, she was a pauper.
There was a photograph of Bella as a child, playing on the beach, bucket and spade in hand. She was smiling, her eyes twinkling in the Miami sun. There was another photograph of her and Snake, presumably when they were dating. It was in a polished silver frame without a smudge on it. This photograph was valuable to her.
He couldn’t see any photographs of her foster parents, or any indication of her life before she’d come to Miami.
“I’ll take the main bedroom.” He headed for the stairs.
Bella’s bedroom was sparse and functional. She had a place for everything, and everything served a purpose. No frivolous items, no paintings on the walls, no trinkets.
He searched the dresser and found a box of jewelry. It was all cheap stuff, nothing valuable. He frowned and opened her closet. Again, only the bare minimum.
Something wasn’t right.
He took out his phone and called Ryan, back at the station. She answered immediately.