"He's working late?"
"Yeah, a school got burgled and a bunch of their equipment was stolen so he's staying late to work the scene."
"That's awful."
"I know! Working late is rough."
"I meant the school."
"Oh. Nasty, isn't it? Stealing from a school? Some people! Anyway, when are we following Lauren? Does she do anything fun?"
"I've only known the band a few days. So far, I've seen one die, and found out another one was years older than everyone thought and secretly married, and learned that they have bitchy fights. Oh, yeah, and they go shopping."
"I like the shopping bit. Call me tomorrow?"
"First thing."
"So long as that means eleven. I want to sleep in."
I promised I would call at a reasonable time before walking Lily out, and watching her walk to her car. I waited while she buckled up and drove off before closing the door. I cleaned up our snacks, rinsed and washed the bowls, and dispensed the trash into the can while I thought about the case.
We had discussed the theory that the blackmailer and the murderer were separate people, but now that it was confirmed, I had to focus on the only clue we were left with. We cleaned up the blackmail plot, just like we were under contract to do; and extracted Amelia’s promise she would not send any more blackmail letters and would return the money. So now where were we? We were left with Katya’s murder, and one strong suspect, as well as several other minor ones.
Joe’s request to keep us on to assist with the investigation was a relief in some ways. I was far too curious to find out who killed Katya and why to leave the case alone. Sure, the band girls were hard work, but one of them was murdered, and my persistent, natural curiosity needed to know why. Why did someone go to considerable effort to access a secret passageway to her room? Who else knew about it? And did Katya know about the secret entrances too? Did that mean Katya knew her murderer well enough to tell him or her about the passageway? Each time I thought of a question, I thought of another one that needed answering. Unfortunately, for Lauren my theories were all unproven, leading me back to square one: tailing Lauren.
I dried my hands and switched off the lights in the kitchen, moving back to the living room and grabbing my phone. First, I dialed Garrett.
"Little sis, you been busy with that crazy ass band?" he asked, when his wife, Traci, passed over the phone.
"They're keeping me busy," I admitted, filling him in on my recent discovery about the blackmail.
"I'm guessing you're calling about the murder?"
"How did you know?"
"I've been waiting for your call. I can't tell you much, since it's an active investigation. Plus, your Special Agent ex is handling it since it's high profile."
"He told me. What can you tell me?"
"Probably not much more than you already know." I heard a door shut before Garrett continued. "The stab wound to the back was what killed her. It severed an artery and would have ended her life her very quickly."
"Isn't that an unusual way to be stabbed?"
"I thought so too. Usually, stab wounds go to the front areas of the body. The heart, the stomach, a limb. Accessible areas when there's a confrontation. Very rarely to the back, or in that position. I got the impression that the killer might have some medical knowledge."
"How did you come to that conclusion?"
"The kill stab was very precise. It wasn't a frenzied slash. You saw the room. There wasn't any struggle, and Katya didn't have any defensive wounds."
"Katya must have been comfortable with the killer to have turned her back. Do you think it was someone she knew?" I asked, knowing that was another mark against Lauren.
"I'd say it was likely to some extent, especially since she didn't scream when whoever it was entered. She could have been surprised though, or threatened into silence." Garrett paused.
"You don't think that's likely?"
"I just read the autopsy report. There was no sign that Katya attempted to strike her attacker or defended herself in any way. No DNA under her fingernails, no hair caught in her fingers, no ligature marks, or bruising to her wrists or ankles, and nothing in her mouth to keep her quiet."
"So, no sexual assault either?" I guessed, wondering when Maddox planned on sharing the report with me.
"Correct. All her clothing was in proper order and there was no evidence of any prior sexual activity."
"Okay. So she wasn't attacked and she wasn't defending herself. That suggests she either knew her attacker or at least, felt comfortable at allowing the creep into the room. Could you determine anything about him or her?"
"No. I can tell you that the strike went downwards, but the ME estimated that Katya was already on the floor. I think the killer straddled her, pinned her down, and delivered the fatal blow, killing her swiftly. It was pulled out and plunged in again just an inch under the first wound. The knife was still in her back when you found her."
I shuddered, and didn't need any reminding. "I thought that was strange. Didn't you?"
"If you'd stop interrupting, I would tell you that!"
"Sorry."
"No problem. The hilt was wiped clean, but the knife wasn't new. We matched it to a set from the hotel kitchen, but we already cleared it with the chef it belonged to. He reported his knife set was stolen a half hour before Katya was found. He was talking to the deputy manager during the kill, and that checked out."
"So the killer swiped it?"
"That would be my guess. He or she probably passed through the kitchen, grabbed the knife, and then accessed the suite. Not wanting to go through the annoyance of getting rid of the knife, the killer left it in situ. Removing the knife would have increased blood spatter too. However, we did get a small amount of DNA trace from the knife. We still don't know how the murderer got in and out."
That sounded positive for Lauren. I was sure she didn't have time to run down to the hotel kitchen, steal a knife, and quietly re-enter the suite. Also, she was famous. Someone would have seen her. "Maddox didn't tell you?"
"Tell me what?"
"We found a secret passageway that enables housekeeping to access the suites without being seen on the floor."
"No shit?"
"None at all. Maddox took some prints from the passageway and entryways. It looks like there were hidden entry points to every room. The killer could have gotten into Katya's room via any one of them and escaped again, unseen. It would explain why I didn't see anyone when I walked along that corridor on my way to interview Katya."
"I'll check into that angle. Tomorrow, I'm going to interview hotel staff and speak to the manager again. Like you said, housekeeping knew about that secret passageway and the murder weapon was a hotel knife. One of the staff could have done it."
"But why?"
"Hell if I know, Lexi. Hey, I saw Solomon earlier. He looked distracted. Everything okay?"
"He seemed okay when I last saw him," I told my brother.
"Must be the case getting to him. We could do without the press here, making everything harder by watching our every move."
"Tell me about it," I said, wondering how long it would take for the news about my run-in with Shayne to travel to my brother. I figured it wouldn't be long; and if I were really lucky, it might even come up at a family dinner.
"Okay, well, I'm going to be working extra hours on this case. At least, we have Maddox to liaise with. He might not be one of our own anymore, but it’s nice we knew him as a cop."
I frowned. "He hasn't taken the case over?"
"Nope, not exactly. We're working it together as a joint op. Pretty decent of him. The FBI can easily call grabs on the case if they wanted to. High-profile cases like these are career builders."
I agreed it was decent of Maddox not to steal the case out from under MPD. I rang off after agreeing that we would make certain to catch up at the next family dinner. When that would be scheduled, I didn't know, but I was pretty sure my mother would want the case
gossip soon, even though she had no idea who or what B4U were.
I checked my watch again before placing my next call, wondering if it was too late. I did have to tell Maddox to leave the blackmail letters alone; they were a dead end. If he looked for any answers there, he would simply be wasting vital time on the real case. After several attempts at picking up the phone and putting it down again, I dialed Maddox.
"Where did you get to?" he asked. "I went to take some fingerprints and you were gone."
I grimaced, but I shouldn't have been surprised. I took off after my run-in with Shayne and that was rude. "Sorry, I had to take care of other business. I heard you found usable prints?"
"You heard right. There were a lot belonging to hotel employees and a few unaccounted for."
"Garrett is looking at a hotel employee, thanks to the knife."
"Makes sense. Want to hear about the really fun print we got?"
"I think I can guess, but please surprise me."
"It was Katya's. On the console panel inside the passageway. I matched it to the sample print we took from her body."
"So she did know about the passageway!" I punched the air triumphantly, then lowered my arm as I realized all the possibilities that raised. If Katya knew, whom else did she tell?
"Looks that way. She might have been using the passage herself. I found her prints by the elevator too, and also outside the other suite the band were using."
"Joe's or Amelia's?"
"Amelia's. So, Katya wasn't accessing Joe's suite, and it doesn't look like Amelia or Joe were using the passageway either. Just a minute..." There was some rustling as Maddox got up and I heard footsteps before a door closed.
"Am I interrupting something?" I asked.
"No, it's fine. I was in a public area and with a case this high-profile, I need to be careful. Did you know some journalist got into the hotel before breaking the wedding story?"
"Gosh. I wonder how that happened." I pulled a face and picked up my notepad. "You definitely didn't find any prints from Lauren in the passageway?"
"None, but there were some prints that were too smudged to use. I couldn't see definitively that they weren’t hers, just that I can't..."
"...find any evidence that they are," I concluded.
"That's correct. Why the interest in Lauren?"
"She's the only one in the band without an alibi."
"That is news to me. Spill."
"I'll trade you. Your information for my information."
"How did I know this wasn't a friendly chat? Okay, what do you want to know? I can still get you the autopsy report."
"Nope, got that. I just want to be kept in the loop, please. I'm working an angle and I need help," I admitted.
"No problem. Your turn."
"Okay. I saw Joe and Amelia together immediately prior to the murder. Neither of them could have killed Katya because they were too busy making out in the housekeeping closet at the other end of the floor. Shelley was in the hotel that day, but was witnessed across town by more than one person, including their security chief and the chauffeur for the car she took. No one can confirm where Lauren was. She isn't talking and that makes me suspicious. I'm starting surveillance on her tomorrow."
"The band decided to keep you on?"
"Yep. I wrapped up the blackmail case and told them it was Amelia. All she wanted was to get out of the band, and I think it just spiraled out of control. Solomon guessed Joe suspected her all along but didn't want to believe his wife was behind it. As Amelia definitely didn't kill Katya, it's unrelated; so those letters I sent you are a dead end. Joe asked us to stay on and look into Katya's murder."
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely."
"He didn't need to keep you on for the murder inquiry. The FBI and MPD are working together."
"I know, but I've been given a job to do and I intend to do it. Joe's under a lot of pressure from his bosses."
"It's getting crazy. We have leads that take us in different directions, not to mention, psycho fans and journalists every time we turn around. The whole thing could get dangerous. Solomon shouldn't have put you right in the center of it."
I paused, thinking back to all the other dangerous situations I'd encountered, starting with the first body I found before getting dragged into the case. I survived each and every one of them... but it only took one bad turn to end all that. And only one wrong decision for me to become the victim. Even so, I wasn't about to back down now. Katya may have been nuts, but she needed someone on her team, someone who wouldn't stop looking for the truth, someone with an “in” with the band; and that person was me. "I'm there because I can get the job done," I told him. "And I need to know what Lauren is hiding."
"Honey, are you ready?" a woman's voice called.
The phone went muffled for Maddox's response before he came back on the line. "I have to go," he said. "Let's meet tomorrow and we'll go over what we know about Lauren. Okay?"
"Okay?" I agreed as I ended the call, frowning. I didn't know who the voice belonged to, but I'd never heard it before. I also knew not a single one of his colleagues would have ever called him “honey.” The image of the reservation for the romantic getaway flashed in front of me. Did that voice belong to Maddox's mystery woman?
Amid a case that was built on secrets and lies, why didn't he tell me about her just like any other friend would?
Chapter Twelve
"Lexi Graves, get over yourself!"
Lily and I sat in my car outside the hotel, away from the circle of press camped out on the doorstep. Despite a cordon set up by the hotel to restrain them, the press crowd seemed to grow exponentially by the hour. The eager reporters and a heaving bank of photographers were all straining for a shot every time the door opened. From our vantage point, we had a clear view of the front door, and another of the side street through which the employee parking lot was accessed. Whichever way Lauren exited the building, we'd surely see her. Not that it mattered, I secretly attached a small tracking device to her favorite purse that morning while she was busy helping herself to coffee and breakfast from the cart set up in her suite. The tracker currently beeped on my app, reminding me that Lauren hadn't moved. Thanks to the little, red, flashing dot, wherever she went, we could follow inconspicuously, without depending on her obeying her agenda, or having to call Joe to locate her. Solomon, Joe, and I agreed that was best: Lauren was upset enough about being our chief suspect, so we didn't need to dismay her further by letting her know she was being tailed. Despite the Michael mystery, I just hoped she would turn up clean.
"Pardon?"
"We've talked about your ex-boyfriend for the last thirty minutes! I thought you were over him? Or do you care that Adam Maddox might have a new girlfriend?"
"I don't mind!"
"So what's the problem? That he didn't tell you?"
"I don't know. Maybe." Did it matter? I wondered. I awoke thinking about Maddox and the mystery woman, and it needled me all morning. As soon as I picked up Lily, I told her everything. Everything took two minutes, since I knew nothing.
"Did you tell him about Solomon right after you dumped him?"
"No, but that was different. Maddox and I just split up, and I was really angry at him. I thought he was cheating on me!"
"Let's look at it from Maddox's perspective. His ex-girlfriend, who dumped him for cheating, took up with her boss while she was pretending to be married to him..."
"For a case!"
Lily continued, adding, "For a case, and then she consummated the fake marriage, and did it end there? No, his ex is still dating his former colleague, and they seem really happy. Meanwhile, Maddox might finally have found someone nice and hasn't told you, and you're upset about that?"
"I'm upset he didn't tell me."
"You didn't tell him about Solomon!"
"He figured it out before I got the chance; plus, I was mad at him at the time."
"And you figured this out. What did you think Maddox was going to
do? Pine over you forever?"
I took a deep breath and mumbled, "Whose team are you on?"
"Yours, sweetie, always."
"I just wanted to talk about it."
"Okay. Talk."
I shrugged and pulled a face. "That was it."
"So what are you going to do now?"
A green blip appeared on my cell phone screen, signifying my mark was on the move. I pointed to the car pulling out of the service exit, with Lauren just visible in the rear seat as the driver's window rolled up. "Follow that car."
"I meant Maddox."
"I've given it a lot of thought, and thanks to our helpful chat... nothing."
"Hmmph," said Lily. "Back in the day, we would have stalked him until we knew the truth."
"Do you want to stalk him?"
"No, stalking B4U is way more fun. What does a superstar diva do on her time off? Drive, Lexi, drive!"
We followed the blacked out vehicle for several blocks. I didn't make much of an attempt at pretending not to follow, but traffic was with me that morning, and we blended in easily, following two or three cars behind. Lauren's vehicle turned through a set of gates and we drew to a halt outside.
"Ohmygosh they're going to do some kind of deal," gasped Lily. "Drugs? Could it all be down to drugs? Is Michael her dealer?"
"This is where the band are rehearsing for their video."
"Then why are we out here? I want to be in there." Lily jabbed her thumb at the warehouse before turning hopeful eyes on me. "Plus, how can we follow Lauren out here?"
"Good point."
I pulled a U-turn and followed the car through the gate, sliding into an empty space, far from the warehouse doors. Unlike the first time I visited, the small lot was almost full. I spotted a few people milling around the doors behind the security guards. Along with the security guard that Solomon and I interviewed previously, there were three other men in identical black coats and slacks, wearing headsets. One carried a clipboard.
Grabbing my phone, I placed a call to Solomon. "I'm following Lauren and she pulled into the warehouse," I told him.
"Okay... good?"
"Is there something going on here? Security has obviously been boosted."
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