Dark Euphoria

by Ronica Black

  “Ashland.”

  “The one and only.” She rounded her desk and began packing up to go home. “Why she would leave the photo in the wallet is beyond me. But like you said, we’ve got to run with it.”

  “Maybe she didn’t know it was in there. Maybe she’d given it to him as a threat and he’d kept it in there.”

  She pointed a finger at him. “You got a point.”

  Finley killed their desk lights and they both gathered their things and walked to the wall to kill the overhead lights. Homicide was empty and it was nearing three in the morning. They had a lot to do tomorrow.

  “I’ll call Kenny in the morning to get more info on the wallet and the photo.”

  “And I’ll call in our girl,” Finley said.

  “Oh, she’ll just love hearing from you.”

  Finley bounced on the balls of his feet. “I know. I absolutely can’t wait.”

  Maria shook her head, grateful for the evidence and the fact that she could go home and get a few hours’ rest. But something deep down inside her churned with dread. It was looking like Avery Ashland was involved after all. And that didn’t leave her totally happy, for reasons she didn’t want to admit.

  Chapter Eleven

  Avery rolled over and groaned as her cell phone vibrated again. She opened her eyes wide enough to read the number and then powered it off and threw it across the room. She’d already unplugged her house phone because it hadn’t stopped ringing. Whoever it was could fuck off. She’d had a handful of sleepless nights thanks to Detective Diaz’s disastrous visit, and she was just now able to drift off.

  She snuggled down into her Egyptian cotton sheets and down pillows. The room was blissfully cool and quiet. Her eyes drifted closed and Maria’s face floated to her mind. Why hadn’t she called her back?

  No.

  She refused to think of her any longer. It was obvious that Maria had drawn the line and now she was trying to get her goat. But she wouldn’t let her.

  She sighed and turned over. Maria’s face wouldn’t leave her mind and her words, the last time she’d seen her, kept replaying.

  “No!” She sat up and grabbed her temples. Why was this woman getting to her so? She was just a cop. A detective doing her job. Why couldn’t she get her out of her head?

  She threw back her covers and sat on the edge of her bed. She was just about to get in the shower when Nadine knocked and called from her door.

  “In.”

  Nadine came in with an apologetic and worried look on her face. She had a house phone in her hand.

  “Oh, fuck me.” Avery rubbed her forehead. She held out her hand for the phone. “Who is it?”

  “Detective Finley.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “Finley?” What did that asshat want? She studied Nadine for answers, but she shook her head, clueless in her bathrobe. “What time is it?”

  “It’s just after seven.”

  Avery eyed the phone. Where was Maria? Her eyes widened. Where the hell was Maria?

  She took the phone.

  “Where’s Detective Diaz? Is she okay? Is she hurt?” It would explain why she hadn’t returned her calls.

  “She’s just fine,” Finley said, sounding like the smartass he was turning out to be.

  Of course, she was fine. Bobby Luca was supposed to be watching her closely. He would’ve called if she’d been hurt.

  “Then why hasn’t she returned my calls?”

  “You will have to ask her that question.”

  “What do you want?”

  “I’m calling to ask you to come down to the station to answer some questions for us.”

  “What?”

  “We can send a car if you like. Or I can come and escort you.”

  “In your dreams.”

  “No, in reality.”

  She stood and stalked to the bathroom where she frowned into the mirror. “You’ve got some nerve.”

  “So they tell me. Be here by nine.”

  “I won’t speak to anyone but Maria.”

  She heard a click and then the dial tone. The jerk had hung up. She squeezed the phone and considered throwing it.

  Nadine came to the entrance of the bathroom. She folded her arms with obvious concern.

  “Is everything okay?”

  “No.”

  “What did he want?”

  “I have to go to the station. They want to talk.”

  “We have to call Bruce. You can’t go down there without him.”

  “No. No lawyers. Not yet. I’m just going to go down there, answer their damn questions, and lay into them.”

  “That’s not a good idea,” Nadine said.

  “It may not be, but I have to do it. I don’t want that Finley asshole coming here asking me more questions. Besides,” she ran a hand through her hair, “I need to see Detective Diaz. I need to see what’s going on there.”

  Nadine pressed her lips together. “I like her, but you’re going to have to give up on her.”

  Avery held up a hand to stop her. “It’s not going to be a friendly conversation, trust me.”

  “You like her. I know you well.”

  “Nadine.” She looked away. “Please. Don’t.”

  Nadine sighed. “Okay. I’ll make you breakfast.”

  “Don’t. I can’t eat a thing.”

  Nadine walked away quietly and Avery switched on the shower. As she stepped into the double-headed spray, she closed her eyes and thought about just what she’d say to Maria when she saw her. She didn’t have to think hard.

  * * *

  “Like I said an hour ago,” Avery said. “I’ll only speak to Detective Diaz.” She groaned and held her head in her hands. The interrogation room was tiny and suffocating with a small stainless steel table and stool. She’d kill for a fan and cushion for her ass. A damn Diet Coke sounded good as well. But she said nothing. They wanted her discomfort. That much she knew. So she didn’t complain.

  Finley smiled and slapped his palm on the table. “You want Diaz?”

  “Yes.”

  He smiled.

  “Okay.” He stood, adjusted his tie, and left the room.

  “Finally.” She sat back and stretched. Finley had nearly exhausted her with questions about Hale, their relationship, and her own past. She’d tried desperately to figure out what he was trying to get from her and to figure out how much he knew. But she hadn’t been able to grasp anything important. And now, after having heard all his questions, she knew exactly how she wanted to answer them.

  The door opened and Maria entered with her thick dark hair down, wearing a plain white tee and black jeans and boots. Avery fought licking her lips.

  Maria smiled but only slightly and placed a frosted can of Diet Coke in front of her. Avery cracked it open and drank, unable to hide her thirst. When she finished, she set it down and stared at Maria, waiting for her to speak. But she didn’t.

  “Aren’t you going to say hello?” Avery asked.

  “I think we’re a little past greetings.”

  “What about just being polite?”

  Maria didn’t look amused. She sat, placing her elbows on the table. “I hear you want to speak to me,” she said.

  “I’ll only speak to you, yes.”

  The door opened and Finley entered and handed her files and a legal pad. Maria placed it on the table, mouthed thank you, and then riffled through the files, stopping at the legal pad.

  Avery rolled her eyes. More questions. Were they really going to ask the same ones over again?

  Finley left the room and Maria cleared her throat.

  “How difficult was it to cut Hale’s throat, Avery?”

  Avery looked up in complete shock. “What?”

  Maria looked at her coolly. “It must have been difficult, because we can see all the attempts.” She opened a file and slid a photo of a dead, pale Hale across the table to her. Avery reared back and covered her mouth.

  “You bitch.”

  “I’m guessing you
’d never done it before. Or maybe, by your reaction, Lana had never done it before. Or…maybe you were the one who originally tried, but Lana had to finish him off.”

  “You animal,” she whispered. “Get that away from me.” She couldn’t look at it. Couldn’t look at his bulging eyes.

  “Oh, well, maybe you’ll like this one better.” She slid another over, but Avery turned her head.

  Maria didn’t stop. “Or how about this one? Or this one? You know the forehead carving is original, I’ll give you that. And the word horny. Very funny and quite true. He liked his women didn’t he, Avery? And he sure liked you. Probably hit on you a thousand times. Probably drove you nuts.”

  Avery clenched her teeth and stared at the wall. “You’re wrong. He didn’t dare hit on me. He knew better.”

  “Is that right? Because you see, we’ve heard differently. We’ve heard that Hale has always wanted you, Avery.”

  “He knew better,” she said.

  Maria made a clicking sound. “I see. Maybe that’s what happened. He hit on you one last time after you’d warned him not to. That’s it, isn’t it? You had to put him in his place. This time, forever.”

  Avery swallowed and tried to slow her heart rate. Something was wrong here. Very wrong. This wasn’t the Maria she’d expected.

  “No,” she said.

  “No?”

  Avery turned and looked at her. “No. I did not kill Hale.”

  “Well now, you see that’s funny. Because everything we’ve got points to you. Not to mention what Hale left behind. He told us you did it. Did you know that?”

  “What the fuck are you talking about?” It was a trick. It had to be. Maria was in here seriously fucking with her.

  “You didn’t bother to check his wallet, did you?” Maria asked.

  Avery just stared at her.

  Maria smiled. “Recognize this?” She pulled a plastic protected photo from a file and slid it toward her.

  Avery glanced at it and then looked harder. She recognized it all right. It was a photo she’d given to Hale months ago, threatening him to back off. She clenched her jaw and tried to control her breathing. His wallet? It had been in his wallet? Jesus Christ.

  Maria slid the photo back toward her. “I think you’ve answered my question.”

  “I haven’t answered a damn thing.” She was angry now. Maria had shown her up. She had the photo, the fucking photo. She fought for steady breath, but it was difficult to maintain. What she really wanted to do was tear up the photo and flip over the table and scream. The madness of the overbearing walls was getting to her and the photo, Hale smiling, it was making her blood pound. And Maria sitting there smirking like she had her now, infuriated her. She was just about to stand and tell her so when the door opened and Bruce Milo, her long-time attorney, strolled in. He motioned for her to stand.

  “This interview is over.”

  Avery stood and rushed from the room. She trembled as she turned to wait for Bruce. Maria followed her after gathering her things. She was still smirking. Bruce cupped Avery’s elbow.

  “The next time you want to speak to my client, you’ll have to go through me.”

  Maria shrugged. “I wouldn’t go far from your phone then.”

  Avery squeezed her fists and forced herself to stop trembling. She shook her arm away from Bruce and hurried with him from the station. When they stepped out into the bright sun, Bruce loosened his tie in obvious anger.

  “When are you going to grow a brain?”

  She turned on him, opened her mouth to speak, but stopped cold. What could she say? The interview had been a disaster. A total complete disaster.

  “I handled it just fine.” She wasn’t about to admit fault or defeat, even if it was obvious. The brilliant but pompous Bruce would no doubt gloat like he’d done a dozen or so other times throughout her life when he’d had to save her ass. If he hadn’t been such a good friend of her father, she would’ve tossed his ass to the curb. But Bruce was fiercely loyal to the Ashland family. And loyal was what she needed right now.

  He scoffed and slid on his black Gargoyle sunglasses. They went well with his perfectly shaped flattop haircut. He’d been trying for the Terminator look since the eighties. It seemed some dreams died hard.

  “You’re lucky Nadine called. Lucky someone cares about you like that.”

  Avery slid on her shades. She pushed back her shoulders and took in a deep breath. She stared at him while she dug in her small purse for her car key.

  “What can I say? She’s an angel.”

  Bruce eased his hands into his pockets and stood with her next to her Jaguar. “Like it or not we’re going to have to discuss this before it gets nasty. I tried to tell you this the day they found Hale. I knew they’d come for you, at the very least to sniff around. You can’t fuck with these people, Avery. They aren’t like the disgruntled husbands of your lovers, upset over the seduction of their wives. They’re cops. The law. And if you don’t play your cards right, they can send you away for a very, very long time.

  Avery fought off a chill. She unlocked her car, climbed in, and lowered the window. “Okay,” she finally said, her shoulders sagging a bit as she gripped the wheel. “What do I do?”

  “You need to bring me up to speed on that interview.”

  “I didn’t say anything they could use against me.”

  “What do they have? Anything?”

  “A photo I gave Hale some months ago. I wrote a threat to him on the back and drew a target on his face.”

  “Jesus,” he breathed. He tapped the top of her car. “We can handle it.”

  She sighed, wrung her hands on the wheel, and looked at him. “I didn’t do it, in case you were wondering.”

  He held up a hand to silence her. “Save it for later. In the meantime,” he bent and aimed the comment directly at her, “stay out of trouble, will ya?”

  She powered up the window and peeled out, giving him the finger as she sped away.

  Chapter Twelve

  Maria stared out the window of the popular breakfast and lunch diner. She stared beyond Finley, beyond the other patrons, to the darkening sky. Finley continued speaking, oblivious.

  “I’m telling you, her face said it all. She’s guilty as hell.” He held a finger up for the waitress. “Can I get an iced tea to go, please?” He swished what was left in his glass with a straw and then leaned in to suck it down.

  Maria stared at the variety of syrups on the table and considered his words. The look of pure shock on Ashland’s face when she’d seen the photo, it had truly surprised her. She’d expected more practiced ambivalence from Avery. Avery had tried to recover quickly, as if she, too, knew she’d given herself away. But it had been too late. They’d all seen it, and if Maria wasn’t mistaken, it had also scared the hell out of Avery. What that meant, she wasn’t sure. Was it because she knew she was caught? Or was it fear of something else?

  “I don’t know. I’m not quite ready to jump to that conclusion yet. I’ll wait for the surveillance and the cell phone records.” Something about the way Avery had looked. Horrified, shock, fear. It didn’t jibe with guilt. With what she knew of Avery, she knew the woman would try her best to play coy, to tease them for the sheer fun of it. But this, this had played out so far from that, Maria was beginning to wonder just how many depths there were to Avery Ashland. Could one of those depths really harbor a killer? Still, the satisfaction she’d felt in that moment when Avery had shown her cards, had yet to leave her gut. It was warm and pleasant. Sheer satisfaction. What she felt each time she nailed a perp. Avery was squirming now, there was no doubt. What she would do about it remained to be seen. But there would most definitely be a reaction. Maria expected nothing less from the infamous Avery Ashland. In fact, she was surprised her phone hadn’t rung with an angry Avery on the other end, demanding a meeting. Perhaps her lawyer had killed her spirit. What a shame that would be. Her stubborn confidence was what had given them the best insight to her so far.

>   They stood and both fished money out and onto the table to cover the bill and tip. Finley took his iced tea and they headed into an overcast sky. Lightning split the dark sky in the near distance and the wind had awakened, whipping the smell of dust and rain around their faces. She opened the passenger door to their unmarked Dodge sedan.

  “How’s that tree in your front yard?”

  The car was stifling, oven hot. She carefully buckled her seat belt, careful not to burn her fingers, and adjusted the air as Finley started the engine.

  He groaned. “Not good. One more batch of strong wind and she’s done for.”

  “Looks like I’ll be helping you pull that down after all.” Her old Jeep had a winch and they’d had to use it more than once to help people with their fallen or dead trees.

  Finley leaned forward and stared at the churning, blackening sky. “Guess so.”

  He pulled onto the road and sped toward the east side of Las Brisas, where the wealthy huddled together in various elite, connected neighborhoods, cuddled up to brown and purple mountains, as if the rest of the population were planning to attack.

  “That saves me from having to go to Mama’s for dinner on Saturday.” She aimed the air vents toward them both and tried to relax.

  “Oh, well, in that case I’ll get someone else to help. You need to go see your family.”

  She fought rolling her eyes. “No, I don’t. I don’t need any more talk of me settling down or dating or any such nonsense.”

  “They mean well, Maria. They worry about you.”

  “Yeah, well, they can just stop. I’m fine.”

  “You’re alone.”

  “I have Horace and we are fine.”

  He laughed.

  “Besides, my tia still tries to set me up with men. It’s seriously awkward.”

  “Yikes, is she still doing that?”

  “Yes.” She crossed her arms over her chest remembering the last time. They’d had a big family get-together at her mama’s and in walked Tia Rosita with a man way too young for herself. Maria had known at once that he was intended for her. The entire evening he’d followed her around and tried to make small talk. She’d ended up leaving early.