by C. J. Thomas
“Fuck it,” I said when I swiped my thumb over my cell’s screen. I dialed the number, lifted my phone to my ear, and waited to hear it ring.
3
Kelly
Slamming on my brakes, my car came to a screeching halt.
Kicking the door open, I stepped out and stormed into the publishing house with my keys still in the ignition.
Eyes were on me the moment the cool air-conditioned breeze hit my face. I thought how Parker could be anywhere by now.
More heads lifted as I worked my way deeper into the bowels of Hollywood Reporter. The breaking story was Tonya Craig, but only yesterday it was how billionaire Timothy Parker was fighting to take down criminal defense lawyer, Kelly Black.
There was only one person who might know more than me—and that was Sylvia Neil.
I needed to see her reaction, know for sure that my suspicions about Parker having it in him to kill Tonya were real. Tonya would be a story she would want … unless she, too, was somehow involved in her sudden death.
Turning down a straight and narrow hallway, I was still pissed at Sylvia for manipulating me into believing Nash Brooks was the one to have killed Maria Greer.
I smiled and nodded as a young woman approached. She grinned, hugging the manila folders she was carrying tighter to her chest. As soon as we passed, I could feel her stop, turn her head, and watch me from behind.
I found Sylvia in her office with her back turned. Hiding my hands inside my pants pockets, I stood there for a moment watching her read something she was holding in her right hand. Rubbing her temples, I could practically feel the distress in the audible sigh she let out.
Suddenly, and without warning, my cell beeped with a text.
Sylvia spun in her chair, her brows shooting high on her head, surprised to see me.
Ignoring the message, it didn’t take her long to shake off whatever it was that had her upset before she realized I was there. “Kelly.” She leaned forward and folded her hands on top of her desk. “What brings you around?”
Stepping into her office, we kept our gazes locked.
Standing she said, “No. Let me guess. You’re here about that article I told you I had to write.”
I held my ground, eyeing the empty chair facing her desk, deciding to wait and hear what came out of her mouth before making my next move.
“Well, good news. I already heard.” She smiled.
I arched a brow.
“Parker. He dropped the charges.”
Dropping my chin to my chest, I chuckled. With everything that had transpired since, I doubted that the article she was “forced” to write was even real. Her credibility was shot, and I had to assume that she was lying about that, too.
“You’ve already heard?” Her eyes sparkled.
Turning on a heel, I shut the door to her office and said, “Cut the crap.”
Her lips parted as her head jerked back.
“You played me.” I moved to the empty chair and fell into it.
“Kelly, remind me.” She licked her lips and brought her hands into her lap. “What game were we playing?”
I remained calm despite my desire to punch a wall. “Nash had Alex at Mint.”
“Oh. I see.” She quickly cast her gaze down to her hands.
“Just like you said.” My lips pinched. “Except Nash isn’t guilty like you made me believe.”
“Please, enlighten me, Kelly, because I can assure you that those bruises from the night I was with Nash didn’t come from me.”
“You told him what to do and how to do it.”
Sylvia barked out a short huff of disbelief.
“You manipulated me in an attempt to throw me off the case.”
Sylvia stood and paced to the window. Then she spun around with fire in her eye. “You broke your promise to me.”
I tipped my head back and narrowed my gaze.
“Kelly, you promised me.” She crossed her arms and rocked back and forth on her heels. “You promised never to share the photos of what Nash did to me. But you did.” She shook her head. “You showed Nash. Of all people, you showed him.” Her voice cracked as her chest caved in.
I wasn’t going to fall for her teenage tendencies to manipulate me into shifting the conversation away from its original intention. “Who is Angelina Davis?”
Sylvia first blinked, then her brow furrowed. “You know who she is.”
“Who is she to you?” My voice was calm, soft.
“She’s nobody. A socialite who dated the district attorney.”
“Not an escort?”
“Why are you asking me?” Her face flushed. “You should be asking Madam.”
“Because you’re the investigative reporter.” I smoothed out my cuffs. “And it would be in your best interest to tell me everything you know.”
The silence that filled the room only added to the suspense. She looked away, then turned back to fix her eyes on mine. “I told you everything I know.”
Clucking my tongue, I chuckled.
Sylvia’s cheeks ripened and turned red.
Shaking my head, I smiled. “Then it shouldn’t be difficult for you to tell me why she filled in for you the night of Blake Stone’s movie premier.”
Her fingers curled and dug deeper into her arm. Unable to look me in the eye, she angled her body away from me, incapable of facing the truth head-on.
It was the night Maria Greer died. The night that changed the lives of not only Maria’s, but that of Mario Jimenez, too. And now with Mario making a plea deal with the district attorney office, I was determined to expose the truth of who was behind the death of a promising intern, sure to have made waves in a very competitive film industry—if she hadn’t died so young.
Sylvia eyed the exit, then she turned her back and moved to the wall, choosing to stay away from the window. It was impossible to look at her and not sniff out the guilt she was sweating off. Anger consumed me, and in that moment I promised myself that I wouldn’t let her get away with what she did. The world would learn the truth.
“What’s wrong, Sylvia? Am I getting close?” Uncrossing my legs, I stood and dropped my shoulders. “You’re guilty of Maria’s murder.”
Her chest rose as she held her breath.
“Nash refused you and you couldn’t handle it.” My head tilted on its shoulders as I was beginning to have some fun.
“Stop, Kelly!” she snapped. “You have blood on your hands, too.”
A tingling in my chest swirled around my heart, full of regrets.
“Especially now that Tonya Craig was murdered,” Sylvia cried.
Glancing down at her desk, I spun her notes around and began to read them. But before I could get too far down the page, she stole them back, hiding them against her chest.
“What are you doing? These are personal,” she protested. “You can’t just read whatever you want.”
“You’re back on Maria’s story?” My neck bent forward. Even through the scribble, I knew what I’d seen. Maria Greer’s murder was the original story she was working when she first brought the news of her death to my attention—to Madam’s attention. The story that she was working when receiving death threats of her own.
She held my gaze as my heart pounded in my chest wondering if this was yet another attempt to throw me off the case or if, in fact, she was back on the story, unsatisfied with the way Mario confessed to something we all knew he didn’t do.
Falling into her chair, Sylvia’s wet eyes rounded. “Kelly, I’m in trouble.”
She looked to me to say something, but I couldn’t. Not with how she’d lost my trust.
“Mario isn’t the one who murdered her. Everyone knows it.” She lowered the notes away from her tight clench and placed them on the desk. Then she looked up at me. “Even you know Mario is innocent.”
“What about you? Are you innocent?”
Her eyelids hooded over as her tongue circled her lips. She looked exhausted, and I wondered how much longer she could keep
this up before finally giving in. “Kelly, whoever is responsible for Maria’s death knows the story,” she held up her notes, “isn’t finished.”
“What are you saying?”
“They know you’re on to them, know that we’re both on to them.” She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye. “And I can feel that Tonya’s murder might not be the last.”
4
Kendra
I couldn’t stop moving. Back and forth I paced, unable to go inside until she was here.
I didn’t know what to expect. But if I had learned anything these last couple weeks, it was to expect the least expected. Each day was different, and though the change was much welcomed, I wasn’t sure this was the kind of excitement I was hoping for when signing on with the Madam.
Tucking my hair behind my ear, I turned my focus up the street.
She still wasn’t here. Where was she? This wasn’t like her.
I swiveled my head in the opposite direction. Tapping my toes, I wondered what was taking her so long. She said she would be here. Pulling my phone out of my bag, I checked to see if I’d missed a call or a message for what seemed like the hundredth time.
There was nothing. No message. No call. No notification.
Stepping out of the way, I avoided having to face a confrontation with a stranger wanting to step inside the building I was pacing in front of. I wasn’t one to feel insecure but today that was all I was. My spine was bent and my stomach roiled with anxiety.
“Kendra?”
I turned to find a familiar smile as she came running into my arms. Laughing, I dropped my gym bag and asked, “What’s got you so excited?”
Alex pulled her head back and squeezed my arms. “You’re alive.”
“Of course I’m alive.” I smirked.
“You haven’t heard, have you?” The whites of her eyes widened.
My brows pinched. “Heard what?”
“Another girl was found dead.”
And just like that, all the air inside my lungs was knocked out in a single blow. I stood there frozen as Alex told me about what she’d seen on the news, asking if I knew the name Tonya Craig. I hadn’t heard any of this, too consumed by my uncle and what it was my family was truly after. “They found her body outside the nightclub, Echo. Have you ever been there?”
I closed my eyes, refocusing my blurred vision. Shaking my head, I said, “No. Have you?”
“Why would I have?” Alex glared.
“Nash,” I said bluntly, feeling my face go pale. Just saying Nash’s name had images of Maria paralyzing me completely. And with the news of Tonya’s death, I couldn’t help but toss the idea around my head that maybe they could somehow be related. I felt sick.
“Earth to Kendra …” Alex waved her hand in front of my face.
“What? Huh? Sorry,” I apologized, shaking my head.
“I said, I thought that’s why you wanted to workout today instead of tomorrow.”
Biting the inside of my cheek, this was unsettling to say the least. Especially after the recent accusations swirling around Nash about being a possible suspect in the death of Maria Greer. But the bigger question I couldn’t ask Alex was, Would I be next?
“She was Madam’s girl.” My voice floated off my tongue like a bird’s feather.
“Tonya?” Alex gasped. “How can you be so sure?” Her eyes scurried over my face.
I told her what I saw that day I made the delivery to Emmanuel’s new salon. Alex listened as I spoke of a distressed Tonya running out of a back room, barely clothed, and crying. “She was wearing Madam’s earrings. The same ones Madam insists I sometimes wear.”
“You could see all that through the window?”
Nodding, I said, “And I saw him there with her.”
Alex inched herself closer and lowered her voice. “Who?”
“Timothy Parker,” I whispered.
“The man pressing charges against Kelly?” The lines on her forehead wrinkled.
I gave her a crisp nod.
Alex linked her arm in the crook of mine. Together, we dragged our feet over the concrete, beginning to make our way to the entrance of the gym. “Do you think he did it?”
My shoulders rose, then fell. “But now that I know another girl has been killed, there is somebody I would like to talk to before making any more assumptions.”
Alex gave me a sideways glance.
“Angelina Davis.”
Alex’s brows lifted and her eyes were round as coins.
Reaching out, I curled my fingers around the handle and opened the door. Stepping inside, I said, “She’s friends with Tonya. Or, was friends with Tonya.”
Alex’s bottom lip curled over.
“I saw them together at Ty Lemon’s gala. If anybody might know something about who might have wanted to kill Tonya, it’s her.”
“I don’t like this, Kendra.” Alex tugged on my arm, getting me to stop. Music played in the back and several people were checking in and out at the gym’s front desk. “You paid your debt with Madam.”
I smiled at an unfamiliar face walking close by and leaned closer to Alex’s face. “What are you saying?”
“I want you to break your contract.” She stomped her foot as if to mean business.
I tossed my head back and laughed. “If only it were that easy.”
Alex twisted her hair, looking worried.
“Look, I have a bad feeling about this, too, but I can’t just leave.”
A well-built man approached. He was wearing joggers and a light hooded sweatshirt with the name of the gym printed on his left breast.
“Don’t you think if I’m in danger of dying, too, I should be the one to know first?”
Alex let out an audible sigh.
“You must be Kendra Williams,” the man said with a wide grin.
Ironing my hand down Alex’s arm, I turned to the man and said, “How’d you guess?”
“Kelly said you were beautiful, but Jesus Christ, you’re much more than that.” He shook my hand before turning to Alex. “Mike Ricci. Personal trainer.”
“Yes. I got that.” Alex smiled. “Nice to meet you.”
Mike turned back to me. “Kelly didn’t say you would be bringing a friend.”
“Last minute change of plans.”
“Not a problem.” He waved for us to follow him past the front desk. “I’m thrilled you did.” He looked over his shoulder at the two of us. “You’ll hold each other accountable when I put you through your routine.”
When I turned to glance over my shoulder at Alex, I could see that her mind was still on my personal safety. I doubted she’d heard a word Mike said. But without first learning what Kelly knew about Tonya—because I was certain that if Alex knew, Kelly did, too—I wasn’t going to make any more assumptions as to why she may have been murdered.
“Here’s the women’s locker room.” Mike stopped in front of the door. “Get dressed and I’ll meet you two by those machines, there.” He snapped his fingers and pointed through the glass walls.
People were already filling the machines, watching TV, plugged into their music. And as soon as Mike disappeared around the corner, I opened the door to the women’s locker room. “That’s not all.”
Alex shot me a look like, how could it get any worse than this?
“My uncle is stalking me again.”
“Shit, Kendra.” Her hand flew to her forehead. “I thought you took care of that.” Her voice echoed off the white tiled walls.
“I’m starting to believe him.”
Alex’s head snapped in my direction just as I found an open locker.
“My parents might need me.”
“Then call them,” she pleaded.
Stripping out of my clothes, I knew the reason Alex wanted me to call them. Hers were dead and, without having to say it, I knew that not a day went by where she didn’t wish that she could have had just one more conversation with them.
Alex stepped into her spandex. “Even if you d
on’t want to know what’s happening in their lives, they need to know what happened to you as a child.”
Unable to look at her, I kept my gaze cast down to my feet. Tying my laces, I didn’t have the heart to tell her that my parents already knew what happened to me. Hell, that was why I hadn’t talked with them in so long in the first place.
Standing up, Alex jumped in the air and swung her arms. “Do you even know where your parents live?”
“I do.” I turned my head to look up at her. “And it’s not as far as you might think.”
5
Kelly
When I pulled up to the nightclub, Echo, the police were still working the scene.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end the moment I stepped out. I stood there with one hand on the roof of my car, looking, watching, observing. And one reoccurring thought kept coming back into question.
Was it coincidence Tonya’s life was cut short here, at the same nightclub I first had Kendra meet me at to sign the non-disclosure agreement before we started dating? And if it wasn’t, what kind of message was the murderer trying to send?
Pushing off my car, I moved to the yellow police tape and began walking the perimeter. Tonya’s body was gone but I could see where it once lay. Yellow numbered forensic markers were placed sporadically across the ground marking evidence.
Kendra was going to find out about Tonya’s murder. It was only a matter of time, I thought as I glanced to my left.
The media was huddled off to the side, and a small crowd of pedestrians had gathered to watch the crime unit work.
And when she did, I knew she would have her questions waiting.
Walking in small, deliberate strides, I knew how it seemed. Like these deaths were following me. And maybe that was true. But the last thing I wanted was for Kendra to fear me, or to believe that I was somehow the cause of them.
Blinking away my own fears, Maria’s and Tonya’s faces flashed across my eyes. I could see them so clearly in the images I’d studied. They were young, talented, and beautiful. Full of promise. They had so much in common, it wasn’t hard to imagine the likelihood of these murders being connected.