Escorted By The Ranger. C.J. Miller

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ was slumped between a red gown and an orange one, her body twisted in an unnatural way. Bile rose in Marissa’s throat and she inhaled to keep from getting sick. She took another deep cleansing breath and looked again, moving forward to help.

      No one else was touching Avery. Marissa set her fingers on her neck, looking for a pulse. “Someone help me.” Nausea struck her. Avery’s blood was soaking the clothes on the rack, turning them red.

      Shock and sadness consumed her. The rest of the room fell away and it was just her and Avery. Her heart raced and the blood rushing through her ears was deafening. She shook Avery’s shoulders. “Avery, wake up! Avery?”

      No response.

      Marissa looked at the crowd. Some were on their phones, maybe calling for help. Clarice stepped forward, setting a hand on Marissa’s arm, trying to pull her away. Marissa shook her off. Was that Rob in the crowd? She glanced at Avery and when she looked up again, Rob was gone. Or he might not have been there at all.

      Clarice touched her shoulder. “The paramedics are coming.”

      The stillness of Avery’s body was disturbing. Marissa turned her head and took several gulps of air. All around her, more shouting and crying.

      The sound of ambulances split the air, but Marissa knew it was too late. Avery was gone.

      * * *

      The police precinct was loud and busy. Desks were crowded together and the lighting was dark and depressing. The floor felt matted with grime and Marissa tried not to touch anything as she sat in the folding metal chair inside one of the closet-sized offices. Her sister had flown in on a private plane to help her and Marissa was grateful. Before Kit had arrived, Marissa had been waiting alone in the office for well over three hours. Three hours was a long time to think and panic and worry, especially after one of the detectives had asked her about Rob and Avery. The nature of his questions and the suspicion on his face led her to believe she was a suspect.

      The office belonged to someone named “Captain Sparky,” which sounded like a nickname. Captain Sparky’s desk was piled high with papers stuffed messily into manila envelopes and his trash can was overflowing with tissues.

      “Marissa, focus. You need to tell me everything you remember,” Kit said.

      Marissa looked at her sister. “I’ve told you everything. I didn’t do this to Avery. I wasn’t involved in this.”

      Kit’s face flooded with sympathy, her brown eyes bright with concern. Her dark ponytail swung over her shoulder as she leaned forward. “Griffin and I believe you.”

      Marissa looked over at the tall, brawny man currently on his phone, standing outside the office. Her sister’s fiancé was a force to be reckoned with, but this situation was out of their control. Kit claimed she worked for a car company in their import department, but Marissa knew there was more to the story. Kit’s offer to help with a murder investigation proved that.

      “Someone had to have seen something.” An event like Ambrose’s show was milling with people. No one was alone and there was no privacy. Everyone dressed and prepped in a rush to make the timing on the runway.

      Kit pressed her hands together. “According to Rob, you’re the person who knows something.”

      Indignation rose inside her. Rob had pointed the finger at Marissa as an enemy of Avery’s. Marissa had had to explain that she had dated Rob and he’d cheated on her with Avery. The police hadn’t accepted her brief answers. They’d wanted details and dates and names and exactly what had happened between the three of them. “Rob is an idiot. I didn’t do this. I was on the runway and there were dozens of cameras in my face.”

      Marissa hadn’t even spoken to Ambrose yet. He must have been devastated. He had lost a friend, and the show he had worked so hard for had been cut short. The attention and circumstances could work in his favor or it could destroy his sales. Depended how it was spun in the news.

      Marissa had gone over the events of the day beginning from the time she had arrived at work, trying to recall if she had missed something or could think of some small detail that would help. With so many questions and doubts swirling around her, Marissa wished she could go home and bury her head in a bottle of merlot.

      “Did you talk to Avery at the show?” Kit asked again.

      Marissa shook her head. When she had overheard Avery speaking in the hallway, she hadn’t lingered around to hear who she was talking to or the topic of the conversation.

      “When you saw Avery, are you sure you don’t know who she was speaking with?” Kit asked again.

      Marissa hid her irritation at her sister’s attempts to help. Avery could have been speaking with Rob or Ambrose or anyone at the show—a security guard, a stylist, a photographer, another model.

      Kit glanced over at the police detectives speaking together. “The police are looking at you for this and we need to give them a reason to look elsewhere.”

      Marissa scrubbed her hands over her face. Her makeup felt sticky and she was beyond exhausted, her eyes gritty with fatigue. “I didn’t kill Avery.”

      “She stole your boyfriend,” Kit said.

      A fact everyone repeated to her as if she had forgotten the incident. “I’ve told you. I was more hurt about her stabbing me in the back than about losing Rob. At some point, she and I would have buried the hatchet and become friends again.” At her and Avery’s level, with years of experience in the industry and countless mutual connections and friends, their paths would cross. Their years of friendship meant something and after Avery dumped Rob, it would be that much easier to renew the friendship.

      Was Avery killed by someone jealous of her? By another designer looking to ruin Ambrose? Someone had to have witnessed the tragic event. “When the police collect the footage from the show, they’ll piece together it wasn’t me.” One advantage to being a model was that she was in photographs and they would be her alibi.

      Kit frowned. “I’ll do everything I can for you. What reason would someone have to kill Avery? You were close with her. Was she into drugs or gambling or was she in debt to anyone?”

      Marissa couldn’t imagine Avery getting in over her head with drugs or gambling. She drank recreationally but Avery was in control. “I don’t think so. She didn’t want compromising pictures of her splashed across the media. That would have impacted her career.”

      Kit and Griffin exchanged glances from across the room. Marissa felt a twinge of envy at their silent communication. When they were together, Marissa could feel their connection, like they shared an unbreakable bond. Two divorces had showed Marissa she didn’t have what it took to be part of an indivisible team. Her relationships moved fast and she too easily got swept away in something that wasn’t real.

      “Tell me again. Close your eyes. Picture the scene,” Kit said.

      Marissa did as her sister asked. She shivered, thinking of a killer lurking, waiting to attack Avery. Marissa told the story again. She tried to focus only on Avery’s voice and who she might have been speaking with. Marissa came up empty. She had been worried about talking to Avery about their fight and she had avoided her friend. If she hadn’t, Marissa could have changed the course of events.

      When she opened her eyes, a man with dark hair and gray eyes was studying her with СКАЧАТЬ