Total pages in book: 173
Estimated words: 163802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 819(@200wpm)___ 655(@250wpm)___ 546(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 163802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 819(@200wpm)___ 655(@250wpm)___ 546(@300wpm)
Stumbling up the stairs, I was twisted around talking to Rhodes when light pierced my eyes, making me wince.
What is that? Something white? silver? glinted in the fountain basin—catching the light and beaming it directly into my eyeball.
I put my hand up, squinting to see. Did one of the workers drop something? A watch maybe?
Twisting free, I broke out of Christie’s hold and descended the stairs—brushing past Rhodes and two gentlemen carrying in chairs.
“Mrs. Kim? Mrs. Kim, we really can’t delay your fitting any longer.”
My brows crumpled—feet carrying me closer of their own accord.
When I arrived at the manor those weeks ago, the fountain was nothing but mud and trash. In the following days, autumn stole the greens, reds, and golds from the trees—sprinkling them in the waterless pool and providing a slightly more pleasing sight.
“Greens, reds, and golds,” I whispered, following the glint. “But that red...”
...is different from the rest.
Reaching into the fountain, I brushed aside the leaves, and screamed.
“Sue? Sue!” Rhodes came running.
Christie let out her own scream, jumping half out of her skin when my cries startled the staff into dropping the chairs at her feet.
“Sue, what’s wrong—!” Rhodes skidded to my side, eyes popping when he shared the gruesome sight.
Lying face down in the muddy basin was Mrs. Prado... with a glinting, shining knife sticking out of her back.
Chapter Thirteen
“Idon’t know about any of this. It just feels wrong.” Beauticians fluttered around me—touching up this, fluffing that, painting this, and pulling that. “A woman was murdered here two weeks ago. The fountain is still roped off with crime scene tape. Having a party amidst a murder investigation is just ghoulish.”
Courtney reclined on my bed, perusing the menu with one eye, and sweeping Sue’s palace of narcissism with the other. “I agree, babe, but what else could you do? This party is too expensive to cancel,” she said. “At least the cops agreed that the killer most likely followed Mrs. Prado here, blended in with all the vans and workers, then killed her and slipped away.”
“But that makes even less sense,” I burst out. “Why would anyone stalk and kill Mrs. Prado? She was just a cook and house manager, not a mafia boss. Why would anyone want to hurt her, let alone be so desperate to do it that they’d risk being seen by dozens of people?”
“But they weren’t seen by dozens of people,” she said softly. “That’s what really freaks me out. How do you stab and murder someone, and then bury them under a pile of leaves amid a mass of chaos, and no one sees a thing?”
I shuddered, and was scolded for my trouble.
“Mrs. Kim, please, stay still.” Elin grasped my chin and snapped my head around. I was already cringing before her tweezers descended on my eyebrows.
There were still hours before the anniversary party started, but Christie assured me hours would barely be enough time. That’s why I invited Courtney to join me in primping hell. I snagged her an invitation the second I could. I was also going to get one for her mom, but she offered to take Taylor on a grandmama-grandbaby vacation so that Courtney could get her first adult-only weekend in five years.
Her hair and makeup were already done, so that left her chilling in a fluffy bathrobe on my borrowed bed. “I saw the LPD outside,” she continued. “Why? Are they worried the killer will come back?”
“They can’t say if he will or he won’t since they have no idea why this happened,” I forced through my smooshed-up mouth. Freya got ahold of my jaw while Elin had me distracted with the burning fire above my eyes. “But no. They’re here to protect shiny rocks tonight, not the rest of us.”
“Are you worried?” She reached over and brushed the back of my hand. “What am I saying? Of course you’re worried.”
“I don’t know what to think,” I admitted. “I haven’t been around for— I mean, I haven’t been in Mrs. Prado’s life for a while. Maybe she did have enemies, and one caught up to her when her back was turned, but remember, Court? It’s not just her. Tracy Williams from the post office was murdered too.”
“I remember,” she replied, voice grim. “You’re thinking there could be a psychopath running around Lantana.”
“And if there is, he literally came to my doorstep.”
Courtney shuddered—suddenly feeling the same unease I was. “Do the police have any leads? Any evidence that the two deaths could be related?”
I would’ve shaken my head, but Elin and Freya had moved to my hair and were screeching at me for the slightest head tilt. “Davis said no, and I did ask him exactly that. The investigations are ongoing, so he won’t give any details. All he would say was that Mrs. Prado and Tracy Williams had less than nothing in common. Different age groups, different friend groups, different neighbors, different income brackets, different causes of death.