Love, Art, and Murder: Mystery Romance

by Kenya Wright

  Painting? It has to be Michael.

  “He’s coming for her. There’s a news clipping next to his paintbrushes. He keeps looking at it and then drinking more of this brown liquid. It must be whiskey. Wait.” She held my hand tighter. “Yes. He’s coming. The article is some announcement about Hex and his new collection. Why would he be reading that?”

  She released my hand. The humming ended. Those brown pupils reappeared.

  I raked my fingers through my hair. “I had Reece ask our publicist to mention Hex would be using Elle as a model for his new collection. It’s supposed to get us more investors.”

  “So this Elle is popular?”

  “Yes. Do you remember the artist Hex punched outside of the art gallery in Las Vegas?”

  “No. You know I don’t follow Hex’s exploits, but the guy Hex punched is the bad man?”

  “Yes. I think so.”

  “Why would he be coming for her?”

  “They used to be together.”

  “Did he know she was working with Hex? In my vision, it doesn’t seem like it.”

  “I’ll have to ask her.” I turned around to leave.

  Those hours at the beach with Elle cost me even more grief. I’ll have tons of things to do now.

  “And when will you get Reece out of jail and bring Dayanara home?” Grandma called out to me.

  “I’ll give the police this new information. They were called, right?”

  “Yes, but they said they weren’t going to release either one of them.”

  Good. I’m still not sure Reece didn’t figure out a way to kill the girls and put them in the office. It’s better to let them work on it.

  “Are you listening to me?” Grandma tapped my back. “Reece and Dayanara didn’t do it.”

  I turned around. “I’m still not sure Reece wasn’t involved in some way. There was evidence in her apartment.”

  Grandma raised her hands in the air. “What evidence? No way. What are you talking about?”

  “Traces of the two victims’ blood and hair were in her closet and—”

  “She held the body parts for me in her apartment. I asked her to. If I kept them in my cottage you would have found them.”

  “What?” I asked through clenched teeth. “What do you mean she kept their body parts in her apartment?”

  “I found the first two women before anybody else, but I knew if I handled it you wouldn’t believe me. You wouldn’t take me seriously.”

  I held both hands to my head. “You saw both girls?”

  “Yes. When the first girl was killed, you were gone away on that business trip. What else could I do? I called Reece, but first I took certain parts. The most important one for women. The womb. It can bring a direct line to the gods. It births spirits into the world and sends them away. When I can send these innocent women’s spirits back, I’ll have their wombs to—”

  “You cut their vaginas for a spell?” My hands were now closed fists of tension.

  Grandma nodded like I was a crazy person. “But you’re missing the point.”

  “I’m missing the point?”

  “Stop yelling. I gave their wombs and my plastic gloves to Reece. She kept them somewhere in her apartment. Later we decided to put them in a small metal cooler in Dayanara’s room.”

  My legs wobbled a little. I had to stumble to her small kitchen and collapse into a chair. “This night just keeps getting more interesting. You found a dead girl and instead of calling the police you think, ‘Oh. Let me cut out her vagina first. Then I’ll call for help!’”

  “Al—”

  “Then you let me discover her the next day, as if that is something I needed to see in my life. Why in God’s name would you not tell me about this?”

  “You wouldn’t take me seriously.” She returned to her counter and began stacking butter knives. “Only Reece would help.”

  “And Reece doesn’t tell me about this at all. Why would she work with you?”

  “That is her reason to tell.”

  I jumped up from my chair. “Why the hell did she work with you?”

  “For the gods’ sake, stop yelling at me.”

  “I’ll send you back to Cuba tonight. I’m done with this entire situation. You’ve gone too far. If I’d known about this information, Reece would not be in jail, perhaps we would even know who is actually killing these women. All this time we’ve been thinking some crazy serial killer is walking around the property cutting up girls and it’s you and your goddamn spell preparations.”

  “Snyder is—”

  “That’s enough! Why did Reece work with you and hide these things from me?”

  Grandma stared at the ground. “She asked me to make a love charm, a powerful one, something that would make you fall in love with her. I told her I would.”

  Poor Reece.

  I didn’t know much about grandma’s religion, but upon returning to find a mentally destroyed Hex in the hospital due to some sick spell my step dad and mom started, I read several books on corazón muerto. There were three things that weren’t possible to gain from magic. The gods simply did not possess the power to make someone immortal, all powerful, or have another fall in love with someone else. It was the basic don’ts for attempting magic. The fact that my step-dad had searched for years to discover some sick enchantment of immortality banned in all countries practicing corazón muerto exemplified how crazy and fake he was. The fact that Grandma had agreed to make Reece a potion or whatever to have me fall in love with her showed how desperate Grandma had become.

  “Why would you lie to Reece like that?” I asked.

  “I thought you liked her and were just being too stubborn. I figured this would be a simple solution.”

  “A simple solution? By telling someone you would get me to fall in love with them, all they have to do is hide a few vaginas for you?”

  She shifted her activities to putting up all of the utensils again, one by one. “Reece also supplied my blood to me. The blood I used to talk to the gods with Dayanara on the night of the second girl’s death. Reece brought the blood to me. I covered Dayanara and myself in it. When I ran to my cottage to get the rest of the items, that’s when I stumbled upon the other girl in my garden.”

  “But you didn’t say anything?”

  “No. I had Dayanara outside and covered in blood. I had to cut this new girl’s vagina with Dayanara next me. I was already busy. Then Reece and I saw you on the dance floor with Elle. I couldn’t disturb you with the problem. Your face that night was magical. I’d never seen you so captivated before.”

  “So you decided to let someone else find the dead girl?”

  “No.” Grandma waved my comment away. “No one was supposed to find her. I was going to take Dayanara back upstairs after we finished the spell, but then that poor dead girl’s friend discovered her body. Everyone ran and jumped around, screaming. Reece and I decided to just let you know I was out there with Dayanara because there was no way I would be able to sneak both of us by everyone, with all that blood over us.”

  “You’re done, Grandma. I’m serious. No more doing things behind my back. All of these things you and Reece did complicated everything else. If I’d known about you cutting the body parts and having Reece store them, she would not be in jail right now and maybe those three women from today would still be alive—”

  Grandma stabbed the air with her finger. “Don’t you dare blame their deaths on me.”

  “End these ridiculous activities behind my back. End it now. Women have died. The wrong people are being blamed due to me being kept in the dark. I won’t have this anymore.”

  Grandma finished putting the items away. “I came to the states to help you, and never do you ask for my help. Things are happening that you can’t deal with and you never seek my guidance. What am I supposed to do? I sat back once long ago and let that evil man come near my daughter and grandson. I won’t let more evil come around you. No more.”

  Am I being too hard on her?
No one could have anticipated these deaths.

  Grandma would do what she wanted whether I allowed it or not. She was a grown women who’d raised ten kids with just the tiny amount of money Grandpa had given her. And when he was off working two jobs, she stayed home cleaning, cooking, helping with homework, healing, and doing all the millions of things one parent did with ten kids of many ages. Who was I to tell her she couldn’t do something after all she’d achieved? Who was I to spend my time trying to stop her from saving her daughter when she thought she could?

  “Okay, Grandma. This is our deal. I’ll seek your counsel more and help you get rid of this curse, but I won’t do anything illegal. In the meantime, you notify me of everything, and I mean everything. You don’t work behind the scene with anyone. If there is anything odd happening, you let me know. No more sneaking around.”

  “No more.”

  “And whatever items you need, write it down and leave it on my desk.”

  “Will Reece still be your assistant?”

  “No. This situation and her feelings for me have damaged our working relationship. She was my assistant, not yours. I didn’t pay her to run around at night mishandling body parts so you could get me to fall in love with her.”

  Grandma formed her lips into a frown. “That is not right. She’s a sweet girl.”

  “I’ll give her a nice severance package, something that will take care of her until she finds another job, but it will be too uncomfortable if she remains my assistant.”

  “And what will you do about the bad man coming to see Elle? I have protective charms. I have things that could help her.”

  I almost said no and to let me handle it, but then I wouldn’t be making good on what I’d just promised. “Okay. Go ahead and make the protective charms. I’ll tell her about them and give it to her later.”

  Grandma transformed her frown into a huge smile. “Thank you.”

  “I’ll see you later. For now, let me talk to the detective and notify him of the entire situation. We’ll need to tell the police as much as we can. I’ll make sure my legal team is informed first so they can tell us what we can withhold in order to protect you and Reece.”

  “Okay.” She stopped my walking out with a big hug to my back. “I know you work hard. You are our foundation, but make sure you get help from others.”

  “I will.” I held the hand she had around my stomach. “I promise you. I will.”

  “And no more lying to Hex. He knows about the first two girls now.”

  “Fuck,” I muttered under my breath. “I didn’t want him to have to deal with this.”

  “It’s too late, and he’s stronger than you give him credit for.”

  “Mr. Stewson, the head of housekeeping, said that he’s still wetting the bed.”

  “Well, give him time.” She let me go and patted my back. “But he won’t get stronger if we don’t treat him like he’s strong.”

  I sighed. “Okay. No more lying to him.”

  “And I’ll give you the list of items I’ll need to stop this curse. I’ve tried giving many tributes to Donalito. I believe that my new tribute on the next full moon may be stronger than all the others. I think this time it will work. We have three weeks for the next night.”

  “Well, hopefully women aren’t still being killed in three weeks.”

  Chapter 23

  Elle

  I went to sleep last night with only my confused thoughts to keep me company. Alvarez never came by my bedroom. Surely, he had things to do, many things. Around six in the morning, the bustling crowd of nude and bloody people went away. When I woke up in the afternoon, I wasted no time grabbing my one suitcase and filling my items into it.

  What else could I do, but leave? Too many things were happening. More girls had died, and for what? A curse. A serial killer, or according to Hex, both. This was too much for anyone to handle. Yet guilt remained lodged in my gut and Alvarez’s name was written all over it. He’d been so good to me the whole time I stayed here. He not only showed me what real love felt like, he accepted me for who I was. But I just couldn’t remain in a dangerous situation. Sure, I had four bodyguards. Sure, cops and investigators combed the property. But still, the thought of more dead women around me chilled my bones and sprouted goose bumps on my flesh.

  Hex had discovered three girls strung up in Alvarez’s office. Three.

  Had they all died together or did the sick killer do it one by one? Who was doing it, a servant, cook, guard—or even worse, one of Alvarez’s family members?

  I couldn’t even think about it for too long. It would make me go crazy and I was already jumping around like a lunatic at every little sound. I had to get out of here, go off somewhere that was safer. Maybe even visit my old hometown, if necessary.

  A knock sounded at my door and I jumped.

  Calm down. I have security guards in the hall. No one is going to get me.

  “Yes?” I zipped up my suitcase.

  “It’s me, Alvarez.”

  This was going to be the worst part of the day. I didn’t know how I was going to explain to Alvarez that I had to leave because his life, family, and history scared the crap out of me. We’d shared such a magical evening, but it hadn’t been enough to make me ignore the obvious severity of the days to come.

  I placed my hands behind my back and squeezed them together. “Come in.”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t come by last night. I had a lot to do and then. . .” His gaze turned to my luggage and now bare bedroom. “You’re leaving?”

  “I think I should.”

  He kept a neutral expression on his face and gave me no indication of what emotions moved behind his eyes.

  Say something, dang it. So I won’t feel so uncomfortable about this.

  I cleared my throat. “Hex told me about the other three girls dying and. . . about what happened to him when he was younger.”

  “He told you about my mother and Snyder?”

  “Yes. And he said something about a curse and that his step-dad was returning from the dead or something—”

  Alvarez nodded and backed out of my room. “Okay. Just let the guards know when you want to leave. You can use my private plane. If you need to go anywhere in the US it will be no problem. If the destination is overseas then my pilots will need more notice, but just a few hours. You should probably tell Hex goodbye and let him know you won’t be modeling for him or that—”

  “Alvarez…”

  “Please say goodbye to Hex, but don’t let Hex try to make you feel guilty about this. He’ll be okay. As far as payment for your time here, that is no problem, just send me a—”

  “Alvarez?” I walked to him. “Stop.”

  “Stop?”

  “Yes. You’re upset.”

  “Of course I’m upset.” He averted his gaze. “You’re leaving. After last night, it’s hard to say goodbye without hurting inside. Do I understand why you’re leaving? Of course. Do I like it? No. But I have to keep pushing on and take care of the situation.”

  “No. You don’t.”

  “Yes. I do.”

  “I can take care of myself.”

  “Can you?” Our gazes met. “My grandma says Michael is looking for you and that he’s not a good man.”

  “You told me to ignore your grandma’s visions.”

  “Well, now I’m telling you to listen to them. Is this true?”

  “I don’t know. The last time I saw Michael he was in his studio having sex with his new model. We argued and I left.”

  “You left without saying goodbye?”

  “Obviously.” I turned away from him and checked the room. This conversation was making me nervous and shoving me on edge. I didn’t want my last words with Alvarez to involve Michael.

  “Did Michael let you out of your modeling contract with him?” Alvarez asked.

  So he was worried about the art that Hex had done of me, instead of anything else? Here I thought Alvarez worried about my well-being. Instead, he wanted
to know if Hex could still use the painting he’d done of me.

  “Don’t worry.” I picked up my bag and placed it on the floor. “Hex will be able to use the painting he’s doing of me and the women yesterday.”

  “That’s not an answer.”

  “I don’t want to talk about Michael. I would rather say goodbye to you, a meaningful goodbye where we hug and promise that we’ll see each other again.”

  “Will we?” He dug his hands into his pants pockets.

  “Yes.”

  “Grandma says Michael is looking for you. I need you to explain what she’s talking about.”

  “No. You don’t. That’s my business.”

  “Not anymore.” He stepped closer to me. “Are you out of the contract with Michael? And I don’t want to hear about how Hex can use the stuff that you’re in.”

  “I’m still bound to the contract with Michael.” I raised my hand before he could say how pissed he was for lying to him earlier. “However, there is a clause in the contract that says if he doesn’t have me in a work-in-progress and I’m involved in another artist’s project for at least thirty days, then I’m allowed to continue that project.”

  “So your plan was to tell him you were working with Hex after thirty days?”

  “No. My plan was for him to find out whenever the collection was released. I planned on working other jobs by then. I had my lawyers researching ways to cancel the contract, but they’ve been lackluster in trying to solve it. In the end, they’re really Michael’s lawyers and will be more loyal to him.”

  “I’ll have my own team look into it.”

  “I don’t need you to do that.”

  “Too bad. It’s going to happen. Not only will it affect you, but this will deal with my brother, too. You should have told me the truth from the beginning.”

  I blew out a long breath. “I didn’t think you would’ve let me work for Hex if I told you. Plus, Michael wouldn’t even find out until the end. He doesn’t even know now.”

  “He does.”

  I scrunched my face up in confusion. “What?”

  “My grandma’s visions show him screaming out the name Ellie over and over and staring at a newspaper announcement I had my publicist do to reveal that Hex and you are working together on a new collection.”