by Ronica Black
“We’d like access to all your surveillance videos as well as your home and business,” Maria said suddenly.
Avery laughed. “I gave you the tape you asked for. As for anything else, you’ll need a warrant.”
Maria didn’t flinch. “We’ve got one.”
Avery stood and her bones turned to steel beneath her skin. “Like hell.”
Finley pulled out the warrant. “It’s all right here for your reading enjoyment.”
“You can’t do this.”
Maria stood and Finley followed. “We will need you to vacate the property while we search.”
Avery clenched her jaw so tight she thought it would shatter. “Please don’t do this.”
Finley stepped aside and called someone on his phone. “Yeah, we’re clear.”
Avery shook in her shoes. Squeezed her fists. The world seemed to swirl around her. She was totally out of control. She. Had. No. Control. She swayed and then flinched as Maria cupped her elbow.
“I’ll see you out.”
Avery walked zombie like with her. Tears nipped at her throat, but she swallowed them down. She straightened her back and tore her arm away. She didn’t need a goddamned escort. This was still her resort, her home.
“I can’t believe you’re doing this,” Avery seethed. They stood and waited for the elevator. “You of all people.”
“I have a job to do. You know that.”
“Do you not believe me? How can I convince you?”
“I have a feeling this search will tell me all I need to know.”
“There’s nothing. I have nothing. I didn’t kill Hale.”
Maria looked at her. “Then why is it that every which way we turn, all signs point to you?”
Avery struggled to find words. “Because I hated him. That’s no lie. I did.”
“Seems you lie more often than you like to admit to, Ms. Ashland.”
The doors opened and they stepped inside. “I lied about my alibi with Lana, yes. But honestly, this whole thing is so ridiculous, and I don’t like being accused of something I didn’t do.”
“Maybe you’ve finally learned that this is not a game, Ms. Ashland. This isn’t one of your parties. This is murder.”
The doors opened again and a group of cops stood waiting to ride up. Avery wanted to scream, but she controlled herself. Her guests were milling in the background.
“I’ll sue,” she said. “You’re ruining my name. My reputation.”
They exited, walked through the crowd, and stepped outside. A storm-brewing breeze blew through, and Avery felt it ignite the thunder she felt inside.
Maria looked at her. “If you are innocent, then perhaps I just saved your life.”
Avery shot her a glance.
“If we find nothing…”
“Don’t placate me, Detective.”
“What are you so worried about?”
“I’m not worried. I’m furious. And where the hell am I supposed to go?”
“Why don’t you call Melanie Prague? Oh, that’s right, she seems to want nothing to do with you either.”
Maria left her on the front steps, leaving her alone with the wind.
Chapter Twenty-five
Maria left Avery out in front of the resort and hurried with more police back inside. Guests were being escorted out, many of them angry and all of them concerned. Though this wasn’t one of Avery’s sex parties, the guests were still rich and elite and they liked their privacy. She overheard several of them refer to the murder as they made their way to the front exit. While they’d showed up and remained Avery’s friends to her face, they were beginning to question her innocence. And more than a few had concerns about surveillance.
Maria burned as her own concerns began to surface. She could only pray she wasn’t on the tapes. She rode the elevator in silence with several other officers carrying evidence bags. And when the doors opened, she heard her sarge’s voice booming down the hall. She followed it back to Avery’s penthouse.
“I want everything. Anything and everything that looks like it could be something.” He was pacing and pointing. He focused on the security monitors behind the bar. “Finley, find the tapes. We already looked downstairs; they aren’t there. She must keep them up here.”
“On it,” Finley said.
Maria bypassed Nadine who was being gently led out. She had tears in her eyes, and she was already ready for bed and wrapped in her bathrobe. She gave Maria a pleading look, but Maria looked away, having no comfort to offer her.
Maria came to Avery’s bedroom and entered. A bedside light came on as it sensed her movement. She walked to her nightstand, pulled on gloves, and opened the drawer. She found books, which somewhat surprised her, though she knew Avery was highly educated and articulate. She just hadn’t pegged her for a reader. And surprisingly, some were self-help books on how to better yourself or how to get along well with others. Avery seemed so secure with herself, Maria never would’ve guessed she’d read such topics.
She settled down on the bed and flipped through them. Then she tossed aside two sex toys and a small bottle of lube. Then she opened the other drawer. A stack of photos of two small girls was on the top, and Maria recognized them as her nieces. She flipped through photo after photo of Avery with the girls all smiles. They seemed to travel a lot, and Avery appeared completely relaxed and truly very happy. Her face glowed and her eyes sparkled. She wasn’t even wearing makeup in most of the photos. Maria wished she could see her like that; it showed a whole new Avery and she wondered again if she really could’ve killed Hale.
She set the photos aside and removed hand lotions and scented candles. Then she hit bottom, but the drawer seemed shorter than the other. Maria repositioned herself and dropped to her knees. She took out her Swiss Army knife and found the small blade. She inched it into the seam of the bottom and popped it lose. A stack of eight by ten photos was inside. She lifted them carefully and paged through them. They were black-and-whites, and all of them were of Hale Medley and various women. And in every single photo, Hale Medley was groping the woman he was with. Photo after photo, woman after woman.
Maria rose, placed the photos in evidence bags, and returned to Finley and her sarge.
“I think I’ve got something,” she said as she came into the room.
But the room was silent and everyone was gathered around the security monitors. She edged her way through and stopped, frozen. On the center screen, the largest screen, was an image of her and Avery in the hallway. Avery was up against her back and whispering in her ear. Maria was looking in on the threesome. Thankfully, they couldn’t see what she was watching, but the way Avery was moving against her and the way she was nearly melting back into her was more than obvious. And then as Maria turned, she’d hurt her ankle. She burned with embarrassment as everyone watched Avery lead her away to the penthouse.
Finley killed the tape and rubbed the back of his neck. Somewhere behind her, her sarge cleared his throat.
“Get back to work, people.”
Her colleagues turned, caught sight of her, and lowered their gaze as if they were embarrassed as well. She wanted to bury herself somewhere deep and never come out.
“Maria?” her sarge boomed.
“Yes, sir?”
She was oozing red right through her skin. She could feel it. He cupped her elbow and walked her to the veranda where they stepped outside. He turned as the rain-scented wind caressed them.
“Is there anything else we’re going to find on those tapes?”
She closed her eyes. “I’m not sure, sir.”
“Not sure.”
“Yes, sir.”
His large eyes bored into her. “Have you had inappropriate contact with this suspect, Maria?”
Her breath hitched. She couldn’t bring herself to speak. He took it as a yes.
“Jesus H. Christ.” He threw up his hands.
“I felt some of it was necessary, sir. To get close.”
“Well, I’d
say you did a damn good job, then. What were you thinking? There’s getting close and then there’s I don’t know. Whatever the hell you did. Tell me it’s not on tape.”
“I don’t believe so, sir. She’s not known to tape her escapades. It’s why her friends trust her and come here to participate.”
“Yes, but you’re a cop. She would’ve had a field day recording you.”
She cringed. “I don’t think she did, sir.” But had she? Had she really been playing Maria all along?”
He sighed and placed his hands on the railing to look down over the resort and out over the valley. Maria stared into the distant lights of Las Brisas and wished she could take it all back. Take it all back and then some. But she couldn’t. And truth be told, she just hadn’t been able to resist Avery Ashland.
“This is not good, Maria,” he said so low she could hardly hear him.
“Sir?”
“You’re going to end up suspended.”
“Sir, please. I’ve found something of interest in Avery’s false bottom drawer. I can finish this case. Nail her to the wall. I’m closer than anyone—”
“That’s what scares me. You’re too close. What you’ve done—it could cost us this case.”
She turned and looked as though she’d been slapped.
“You know it ultimately isn’t up to me. I have my superiors, and with the newspaper article and now the tape with what you’ve just told me…I’m afraid they will want you off the case.”
“Sir—”
“With your condition…it’s probably only a matter of time before—”
“Don’t. Don’t predict my future like that. I can’t have you being biased against me based on my condition. No one knows my future, and if I can still work, I damn well expect to be allowed.”
He didn’t respond, just looked at her with sad eyes and held out his hand. She handed over the photos, knowing her presence there was no longer welcome. The sarge had to cover his ass or they’d all go down. She knew that, yet she hated being the cause.
She walked back inside and found Finley staring back at the security monitor. She focused and saw Avery Ashland seductively leading Samantha Rogue into her penthouse. Someone let out a whistle.
Maria let out a noise of shock and surprise and then lowered her head and hurried as best she could from the penthouse. And she didn’t stop until she arrived home.
Chapter Twenty-six
Avery was curled in a ball on her bed, resisting the urge to rock back and forth like a child needing comfort. It had been a long forty-eight hours and she knew she should be exhausted, but she was too keyed up emotionally to relax and sleep. She glanced to her left and took in the comforting sight of her nieces snuggled down into the covers. They were both breathing softly, and she wiped a stray tear from her eye as she watched them.
After she and Nadine had put the house back together, Nadine had suggested she have them over. Nadine knew their presence would help her, to calm her. Because as it stood, she wanted to yell and scream and curse at everyone and everything. Her privacy, her home, her innermost sanctum, had been not only invaded but torn apart. Savages. The whole lot of them. How could they do this? How had she lost total control?
She looked to her right at the nightstand. She’d found the drawers open and the contents strewn on her bed. Someone had found the photos of Hale. The photos she’d had Bobby Luca take. They’d all been in agreement then. They’d all said Hale needed to be stopped, that he needed to be taught a lesson. Now she could hardly find anyone to talk to her. They were all glad to be rid of Hale, but she was left hanging in the wind, taking the fall.
Maybe she should’ve given the photos to Maria. Maybe she should’ve told her about Hale and how he’d sexually harassed dozens of women, many of them her personal friends. Maybe she should’ve told her about the agreement. She still could. She could call right now. But it was too little too late. And she wasn’t a rat. No matter what was happening to her, she was no rat. She wouldn’t do what someone was obviously doing to her.
Lana.
She blamed Lana.
If Maria had told the truth, then it was Lana setting her up. Lana telling the police all they wanted to hear. Which was why she’d tried to pay her a visit. But Lana hadn’t been home and she wasn’t answering her phone. Avery knew she was probably avoiding her. She had to find a way to her. To shut her up somehow. She was only squealing to save herself. But did she really know what she was doing? Did she really realize she was setting Avery up for murder?
She doubted it. Lana just needed to be talked to. Reasoned with. And if that didn’t work…
She pushed off from the bed, extinguished the light, and pulled the door closed partway. She knew Nadine was asleep, so she quietly made her way into the living room to pour herself a drink. Earlier that day, it had looked like a tornado had ripped through the room and she fought wincing at the memory. She poured herself some scotch over ice and walked to the veranda. She slid open the doors and stepped outside. Warm rain flecked her skin. She stared out at the lights of the city and made her mind up. She knew if she didn’t do it, she’d never be able to sleep again.
She turned and walked back inside, determined more than ever, to fix things once and for all.
* * *
“I want hearts!” Avery’s niece Rory said.
“I want stars!” her other niece Kylie said.
Avery, who stood behind the kitchen counter, held up her hands in defeat. “All right, all right. Hearts and stars, it is.”
She smiled at Nadine and began cutting the pancakes they’d just made into the appropriate shapes. She worked happily while the girls giggled on the bar stools.
“That doesn’t look like a star, Auntie Avery,” Rory said. “It looks like a deformed Christmas tree.”
“You don’t like my stars?” She held one up and the girls laughed. “What’s wrong with my stars?”
“They’re not stars!”
“Are too. They’re special stars.” She handed over the plates and then passed the butter and syrup. Both girls lowered from their knees to their bottoms and dug in. Avery took her coffee and sat at the table, watching with amusement.
“Mm. I don’t care if it doesn’t look like a star. Auntie Avery makes the bestest pancakes in the whole wide world!”
“Yeah!”
“She does make good pancakes,” Nadine said, sipping her own cup of coffee.
“And she’s the best hide-and-go-seeker,” Kylie said.
“Uh-huh, yep.” Rory said, nodding with her mouth full.
Avery smiled, feeling very warm and safe. It was quite a contradiction to yesterday’s feelings. But she pushed them from her mind and focused on the girls.
“Well, you know…you guys are the best nieces anyone could ask for.”
They both nodded. “We know.”
Nadine laughed and Avery shook her head, chuckling.
“Can we swim today?” Kylie asked.
“I don’t think so. I thought maybe we would go paint ceramics.”
“Yeah!”
“I love that!”
They grew excited and bounced up and down.
“Okay, take it easy. Sit still and eat your breakfast. We have plenty of time.”
Avery cocked her head as she heard the alarm to the elevator. She looked to Nadine who shrugged. Avery rose, annoyed that whomever it was hadn’t called up with her staff first.
“I think I’ve got to fire a couple of security guys. I can’t have people coming up unannounced.”
She left the kitchen and went to the front door. She stopped dead in her tracks as she caught sight of the security monitor.
“Nadine, keep the girls in there.”
Her heart sank to her stomach as she opened the door to Detective Finley and a larger man she’d seen on the night of her warrant. Her blood rose to her face when she saw Finley’s satisfied look and the big man’s dead one. She knew something was desperately wrong.
“I really d
on’t appreciate you coming now. My nieces are here,” she said.
The cops looked at one another and began to speak, but Avery only heard the commotion of her nieces as they ran into the room.
“Who is it, Auntie Avery?”
“Yeah, who’s here?”
They ran up and hugged her legs. Nadine followed them in with an apologetic look.
“I’m sorry, but they heard you and took off.”
Avery smoothed down their hair and tried to remain calm. “These nice people were just leaving,” Avery said. She looked back to the cops.
The big man spoke. “I’m afraid we can’t do that.”
Avery steeled her jaw. “I insist.”
“You can insist all you want,” Finley said. “We’re not leaving.”
“You need to step outside with us,” the big man said.
Avery felt a chill go up her spine. “Why?”
“Just trust me. For their sake.”
Avery patted the girls on the back. “I’ll be right back, okay?”
“I wouldn’t say that,” Finley said.
Avery stared into him.
“Please come with us,” the big man said.
The girls looked up at her. “Why do you have to go?”
“Can we come?”
“Where are you going, Auntie Avery?”
“Where are they taking you?”
She managed to quiet them down, and Nadine came to take them by the hand. Concern marked her face, and Avery whispered for her to take them to the back bedrooms. Nadine led them away, and the girls continued to ask questions. They looked back at her with worried eyes and Rory began to cry.
Avery forced herself to look away. She glared at Finley.
“We need you to come with us, please,” the big one said.
Avery closed the door behind her and followed the cops halfway down the hall.
“Where’s Maria?”
“That’s none of your concern,” Finley said.
“Is this about more questions, Detectives?”
“Not quite,” the big man said. “And my name is Sergeant O’Connell.”
