“That’s correct,” she breathed.
“I remember reading she’d passed young.”Ben frowned thoughtfully.“But I don’t recall a drug overdose.”
Sarah scowled.“That’s because the managers and the agents panicked.”With a jerky movement, she set her glass down and gave it a push away.Some of the red liquid slopped over the side.She sat frozen into stillness, dully watching the widening stain spread over the coffee table.She felt as though a dark fog had engulfed her.It was hard to think.
“I’ll get that.”Ben rose to grab paper towels and sop up the mess.
“Sorry,” Sarah said, still feeling slow.
“What really happened to Mira?”
“They put it out that she’d contracted pneumonia.”She inhaled deeply.‘An unhealthy, emaciated model catches a bad bug and dies.So tragic.A life snuffed out before its time.’But that was bullshit.She died ...she died...”
“Go on, Sarah,” he urged gently.“Tell me.”
Holding back a sob, she got out, “That night, we were in a grand private residence, an actor’s New York penthouse.I was drinking.Mira was drinking, too.And she did a lot of cocaine.Late that evening, I could see Mira had gotten intoxicated.I tried to make her slow down.And yet, I didn’t—didn’t try that hard.”Her throat spasmed.
“What happened?”
“A seizure,” she forced out.“It was terrible.”
Ben took her cold hands in his and chafed them.
“Her whole body shook,” Sarah said.“She—she vomited on me.She was choking and gagging.A foamy fluid came out of her mouth.I started screaming.But the music played so loud.Everyone was loaded.Nobody responded.I had no idea where my cell phone might be and was desperate for help.The elevator in the penthouse was too slow, so I ran down six flights of stairs.In the lobby, I threw myself at the doorman.He called for the paramedics.”
Ben sat silently.
She could feel the sympathy in him, but she hated it, didn’t want any such emotion from him.She didn’t deserve it.
“I rushed back upstairs.Sat on the floor.Took Mira’s head in my lap.”The pain of that night gripped her, beat at her with painful fists.
Still, Sarah needed to complete the awful tale.She’d come this far.Her throat on fire, she said, “Mira was unconscious.The paramedics arrived, but it was too late.As I held Mira in my arms, she ...she took her last breath.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Sarah’s beautiful eyeswere swimming, and tears made uneven trails down her cheeks.Ben knew she had to finish her story, but he hated how it hurt her.He rubbed the backs of her hands.“I’m sorry, Sarah.Both of you were foolish.”
