Martha Montgomery took a step back and looked at Victor as if he’d offended her. “You mean prettier?”
Victor winked at her and chuckled. “Naw, just dressier. You can’t get any prettier.
CHAPTER 35
Belladonna
Bella entered the well-maintained bungalow next to the last victim's home. The houses were like night and day. Where the victim had a variety of beer cans, a slew of ashtrays, and unsanitary used condoms, Mrs. Morris had hardwood floors covered with a beautiful throw rug and a variety of houseplants, one she recognized as a Monstera. Bella was the proud plantmama of a huge Monstera.
“Come in and sit down, Detective,” Mrs. Morris offered.
Bella sat on the plush sofa and smiled up at Mrs. Morris. “Thanks again for whatever light you can shine on the situation.”
Mrs. Morris sat on a chair across from Bella and interlocked her fingers. “Well, just like I told the other officers, I really don’t know what help I can be. I didn’t see or hear anything unusual.”
Bella smiled. “I’ll be the judge of that. Sometimes we don’t recognize the unusual when we see it.”
Mrs. Morris shrugged. “Okay, I hope I can help. Like I said, I was home the whole day.”
“And was there a lot of in-and-out traffic at the victim’s house?”
Mrs. Morris frowned as if trying to remember. “Actually,” she started with a tilt of her head. “There ain’t been no traffic the last couple of days. And that was strange because that boy always had young folk coming in and out of his house.”
Bella leaned forward. “So, other than company, the victim lived alone?”
“Well, yes. But he had a girlfriend. I don’t know if she lived there, but she was there all the time.”
Bella jotted that info in her notebook. She’d had no knowledge of a girlfriend. There was no mention of a girlfriend from his family. Since he was covered in semen, finding his girlfriend could prove crucial to finding his killer.
“What can you tell me about this girlfriend? No one has made mention of him having a girlfriend.”
Mrs. Morris toss a few loose braids from her face. “She’s really pretty. Don’t know much else. She’s tall and light skinned with long hair. She was maybe in her late twenties or early thirties.”
Bella interviewed Mrs. Morris for another hour before leaving. At least she had a lead. Maybe the girlfriend was involved or at least had information pertinent to her case. Bella thanked Mrs. Morris as she left. She jogged down the stairs and looked over at the porch where her victim had been found stabbed to death. Even with Niyah’s lab fuck up, Bella had every intention of solving the case that could lead her to a serial killer.
For a hot second, Bella thought about going back to the station, but quickly decided that her workday had come to an end. So, she hopped in her car and took off for home. Fifteen short minutes on the expressway had her a few blocks from her house. Bella drove through her neighborhood feeling lucky that she lived in an area with little to no violent crimes. As she turned into her driveway, she chuckled, noting that all the neighborhood violence of late had been associated directly with her address. “They gon’ start a petition against my ass!” she joked as she got out of the car. When she walked back to get her bag from the trunk, she noticed a figure in the bushes. Before she could open the trunk, a man in all black stepped out. A semi-automatic handgun was trained at her head.
Bella stepped back from the car and raised her hands. When the man stepped closer, Bella looked past him. “You got him?”
Bella could see the confused glint in his eye at her words. Confusion morphed to disappointment when he felt the cool metal of her twin’s .45 against the back of his head.
“I got him, Twin.”
Unfortunately for him, Bella’s stalker had stumbled into a well-planned trap.
DONNA
With a cup of coffee in hand, Bella entered the interrogation room and placed it on the table across from the man who had just plotted to kill her. He hadn’t spoken a word since he’d been arrested, but his fingerprints were run through Leads and NCIC. Hopefully, the law enforcement databases would shed some light on who he was. So far, all she knew was the obvious. He was a tall Asian man with a scar over his right eye and multiple tattoos.
It was five in the morning, which meant that her assailant had been detained for a little less than four hours. Bella noticed that not even once had he so much as shifted in his seat. With an eerie level of discipline, he stared at the wall, sitting perfectly still. And that didn’t change when Bella entered the room.
Bella slipped out of her blazer, revealing the respectable amount of cleavage that her cotton V-neck allowed. She sighed and pulled her hair up into a high ponytail. She and Donna supposedly had good cheekbones and nice necks. Bella needed to use all the tools in the shed to shift his attention from the wall to her. And it worked. The tattooed man turned to Bella and glared at her through narrowed lids.
“Get on with it!” he growled with a heavy accent that wasn’t American.
Bella leaned forward, placing her arms on the table between them. “Let’s,” she agreed with a hiss. “Who are you and why are you trying to kill me?”
The man spat words in a different language and returned his attention to the wall.
