Text messages proving motive?
He rubs his chin. “Well, I didn’t get the specifics, but sounds like he was holding something over her.”
Blackmail?
As Naomi writes, she recalls her previous suspicions about Colton. But if he was the one holding blackmail over Harlow, thenshewas the one with the secret.
“So with those links plus the video evidence, they were shocked when the DNA came back as not a match. They were sure it would be. So now, everything else can be explained away—they have no concrete proof that shows she injected them with the drugs. Her lawyer is obviously saying he simply overdosed after she rejected him, and the Jade murder charge was already flimsy to begin with, and certainly falls apart when the Colton charge does.”
Naomi chomps on the inside of her cheek as she yanks off a cuticle. She presses down on it to stem the blood.
She watches Leo’s Adam’s apple bob in his exposed throat as he takes a swig of beer. She imagines Harlow leaping on Colton, putting her hands around his neck and strangling him like she did to Jade.
“But what if there are other victims out there?” she asks.
Leo furrows his brow, darting his gaze to her. “What makes you say that?”
Naomi nods toward the investigation wall and finally tells him about her sister.
Chapter 24
As Naomi finishes her explanation of everything that happened to her sister and how she thinks Faye’s death may be connected to the case, she pauses to gauge Leo’s reaction. But she’s unsure what he’s feeling, his blank, wide-eyed stare making it clear he’s still processing.
He opens his mouth to speak but nothing comes out. Naomi feels the urge to fill the silence but holds her tongue for a moment, wanting to give him a chance to react. He rubs a hand over his jaw, looking from her to the wall.
“Listen…” The concern in his eyes is more pronounced now.
Shit, she thinks, knowing that she’s lost him. She changes her mind and interjects before he can say anything. “There’s more.” She holds a hand up, launching into all of her discoveries, including all the “coincidences” and connections. He still doesn’t seem convinced, so she pulls out her smoking gun: The matching drug levels cited in the autopsy reports.
“You can’t tell me this is all a coincidence. That these two aspiring musicians, both living in New York where Colton and Harlow were, died from the same exact levels of fentanyl in their system, within months of each other. Not to mention they both had other suspicious injuries…” Naomi huffs. “I mean, come on. You of all people should believe how weird this is given what you told me about Jade’s neck bruises and how they told your co-worker to stop looking into it.”
Leo looks at her with warm, sympathetic eyes. “Okay, the dosage level is weird. But why cover up Jade’s neck bruises but not Faye’s head injury? As bad as it sounds, head injuries on an autopsy are more common than you think. Especially with that level of drugs in your system. Or maybe she did try to get up during the fire but passed out. It’s easy to slip and fall.”
Naomi throws her hands up in frustration. “But she was on the couch, basically glued to it. You don’t fracture your skull falling on a fucking sofa!” Floods of hot tears run down her face.
“It could be an injury from earlier that day or week, even,” he rebukes. “I promise you, if they believed it warranted further investigation they would have told you,” Leo says, echoing Glen’s prior email.
Naomi thinks of the countless celebrity deaths she’s covered over the years. Some of them trivial, unimportant dirtbags, yet still somehow more important than her sister to the public. “No, they wouldn’t have because no one gave a shit about her,” she mutters. “And they were all probably in on it, I don’t know.”
He opens his mouth to argue, but decides against it.
“Believe me,” Naomi says, forcing herself to calm down. “I know it sounds fucking crazy, but…”
Leo puts his beer down and reaches out for Naomi’s hands. He leans down so he’s eye-level with her. “Listen, I don’t think it’s crazy. I’m so sorry about your sister and that you had to go through that. But I’ve seen family members do this. Spiral over the death of their loved one. On a mission to have someone or something to blame.”
“I’m not—”
“No, I know,” he continues. “I’m not saying that’s what you’re doing and I’m not even saying I think you’re wrong.” He exhales. “But even if you’re right, it will be almost impossible to prove.”
Naomi wavers. She knows deep down Leo has a point. But she isn’t ready to accept it.
“Why don’t you just take a breather? I think you need to get out of this apartment, so how about you let me take you out to eat? I can text Tom too, see if he and Amelia are free to join?”
She crosses her arms, eyes darting from him to the wall.
“The wall will be here when you get back.” He raises an eyebrow. “And then you can reassess with a clear head…”
Naomi blinks away a tear. “Okay.”
