“Looking rough, Detective Barbie,” said Morales, whistling as she passed his desk. “Late night at the club?”
“She looks mad as hell,” called Detective Fasiano. “Maybe someone stiffed her, and not in the good way.”
Grey directed her middle finger to the quadrant of desks where the detectives now laughed, but she was too focused to stop. From her desk, Ellis watched her approach with caution.
“About yesterday,” Ellis started to say, but Grey dumped what she was holding—her personal laptop, the entire Drake file, and printed copies of everything she’d found online about Scout that made her hackles rise—onto Ellis’s desk.
“If I do this with you,” Grey said, leaning over so only Ellis could hear. “We do it right.”
Ellis’s eyes lit up.
“No more chasing clues in music videos. We stick to actual evidence. We establish a real link between each of the murders. And then we tie them to…” She lowered her voice. “Scout.”
Ellis blinked. “You believe me.”
“Imight. Mostly, I believe there’s something going on that I don’t understand. And I’m determined to find out.”
Ellis thrust out her hand. “Good enough for me. Partners? For real this time.”
Grey shook Ellis’s hand. “Partners.”
Chapter 7Isabel, the Rising Star
TEN YEARS EARLIER, THE CHRISTMAS PARTY
I could’ve happily gone my whole life not knowing how dark and drafty an interrogation room was, or how starkly it differed from the cop shows on TV, the real tables cheap wood laminate, the real walls gray with grime. The wait to talk to someone so long it seemed never-ending, until my brain, still numb with shock, just turned off, and I fell asleep on my folded arms.
I woke to the sound of the door cracking open, and suddenly there was an older man in street clothes, introducing himself as Detective Sutherland, followed by a woman in a crisp, ironed uniform who didn’t introduce herself at all. I straightened, wiping the sleep from my eyes, as they sank into folding chairs across the table. Detective Sutherland held a small notepad. His eyes were glued to it. He barely looked at me.
“Isabel Cruz,” he read. “Age nineteen. You carry a New Jersey driver’s license.”
“I, um, moved here from New Jersey. I was going to get a California license. I just… haven’t yet.” Technically, that was illegal. No one warned you how nerve-racking it was to talk to the police. I bounced a knee under the table.
Sutherland didn’t look up. “And you were one of the ones who found the body?”
The body.
“Yes.” I swallowed, feeling my stomach turn. “With Scout and Brooks.”
The detective nodded. “I’d like you to repeat what you told theresponding officers. When you arrived at the party, the last time you saw Ms. Sage alive, how you found her. Spare no detail.” He glanced at the officer beside him. She was short and stocky but held herself primly, her arms stiff, back straight. “If there’s anything sensitive you need to say, we have a female officer present. It’s a new protocol at the LAPD. To help you feel more at ease.”
I glanced at the officer, expecting her to speak, but she just nodded.
“Can I see Scout? Or Brooks?”
“It’s important we interview you separately,” the detective said. “Ensure there’s consistency in your reports.”
Consistency? But… “Are we in trouble?”
Should I have requested a lawyer? The cops who’d arrived on scene had raised their voices over our sobbing, insisted they needed to take our statements downtown. We’d allowed ourselves to be corralled into the back of a police car and driven out of the Hills to a massive police station they called “headquarters.”
The detective tapped his notepad. “Can you describe the relationship between Brooks Yardley and Georgia Sage? Did you notice him leave your side at any point in the night?”
I frowned. “To go to the bathroom once, I think, but—” The implication hit me. “Brooks is my boyfriend. He wouldneverhurt Georgia. It was Alden Banks who…”
I stopped. I couldn’t say it. It had been hours since walking into that pool house, hours that had stretched like years, and yet I still couldn’t acknowledge that Georgia was… that she’d been alive such a short time ago and now…
“We’re exploring every option,” Detective Sutherland said. “That’s our job.”
