3 Mascara and Murder (4 page)

Detective Williams stood over Sammy and settled her gaze with increasing intensity upon the extremely distraught woman.

"So
, you used to babysit Annabelle?" she asked, her voice completely cold and professional.

"Yes," Sammy nodded, her heart racing.

"That must have been hard for you," Williams surmised as she perched on the edge of the table and studied Sammy. "Watching all those wealthy people having and doing whatever they wanted while you chased after their brat."

"Brat?" Sammy shook her head quickly. "Annabelle could be willful but she wasn't really a brat."

"But she did have everything you could never dream of having," Williams said sternly, bringing Sammy back to the point. "A lot of people would be resentful of that."

"Oh no, not me," Sammy insisted, her eyes wide and randomly filling with tears.

"Really?" Williams asked. "Because I spoke to a few of your regular customers at the beauty salon and they said that you harbored a good amount of animosity towards Katherine Windward."

Sammy found herself laughing inappropriately. The whole situation was so absurd it was hard for her to get a hold of herself. She didn't really think it was funny, but she couldn't stop the awkward laughter.

"Who doesn't harbor animosity towards her?" Sammy asked with a slight shake of her head. "She's a terrible woman."

"So terrible, that you might want to cause her some trouble?" Williams
pushed, her flashing cinnamon gaze probing so deeply into Sammy's that Sammy felt as if she was being searched from the inside out.

"What? No," Sammy stammered. She realized she might have said more than she should have. She had no idea how to
respond after being accused of a crime she was innocent of committing.

"Well, if you resented her so much, why wouldn't you want to see her suffer?" Williams pushed again. "Unless
you're lying to me again. Because first you say that you don't hold any resentment, then you admit that you do, so which is it Sammy?" she asked as she brushed her long braid back over her shoulder. "Do you resent the Windwards for their wealth, or are your customers lying to me?"

Sammy felt that this question was very important to her case. She had no idea how to answer it.

"Uh, do you think maybe I could talk to Nick?" she asked nervously, her mind spinning.

Detective Williams' expression hardened even furt
her. Ever since Bekki had got back into town she had been influencing Nick. Now a woman accused of murder was asking for him, because she thought he would help her. It was a prime example of why Detective Williams had been pushing Nick to keep Bekki out of his cases and out of his life.

"He's on vacation," she said coolly. "What you need to worry about right now Samantha, is just how you are going to explain it when the
forensics come back and your fingerprints are the only ones on that hair dryer. What you need to be focused on, is why you would take the life of a young and innocent girl to prove a point to a woman who you are quite obviously envious of."

"I didn't," Sammy said quickly. "No, I didn't do this. I would never hurt anyone!"

"Even though some of the girls said that Mrs. Windward was openly mocking you in front of them? That had to hurt, right?" Williams said in a more empathetic tone. "I mean, I looked into your past, Sammy. I know you were bullied in high school and middle school by the more popular, wealthier girls. Fast forward about a decade and there you are again, forced to endure their ridicule, acting as a servant to the same types of spoiled brats who teased and taunted you in high school," she clucked her tongue lightly. "The truth is that no one would blame you Sammy. We all have our moments when we just can't take anymore. Was Lucy teasing you, too?" she asked curiously. "Had she joined in on the ridicule and made you feel so angry? Maybe you thought since she was just a caterer's assistant no one could care too much about her murder, so you just took it out on her?"

Sammy stared hard at the scratched wooden table in front of her. She knew that she had already said far too much. If it wasn't for knowing that she did not commit the crime that she
was accused of, she would actually believe Detective Williams. After all, she made a good case against Sammy.

"I didn't do this," she said softly without looking up at the detective.

"You're going to have to do a lot better than that, Sammy," Detective Williams warned as she leaned closer to Sammy, her eyes narrowed. She was about to pounce yet again, when she heard a swift hard knock on the door of the interrogation room. The door swung open and in walked Trevor with his glossy hair and his hypnotic eyes. Not only was he a lawyer, but he could play one in a Hollywood movie with his good looks.

"Do not ask my client another question," he said sharply to Detective Williams.

"It's okay…" Sammy started to say. Trevor pointed at her with a snap of his finger.

"Quiet," he commanded. Sammy gulped. She knew who he was, Bekki's ex-boyfriend from the city. She could definitely see the allure that he held. "Don't say another word," he warned Sammy.

He introduced himself to Detective Williams who only stalked out of the interrogation room. She remembered him from the last time he had been in town, and knew that yet again, Bekki had found a way to interfere with her investigation.

***

"Trevor, thank you for doing this," Bekki said quietly as they walked out of the police station. They paused on the sidewalk at the corner of the police station. The sky had grown dark, and was spotted with stars. It was a quiet evening and the parking lot was mostly empty.

"Of course, for you," Trevor said and then paused so that he could look directly into her eyes as he spoke his next word. "Anything."

Bekki felt a jolt run through her as he met her gaze and spoke with such certainty. She caught her bottom lip between her teeth as she felt an all too familiar surge. A need for him, an addiction to him, something she had felt through their entire relationship.

"Do you think she's going to be okay?" Bekki asked h
opefully, trying to distract herself from what she was feeling.

"I think she needs to stop running her mouth to the cops," Trevor said disdainfully. "If she listens to my advice and clams up, then she might have a chance."

Bekki sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. The fear that swept over her in reaction to the fact that Sammy was locked away in a jail cell with no way for Bekki to get to her was so intense that she rocked forward slightly. Maybe Trevor noticed this and took it as an invitation, or maybe he had been planning to make his next move the entire time. When Bekki opened her eyes again to look up at him, his arms were wrapping around her in a warm and comforting hug. She looked up at him with surprise, and found his lips waiting there to caress hers. She just managed to turn her cheek before he could touch her lips, and instead his kiss grazed her cheekbone.

"Trevor…
" she started to say.

"What's going on here?" a voice said from the parking lot just behind both of them. Bekki's blood ran cold through her veins as she recognized that deep and distinctive voice. When
Bekki reluctantly turned to face the voice Bekki's wide eyes found Nick glaring right at her.

"Nick, you're back!" Bekki said awkwardly, her heart pounding. Trevor smirked in his general direction, one arm still draped around Bekki's shoulders. Bekki wondered how much Nick must have seen, what did he assume from what he saw? Would he think that Bekki had been kissing Trevor?

Nick's jaw was clenched so tightly that it rippled as he looked between the two of them. Bekki could tell that he was absolutely livid. Even though it bothered her, she couldn't tear her mind away from Sammy long enough to bring herself to defend or explain what Nick had just seen.

"I'm sorry," Nick said as calmly as he could though his voice had a furious tremor in it. "
Cell coverage was bad at the first area I stopped at so I turned my phone off. When I got to the camp site I turned on the phone and got all of your messages, Bekki."

"Oh Nick
, it's so horrible," Bekki confessed as she pulled away from Trevor and stepped closer to Nick. Nick refused to look directly at her but he did not move away from her either. "Sammy's been accused of murdering a young woman, and I don't know if we are going to be able to get her out of this."

"Tell me what happened," Nick said sternly and shot a glare of warning at Trevor when he started to step closer to Bekki.

"She was working a party, Annabelle's twenty-first. She forgot her case of mascara, and while she was gone someone murdered the caterer's assistant. Sammy found the body, and tried to save her. She touched the body and the cord that was wrapped around the poor girl's throat, and when Katherine Windward walked in on her standing over the body she accused her of murder," Bekki was out of breath before she could even finish explaining. Nick still looked angry, but his brow had creased with concern.

"The Windwards are involved in this?" he said, his voice indicating there was a reason why this was a bad thing.

"Yes," Bekki nodded. "It happened at the Windward mansion."

Nick winced and wiped a hand across his forehead, as if to clear his mind.

"Don't worry," he finally said and for the first time met Bekki's clear blue eyes with his own eyes darkened by emotion. "I'm here now, I'll take care of it," he promised her and reached out to lightly grasp her hand. Trevor bristled at the sight of the touch and stepped forward from behind Bekki.

"And where were you when she actually needed you?" he asked sharply. "I've already taken care of Sammy."

Nick met Trevor's gaze with such violence that Bekki expected him to haul off and punch Trevor for his words.

"I can take it from here," he growled at Trevor.

Trevor opened his mouth to argue back, but Bekki spoke up before either could shout or insult anymore.

"Enough!" she hissed at both of them. "This is about Sammy. She needs you both working on her case right now. If the two of you don't find a
way to get her out of this, I promise you, I'm going to find a way to end up in the cell right next to hers!"

Nick sighed as her words struck his last nerve. "Bekki, I said I would take care of it," he insisted. "I'm here now, so just let me take you home so you can rest."

"No, I have my car and you have to go see Sammy," Bekki insisted. "She'll be so relieved that you're here. Please, you have to find out everything you can. Williams won't tell me anything!"

“Are you ok to drive?” Nick asked studying her intently. He could see how upset she was.

"I'll drive you home," Trevor volunteered. “My car’s near your house anyway.”

Nick clenched his jaw once more, but he knew there was no point in arguing. He turned on his heel and marched into the police station. Bekki grimaced as she watched him walk away. This incident might be a hard one to come back from.

Bekki's head was pounding as she climbed into the passenger seat of her car. It was a little strange to have someone else drive her car. “It reminds me of that drive we took along the coast,” Trevor murmured as he glanced over at her. “The only time you let me drive your car,” he said swiftly as he started the car.  Bekki remembered the journey very well.  It was a beautiful time they shared. It was also a time when she believed their entire future lay ahead of them.

They sat in stony silence as he drove her to her house. Bekki was relieved that he was driving her, as she was certain that she could not have driven herself. In her mind she kept going over the events of the day. Even though she had insisted that Sammy
had come back into the salon, the police seemed to think that she still had plenty of time to get back to the mansion and kill Lucy. It didn't make sense, but at the same time she didn't have much to back her up. Even the customer who had come into the store as Sammy was leaving, said that Sammy had been in a hurry which could have only made the situation worse. When Trevor pulled into the driveway he turned off the car. His car was parked on the street.

"I can go in from here," Bekki said as she climbed out of the car. Trevor was already there, waiting for her.

"I want to make sure you get inside," he said with a nervous twinge. Bekki shrugged and began walking up the walkway towards the house. Trevor walked right behind her, and she could feel his presence having a strong draw on her. In the past when she would fight with Trevor it would always lead to a phenomenal reconciliation in the bedroom. Chemistry was never what they were lacking.

“You might need these,” he said from beside her and dangled her keys between them. She reached out and grasped them, her fingers inadvertently grazing the curve of his fingers. She tugged them from his
hand and turned back towards the door. Her hand was shaking when she tried to put the key into the lock. He reached out and gently took it from her. Once the door was unlocked, he opened it, and held it for her, so she could step inside. She stepped inside and then turned around to face him.

“Can I come in?” Trevor asked, his foot already on the threshold. Bekki met his pleading gaze with her own hardened glare.

“No,” she said firmly.