The Muse (Interracial Mystery Romance) (Dark Art Mystery Series) (16 page)

Four huge men dressed all in black barreled onto the floor. They stood by Alvarez and searched the area with their gazes, skittering past every face on the dance floor with suspicion.

Alvarez signaled for one of them to take the girl somewhere. For the rest of the guards, he took them to the side and spouted out orders that I could barely make out due to the noisy crowd around me.

This isn’t some fluke occurrence at a party. Another girl was killed by the same person
who killed the other. It had to be, because if not, then there were two killers around the property,
which was even worst.

Alvarez took out his phone, tapped in some numbers, and continued to spit out more

orders. Guards appeared out of the shadows of trees and bushes. They’d been hidden well. There must’ve been fifty that chose to reveal their hiding spots.

How many more guards are out here?

They escorted people off the dance floor, disbanded the musicians, gestured for all the amazing performers to pick up their equipment and leave, as well as crowded around Hex on the stage. I glanced over my shoulder. Three of my own guards stood behind with their gazes locked on me. One of the three was the guy who had burst through my room before.

“Thank you so much for coming, but due to serious events I must say that the party is over.” The woman I knew as Reece and Alvarez’s personal assistant held the microphone and waved her hands in the air to get everyone’s attention. “Please grab your items and go directly to the front gates so the valet can return your car. There are party bags that will be handed out at each exit. If you are a guest for tonight, please take out your identification in order to gain access back into the house.”

Alvarez closed his phone, marched off, and combed his fingers through his hair.

I hurried his way. “Wait a minute, Alvarez.”

He didn’t stop.

“Alvarez.” I grabbed the back of his shirt. “What’s going on?”

“Someone else died.”

“I got that. I think I know her. But who did it?”

He spun around and glared at me. “How would I know? I’ve been with you most of the

night. I’m trying to handle this one problem at a time. First I need to find out who this girl was and why was she over by the garden and—”

“I’m going with you. The girl said Patricia. I know what Patricia looks like.”

“No. I can get someone else to identify her. You’ll only distract me.”

“No. I won’t.”

“You’re distracting me now.” He shook his head. “Stay with your guards.”

“You don’t get to order me around. If some sick person is hurting people around me, I want the direct line of information at the time it’s given. And if I don’t feel safe, I’m leaving.

And if I know the person who was killed, then I—”

He stepped my way and formed his lips into an angry line. “What you’re going to do is have the guards escort you back to your room.”

“No.”

He closed his eyes and rubbed his head. “Okay. I’m sorry. I’ve been curt and bossy. It’s just that my plan tonight was to be with you, in any capacity. Now I’m going to look at the second dead girl for this week. Not to mention, I’ve had several complications happen today. I’m just tired of this.”

“I understand.”

“So you’ll go back with your guards so that I won’t have to worry about your safety?”

“No. I’m coming with you.”

“Damn it. You’re worse than Hex.” His phone rang. He didn’t answer.

“Do you even have time to go back and forth with me?” I asked. “Because that’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to follow you wherever you go because I want to know exactly what’s happening here and how dangerous things truly are.”

“My men can stop you.”

“Your men will get kneed in the balls and if they touch me without my permission you’ll have a lawsuit on your hands. Not to mention my whole body is under a special insurance claim for modeling. You’ll have two sets of lawyers coming at you in different directions if a tiny little mark is put on my skin. If you think you’re busy now, then you have no idea difficult life can be if you’ve pissed me off.”

“You’re bullshitting me.”

I was, but he didn’t need to know that. “Do you have time to tell if I’m bullshitting you?”

His phone rang again. He checked the screen and said something in Spanish under his breath. “You stay far behind me and with your guards. They go wherever you go. When I’m talking to the cops or investigator, you stay behind. When I look at the poor girl’s body, I don’t want you over there and messing up the area.”

“Why?”

“There could be clues or something.”

“Fine.”

He stormed off, and I did my best to follow.

Chapter 12

~Alvarez

The second dead woman was named Patricia.

I’d questioned the poor woman who found her best friend’s corpse. Reece wrote most of the information down just in case I couldn’t remember it all.
Thank god for Reece.
I’d given her the night off and instead of going to do something for herself, she’d stayed around the castle and monitored the party, making sure the performers did what they were supposed to as well as completing any tasks that would need to be done later this week. As soon as I started talking with the dead girl’s friend, Reece appeared by my side and helped me through the process.

For some reason, an awkward tension stretched around us. Elle and Reece exchanged a few odd glances at each other. When I finally had the time to introduce them, there were no handshakes or warm hellos, just a curt nod and a knowing smirk. On that basis alone, I gave Reece the task of making sure everybody left. It was the first time she’d glared at me in all the years she’d been my personal assistant.

“How long has Reece worked for you?” Elle asked as we walked to view the body. She

wore my jacket. I’d had one of my men grab it from my bedroom. Sure, he could’ve simply gotten a jacket or sweater from her room, but then I would’ve never gotten her sweet scent into my clothes.

“Five years or so. Why?”

“You two seem pretty close.” I wanted to turn and see if there was a questioning

expression with those words, but I left it alone. “It just seems like we’re close because we know each other’s habits, I guess. I see her every day.”

“And she’s only been your personal assistant?”

There we go. She thinks I’m sleeping with Reece.
“Just my assistant, nothing else.”

“That’s surprising.”

“Why?” I asked.

“She’s beautiful.”

“A lot of women are beautiful, but that doesn’t mean I have to be with all of them.”

She snorted. “Michael would’ve disagreed with that statement.”

Is that what Michael did to push you away, sleep with lots of women?

“Then Michael is a fool, if he needs to sleep with every pretty woman he sees when he has the best woman of all right next to him.”

We said nothing else.

Darkness blanketed the area. All the lights on this side of the castle had been broken. Our maintenance people stood on ladders and were doing their best to replace them. The dead girl, Patricia, lay in the garden next to the rows of eggplant, the second body in the same garden this week.

Grandma was right about the land beginning to rot. Even in the dark, I could see the vegetables and even the land beyond the garden, appeared brown and spotted. The grass and vines crumbled under our feet like dead leaves. A stink radiated from the decomposing earth.

I called Grandma to let her know the rotting had spread, but she never answered the phone. I planned on rushing up there to check on her and Dayanara right after I saw Patricia’s body and talked to the police detective. Reece had called immediately and asked him to come as soon as he could.

When he’d seen the body and checked out the whole area, Reece would notify the media.

The strongest headache of the day hammered against my skull. While the police were happy to keep the first corpse under hush, due to my sizeable donations to their commissioner, two dead bodies within a twenty-four hour period would force them to treat me like any other Dade County citizen. Two bodies couldn’t be ignored. They would have to undergo a serious investigation. And if they explored too deeply, they would probably discover Dayanara.

Four men stood around the garden. A foul scent drifted my way. I risked another inhale, covered my nose, and breathed out of my mouth. Blood. After this week, that coppery odor would be imprinted in my brain forever. I’d been smelling that wretched liquid all day.

Probably sensing the same thing, Elle covered her face with her hands. I hated that she was with me, and pissed that our time was halted to deal with more death.
Now what?
There was nothing I could explore with her. Another girl had died and if Elle had any sense she would leave. Not to mention the fact that I’d already put on my mental to-do list that Reece would have to book Elle a flight to wherever she wanted to go.

She can’t stay here.

Another guard came my way. “The body is in the center. I made sure to have my men

keep a six foot distance and allow no one else here.”

I scanned the area. He’d done an excellent job. The only people out here were the

guards, Elle, and myself.

I swallowed down my fear. “Okay. Show me where the body is.”

He guided me through. Elle continued. I stopped. “No. You’re not going.”

“I want to see if it is really Patricia.”

“Her friend confirmed it.”

“When I talked to Patricia, she said she didn’t have any more friends. This could be somebody else.”

“Looking at a dead person is not a fun experience. Trust me.”

“Of course, but I want to see. Whenever I’m really nervous or scared about something I just take it on, learn as much as I can, and eventually my fear is gone.”

“This isn’t a fear you’re going to have to learn to get over. This is some crazy person killing girls for no reason. I want you far away from this.”

“Lucky for me. You don’t get to tell me what to do.”

“You promised me you would stay behind.”

“I don’t always keep my promises.” She shrugged.

Her nonchalant gesture should have pissed me off or triggered the already fragile control of my temper to shatter, but it was Elle, with that soft skin and orange blossom fragrance, drowning out the stink of death. It was the one thing that gave me peace and allowed my mind to wander off to serene thoughts of her and me far away from this place. So I buckled under her beautiful gaze. “Come on. But if you need to get away or be sick, then tell me so I can help you.”

“Okay. Although I’m pretty good at taking care of myself.”

I glanced at her and seized her soft hand. “When I’m around, you shouldn’t have to take care of yourself. I’ll do it.”

“But then who’s going to take care of you?”

“Me.”

“At least that’s what you think, huh?”

“Meaning?”

“It looks like you’re taking care of everybody but yourself.”

“You’ve caught me during a rough week.”

“Sir,” the guard interrupted us. He touched the earpiece in his ear. “I’m receiving a message that Detective White is at the entrance gates and was called by you.”

“That’s true. Have your people let him onto the property and escorted to this area. We’ll wait for the detective before viewing the body.”

“Okay.” He nodded.

It must’ve taken twenty minutes for the investigator to finally appear. Detective White was a short black man who must’ve been barely five feet tall. He wore gray jogging pants with muddy sneakers and appeared as if he’d been disturbed in the middle of a nightly run. Even his bald head seemed wet with sweat.

“Thanks for coming so quickly.” I shook his hand.

“You’re my best client. I’m here when you need me.” He turned to Elle, paused as if waiting for me to introduce her, saw that I wasn’t, and moved on to the location of the body. “Do you know what the victim’s name was?”

“Patricia Jones. Her friend found the body. Patricia was a poet from Toronto, Canada.

Hex fell in love with several of her poetry books and invited her to the states. She’d been here for three months where she wrote and published a poetry book that had several of Hex’s illustrations in it. This is all from her friend so you’ll need to verify the information with my brother. She’d been with the group of people that I informed would have to leave tomorrow. The party tonight was a nice way to send them off.”

Detective White bobbed his head, the whole time searching the shadowed garden with his eyes. “I told your assistant the girls are being killed and dumped here is because the security cameras don’t pick it up back here. It’s pretty much your only blind spot for the cameras. Did you know that?”

I sighed. “Yes. This is my grandma’s garden. I like her to maintain some of her privacy.”

He leaned his head to the side. “Is that all? I’m going to need all the information I can get because the killer appears to know more than me. From what I’ve gathered, you’re a thorough man. Everything you do has a precise reason for why it’s done. A blind spot like this would never happen with you in charge unless there was more going on. Why do you like to give your grandmother privacy?” He gestured to Elle. “Perhaps, you want to discuss this in private.”

“No. That’s unnecessary.” I combed my fingers through my hair. “My grandma practices an old type of belief. It’s one that’s outlawed in most countries that deal with the religion. It’s
corazón muerto
. It means dead heart. A lot of the vegetables and herbs in this garden are for her enchantments and spells. She also . . . does sacrifices out here.”

“Animal ones?”

“Yes. For anything else I have deliveries made. I’ll show you the reports and have you talk to that source. Regardless, this is why I don’t have the cameras recording her. My assistant will give you everything and discuss those sacrifices with you further. I would like to change the questioning back to the matter of the dead girls.”

Elle knew Grandma was a bit off, but she’d had no idea how deep the craziness went. I didn’t plan on having Elle remain here much longer, but I did intend on trying to see her again. If that was at all possible, I didn’t want the taint of my grandma and her playing with dead human parts to be a problem.