Page 115 of Beguiled

After a couple of additional minutes, I was finished with the search. I wouldn’t know what I was looking for unless it was out in the open. And it wasn’t. At least not that I could see. The girl was more typical of someone her age, her bedroom and bathroom a cluttered mess while the rest of the apartment appeared pristine.

Her purse and keys were on the counter as if she’d just gotten home or had been ready to leave. Checking her purse, I searched for her phone. It was missing. As anticipated.

It was possible the police had taken it, but if I had to guess, I’d say the killer had it with him.

“Let’s head up to the roof.”

Fortunately, no one else was on the surface of the building, the area functioning as an outdoor space.

It was almost impossible to tell if anything was amiss. The space was large, only a portion used for recreation. I walked the perimeter while Roman searched for signs of anything that would matter. I moved to the edge directly overlooking where Tawny had fallen.

What struck me was that if she was afraid of heights as Saige had mentioned, she’d been forced to climb over one ledge to another. Most people would panic at that point.

However, someone of basic strength could certainly push her hard enough. When I backed away, the moonlight captured something a few feet away. Located in the corner that could be missed if every inch hadn’t been checked was a woman’s shoe. Just one. I turned and scanned the surface once again.

Only one.

I’d witnessed suicides before. Where it had landed could have been her removing her shoes, but only one? It was looking more and more as if someone had pushed her.

“Boss. I found a glass.”

He was standing on the opposite end and far away from any ledge. There were two chairs where he was standing.

As soon as I moved closer, I could tell why he’d called me over.

He’d found a broken wineglass. I pulled out my flashlight, shining it on the area. Red wine had been spilled. My light beam caught something else.

Crouching down, I picked it up. A gold chain. Like a man would wear. Interesting.

I pocketed the necklace, firmly convinced there’d been a fight. When I turned to face the path that would have been taken to the ledge, I noticed the furniture had been moved and haphazardly put back in position. How could I tell? Because of the marks that had been left.

At night, something the police had missed.

But I missed nothing.

“What now?” Roman asked.

“Now, we go home.”

Tawny had been murdered. I was convinced of it. However, leaving it as a suicide meant the act had been one of passion.

Now it was a matter of finding out by whom. Something about the gold chain bothered me, a tick of a memory.

And I knew exactly where I’d head tomorrow first.

If I had to guess, I’d say I knew the identity of the killer.

As usual, the question remained as to why.

* * *

“Jesus Christ, cuz. You’ve been busy.” Dimitri was none too happy to hear from me so early in the morning, but I doubted Mikhail was sleeping so why should we?

“Yeah, well, none of it was intentionally planned.”

“I always knew you had a thing for your assistant.”

“I suggest you not call Saige that in front of her. She’ll tell you the exact problem with your assumption.”