Page 15 of Choosing Stella

They didn’t answer.

A headache started at the base of my skull.

“What?”

Talbot closed her notebook.

“The security footage covering parts of the relevant period is unavailable.”

“Unavailable how?”

“Missing, corrupted, unclear. We’re still determining the extent.”

“So a casino with cameras everywhere somehow lost footage from the period when its owner was murdered?”

“We’re investigating.”

“That’s convenient.”

“For whom?”

I almost laughed.

Instead I folded my arms.

“If you knew that, you wouldn’t be standing in my apartment asking whether I killed him.”

“We haven’t accused you of anything.”

“You told me my tarot card was beside his body.”

“We’re establishing what happened.”

“Then establish this. Antonio Bellacorte was alive when I left. He asked me to leave The Tower. I completed my Network check-in after I was out of the casino.”

Dempsey studied me.

“Did you argue?”

“No.”

“Did he threaten you?”

“No.”

“Did he owe you money?”

“No. Payment goes through The Network.”

“Any personal relationship outside the bookings?”

“No.”

“Were you jealous of anyone in his life?”

“I was paid to have sex with him. I wasn’t auditioning to become his girlfriend.”

Talbot’s mouth twitched as if she was suppressing a reaction.