Page 96 of Lady Killer

Not ideal, since I didn’t need to be on Detectives Denver and Marques’s radar any more than I already was, but . . .

Autumn’s voice dropped, and I detected a quiver in it. “Luz, where are you?”

I was supposed to be in NYC for a death in the family, and my head spun as I tried to figure out what to say.

My phone was snatched from my hands.

“Luz is safe with me. Now pass the phone over to the senior officer there.”

Autumn made a choking noise that was audible even without speakerphone.

“What are you doing?” I said, leaping forward to grab my phone from him. Alister expertly dodged me and simply held the phone high above my head, out of reach.

I jumped but barely made it past his forearm. “Give it back!”

Alister frowned at me, and we were interrupted by the sound of arguing over the phone.

“Who the hell is on the phone . . . Blackwell?! . . . Which one . . . Aww, fuck.”

A voice suddenly came clearly through the speaker. “Officer Samuels here.”

“Alister Blackwell. I understand there’s been a break-in?”

“Ehhhh, I’m not sure—‍”

“You know who I am, Samuels. I won’t ask again.”

There was the sound of throat clearing. “It’s not, uh, entirely clear. It appears someone broke into the girl’s room, but until we can confirm her whereabouts—‍”

“Ms. Torres is not a suspect.”

“With all due respect, Mr. Blackwell, that’s not for you—‍”

“She was with me at my family's estate all night. It would be impossible for her to escape the property without my noticing, let alone sneak onto campus and ransack her own apartment.”

“Yes but—‍”

“Are you accusing me of lying, Officer?”

“Uh, no, no, Mr. Blackwell, but this is, uh, new information—‍”

“What I am hearing is that someone broke into Ms. Torres’s room and destroyed it, but you have no idea who that might be.”

“Yes, well, the security cameras were disabled, and the kids on her floor didn’t notice anything unusua—‍”

Alister hung up on the stumbling officer, his nostrils flared.

I grabbed my phone out of his hands, although the damage had been done. “What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking that the police of Shady Harbor would be happy to write you off, and I just provided you with an alibi,” he said, whipping his phone out and texting furiously.

“Not the police, I mean, yes, they’re an issue too, but Autumn. You had no right to tell her that.”

Sure enough, my phone started buzzing again, her name on the screen.

Alister’s lips curled up. “You hadn’t told your friend about us.”

I huffed, fighting the urge to stomp my foot. I was a grown woman, a skilled killer, and somehow Alister Blackwell pushed me to a near fit every time.

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