Page 87 of Ms Perfectly Fine
“Have you seen anyone pass repeatedly or cars lingering?”
Autumn shook her head, but Elijah perked up. “Yes, about two weeks ago. I saw someone parked outside. I thought it was Nina coming over since they usually drive to and from rehearsals together, but it could have been Heather.”
Aiden typed away. “Any details about the car stand out?”
Elijah shook his head. “It was late, could have been anything. Should we stay in a hotel for a few days?”
Brinkley settled at the detective’s feet, wanting all the attention. Aiden stroked her absentmindedly.
“No, continue as normal. Heather will be held for another twenty-four hours since we have her prints on the item, and we will arrest her if the partial one belongs to her. There have been no purchases on her card for anything related to flowers, so hopefully, we will get more from questioning her.”
“What about the show?” Autumn asked, wondering if itwasa good idea to perform in case Heather was released by then.
“I’ve spoken with Mr Sasaki. He has agreed to some of our officers being posted at the exits and entrance, but it’s still a risk,” Aiden warned. “Your safety is more important, but it’s your decision, and we will do everything we can to protect you.”
“If I had come forward sooner, would it have helped?” Autumn had to ask, wondering if she had brought this onto not only herself but also Sasaki and the others at the theatre.
He let out a slow breath. “Well, it’s possible that we could have tracked when the roses appeared, tried to figure out when they would make the next drop. However, there’s no point in dwelling on ifs. We’re working on it now,” Aiden reassured her. “Try to take it one day at a time.”
Autumn nodded. “Can I ask what was in the vase? Was it real blood?”
“No, it was fake. Stage blood, only meant to frighten you,” he said.
Her shoulders relaxed. No living thing had been harmed to hurt her. “That’s a relief.”
“There is something else that came up, but it might be a bit of a shock,” Aiden said carefully, clasping his hands. “When we scanned Heather’s prints, we noticed that she changed her name three years ago.”
Autumn frowned.
“Her real name is Lena Garvey.”
Autumn felt a cold sweat break over her. “No way. There’s no way Mollie’s sister would do this to me.” She rubbed her palms against her thighs, trying to calm down. “Surely, I would have recognised her…she was a couple of years younger than me and Mollie. How could I have forgotten her so easily?” Heather was so different, so meek and quiet, where Lena had always been so loud and confident. She hadn’t worn glasses like Heather did, and her hair was darker and longer now. When Autumn pictured Lena, she was still a pre-teen chasing after her older sister, not the woman she had known the last three years.I suppose a lot can change in ten years, and Lena was only about twelve when we lost Mollie.
“You never thought she looked a little familiar?” Elijah asked, distracting her from her thoughts.
“No…maybe once? When she was dropping me home, I thought there was something about her, but I never expected this,” Autumn said, trying to come to terms with this revelation.
“Can I ask about your accident and your connection to the Garvey family?” Aiden interjected.
“There’s a police report…” She didn’t want to go over it again.
“Would you mind giving me a brief summary?”
She sighed, sensing the detective wasn’t going to let it go. Telling the story never got easier. It always felt a knife slowly twisting in her gut, her nerves remembering the day her mind longed to forget. “I was performing outside at a winter festival. The stage floor was old and needed maintenance because of the bad snow that year, but there wasn’t time. During the performance, the stage collapsed, and then the lights came down. The broken wood caught fire. I was protected by my piano, but I was pinned by a bar.” She lifted her shirt a little to show the scar that connected her front and back.
“And Mollie Garvey was with you?”
“They found Mollie first, but she was closer to the fire. She was knocked unconscious in the collapse, and the smoke inhalation killed her in minutes. My lungs were hurt from the smoke, but I survived. I had to learn to walk again. I have some tissue and nerve damage, which leaves me in chronic pain, and sometimes it’s a struggle to use my left leg.” Even talking about it seemed to spark the nerves in her back, as if they were remembering the trauma.
“And the family?” Aiden pressed.
“I haven’t heard from any of them in years. Did Heather—Lena—tell you why she changed her name?” Autumn asked, wondering why she would keep it a secret, why she wouldn’t just tell her who she was.She shouldn’t have had to tell you—you should have recognised her!her guilt scolded her.
“When we confronted her, she said she changed her name when she went to college. Her parents divorced, and her dad gambled away the settlement received from the accident. Her mum has remarried and started a new family, and Heather said she didn’t fight for custody. She said she wanted to start anew.”
Autumn thought of her own settlement. She’d never touched the money. She hadn’t wanted it, so her parents had used it to buy their home and on her rehab and medical bills.
“What has that got to do with Autumn? Why would she go to such lengths to get close to her?” Elijah asked.
