Page 4 of Veiled Justice
‘Did you see the attack?’ I asked, even though I already knew the answer. Rupert’s panicked voice over the phone had babbled breathlessly about a body, but he hadn’t mentioned witnessing the murder and he definitely would have done. It wasn’t the kind of detail you’d leave out.
Rupe shook his head and looked at me with dismayed green eyes that mirrored my own. We both took after Dad in that respect. ‘She was dead when we found her. I checked her pulse, but—That’s why I called you. Too late for a healer. I did what you asked and stayed with the body to make sure no one contaminated the scene while Ava went inside to raise the alarm.’
‘Then I came back to Rupe.’ Ava looked up at him with a soft smile. ‘To keep him company. I couldn’t very well leave him alone with …’ Her voice trailed off and she pointed to the body with a glittery, manicured nail.
‘Youdid well,’ I murmured reassuringly. ‘Both of you. I need to ask you a few more questions, okay?’ They nodded. ‘What time did you find the body?’
Ava tilted her head as she considered. ‘The fireworks were at midnight. They’d ended and we’d gone in for a drink before heading back out – 12.30 maybe?’
‘Yeah,’ Rupert agreed. ‘Something like that.’
I’d received the call from Rupe at 12.36 am, so that correlated. ‘Did you touch the body?’
They shook their heads. ‘No, we didn’t move or touch anything,’ Rupert said.
‘Apart from checking her pulse?’ I clarified.
Rupe blinked. ‘Yeah, you’re right. I touched her neck to check for a pulse but after that I didn’t touch her or anything else.’
I wished like hell that Ava had checked Helga’s pulse because now Rupe’s prints were on the dead body. If the Connection wanted a scapegoat, they’d be pointing at him. If Ava’s prints had been on the body no doubt her daddy’s money would have protected her. The Connection was fickle like that.
I didn’t share any of my immediate concerns: they’d already dealt with quite enough for one night. ‘You did the right thing, both of you. How did you approach the body?’
‘Um, from this direction.’ Rupert pointed towards Helga’s head, showing they had approached directly from Arley Hall.
‘Did you see the victim at all during the evening?’
Ava frowned but shook her head.
‘I sawher,’ Rupe confirmed. ‘She was following around some young men, teens maybe. They were acting like arseholes. I saw one of them flirting with a girl and peering down the neckline of her dress. The dead lady put a stop to it.’
‘Put a stop to it how?’ I asked.
‘She didn’t cause a scene but she got real close to the guy doing the peering and she said something that made him balk. He stopped after that.’
‘The girl they were harassing – did you get her name or can you give me a description?’ I’d find the name of Helga’s employer soon enough, but my brother might have been the only one who’d seen this particular interaction. Maybe the girl would remember more about her saviour than he did. And maybe the whispered threat had proved too much for Helga’s teen client.
Rupert shrugged helplessly. ‘It’s amasqueradeball, Stacy. I could have been next to you and not known it! The girl was wearing a black dress – ball gown. She was a brunette. Sorry, that’s all I’ve got.’
‘And the teens?’ I asked, homing in on the boys who had probably hired Helga in the first place.
‘No idea. Just some young men in tuxes, you know?’
‘Okay. Did you see anyone else in the area when you came outside?’
Rupert blew out a breath. ‘No, not that I remember. We were … distracted. Wrapped up in each other.’
At any other time I would have let out a teasing ‘aww’ but this really wasn’t the time. ‘Did anyone try to come to the scene after you announced her death, Ava?’
‘No one,’ she replied quietly. ‘But they’re all gossiping about it inside. Such a scandal.’ Her eyes were flat. ‘They’re all whispering about it, like it’s salacious, like it’s something to write home about. It’s not. It’s horrible.’
My tone was sympathetic. ‘It’s different when you haven’t seen it yourself – it’s hypothetical. It’s far more real when you’re close enough to see the whites of her eyes.’
Ava shuddered delicately. ‘You’re right, I’m sure. It’s awful. I think I’ll see her forever.’
‘It’ll get easier with time,’ I assured her. The human memory is a wonderful thing, and all too good at sweeping darkness into the recesses of our minds.
I looked at them both. ‘Have you got anything else to tell me …?’ I trailed off as they both shook their heads. ‘Okay, I want you to come inside with me and see if you can spot the girl that the guys were harassing – and spot the guys, too, if you can.’
