Page 13 of The Bridesmaid
‘Youknowwhy,’ I tell him. ‘Leopold, you think I’m stupid? You didn’t appoint Simone a bridesmaid for free legal advice.’
He avoids my eye. ‘One of the bridesmaids had to be a lawyer. It was the right composition for whatever PR campaign they got going on.’
I raise an eyebrow. ‘Simone isn’t even the right kind of attorney for a prenup. Don’t play dumb with me, Leopold. You sent Simone out to Elysium to investigate Adrianna’s kidnap. You think it’s someone close to her.’ I pause for effect. ‘And now Simone’s dead. Which proves you right.’
‘Simone told me she found something on Elysium,’ he says, very quietly. ‘She was going to share it when I got back from LA. You think that’s why she died?’
Leopold’s face is swathed in troubled and guilty emotions.
I roll my eyes. ‘Three dresses. Hair cut off.Leopold,it’s not just a coincidence.’
Chapter Eleven
HOLLY
Something about Mark Li’s tone-deaf emotional range pushes a switch inside of me. I feel the familiar thought processes slide into place. Data. Details. I seize them gratefully. Data is a lot easier than grief.
To the back of the famous ballroom is a stage. The long tan curtains are partially closed. In front of them is more crime scene tape. Now we’ve got sufficient proximity to the stage, we can see them.
Three white wedding dresses, hanging. Turning slowly in the partial light.
They are soaked with blood.
‘Three dresses,’ I murmur, glancing at the crime scene image, and back again. ‘Victim in the middle dress.’ I swallow. Falling into an analytical state of mind is helping. ‘The killer cut her hair,’ I say grimly, looking to how Simone’s dark hair has been hacked away in clumps. Close enough to the scalp to draw blood in several places.
Emotion rears up. I fight it down, forcing myself to look at the details.
I glance around the stage. ‘Did they find the missing hair?’ I ask Mark quietly.
He shakes his head.
I swallow, nearing the scene. Despite my natural human revulsion, the forensic part of my mind is already whirring. Blood splatter, trajectory. Were the dresses like this when they were hung up, or afterward?
Considering how Simone was found, with all her hair cut away, the latter suggestion hardly bears thinking about. I match the picture on my phone to what’s been left on the scene. From the looks of things, the pool of blood under her body has been scrubbed, but there is tape marking out where she fell. I take in the wider stage. Forensics have tagged places where blood splatter has been found.
Then I see something that doesn’t show in the pictures. Flowers and candles have been arranged in a circle around the stage. Almost like a religious altar.
Interesting …
I turn to Mr Cohen, who has stepped back into the ballroom.
‘Did the police compile a list of who could have gotten in and out of this room?’ I ask him.
He clears his throat, looking anywhere but the stage. ‘The ballroom has four different exits. One directly into the kitchen. Another is a goods entrance. Then we have two public entrances, which filter into different parts of the hotel. The ballroom area was closed off for the Kensingtons. But the lobby and other areas of the hotel were in regular use.’
‘You’re saying anyone staying as a guest in the hotel could have gotten inside?’
‘Not just hotel guests,’ he says. ‘We have several restaurants and bars that are open to members of the public. Not to mention a high volume of deliveries arriving at the goods entrance. We monitorwhat arrives, of course, and we have security cameras in the lobby and elevators. But not in the kitchens or outer corridors.’
I map the ballroom. Four entrances. ‘So more or less anyone could have gotten into the ballroom through the staff areas, without being caught on camera?’
‘Not easily. But it would be possible.’
I consider this, tapping my lip piercing thoughtfully, and turning my attention back to the hanging dresses.
‘Simone was hung up in the first dress,’ I say, thinking out loud, and removing my phone to re-examine the photo and confirm this.
I notice something else. ‘Simone’s ring is missing,’ I say. ‘She always wore the same gold ring on her little finger.’ Tears fill my eyes and for a moment I can’t speak.
