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“It sounds like you are trying to vilify or blame the victims. Murder is murder no matter who the victim is.”
“Well, we can work on the language, but I want to come down against this vile community. This BDSD or whatever the hell it is. It disgusts me. Sorry. I know you said you enjoy it but at least you keep it in private. Some of these places are just broadcasting it all over the place. Where is the legislative team on my bill? I want to put out a statement soon.”
Bradley stiffened. He wanted the man to forget about this idea. “I have a meeting with your legislative director today. Let’s take it to Charlie and see what he has to say. You know Sandra isn’t happy about this either. She’s already given me an earful about you talking to the press without her.”
Atleigh rolled his eyes. “Fine. Talk to Charles, but I want to make an announcement soon.”
Bradley agreed, and they moved on. A little while later the senator stood to leave.
“Tell Sandra I want to see her before I leave for the airport, please.”
Bradley nodded.
The man was so exasperating sometimes.What on earth am I going to do with him? It wasn’t the first time he had asked himself this question. He believed in loyalty, but how far was that supposed to extend?
“Everything all right, boss?” Adara asked, when she poked her head in his door.
He nodded and motioned for her to come in.
“I’m sure you’re probably already done with the briefing book, but can you do another pass and include anything that mentions me or these murders?”
“Of course, I already caught some of them just because where you’re mentioned the senator also comes up.” She was twisting a bracelet on her arm as she spoke. “Um,” she paused, still twisting the trinket around her wrist.
“What is it Adara? You can ask me anything.”
“I just… I shouldn’t. It’s inappropriate.” She blushed.
“You have questions about the club?” He wondered if Michael had mentioned he was a member. He doubted it.
“Just forget it, I’ll get you the briefing as soon as possible.”
She rushed out of the room before Bradley could stop her.
A half hour later, he was sifting through Adara’s well organized briefing. Virtually every local blog and newspaper had picked up the story, but so far it had stayed out of the national headlines. It wouldn’t last long though, someone was bound to ask the senator about it in front of the cameras today. It would be important to talk to Darci. Hopefully she wasn’t being bombarded with questions. Trying not to dwell on it, he set up meetings with Charlie and Sandra. Time to clue them in on what might happen over the next few days.
• • •
Darci went to Elise’s funeral Saturday morning accompanied by Peter. She had no idea why Bradley had to go to work, but she didn’t question it. After the service, she asked Peter to take her to the office where she hugged Jim and tried not to cry.
She settled in at her desk with coffee and her to-do list. At the top, was tracking down Tessa. After so many no-shows and lack of contact, it was probably time to put her case on the back burner, but Darci was connected to the girl. Her story was so similar to her own it didn’t seem fair to let her slip through the cracks. There was still no answer when she tried calling her, so she left a voice mail and sent a text before moving on to the next task.
An hour into writing an op-ed on why the proposed bill on pornography would do more harm than good, Peter stepped into her office with a folder in his hand.
“I need to show you something, Kitten. Did you text Elise last Friday night and ask her to come to your apartment?”
Her eyes grew wide.
“No, of course not! Why would I do that?” He opened the folder. It was a copy of texts sent to Elise’s phone. Sure enough, there on the page was a text that appeared to be from Darci. It reminded her of the Facebook message she got on the way to the club. She pulled her phone out to show it to Peter.
He examined the message and clicked on the profile image. It led to a brand new, practically empty page. The killer had created a fake account and stolen her profile picture. It hadn’t dawned on Darci that there was no message history.
Fuck. It was all a setup. Darci's stomach lurched, realizing the killer had used her to lure Elise to her death. Peter took down her Facebook information and stepped out to relay it to police. An hour later, he came back.
“One more thing for you to look at, sweetie,” he said, sliding a grainy security camera image in front of her. “Do you recognize this woman?”
She shook her head. “I don’t.”
“So, it’s not Theresa Holden?”
