Read Online Death of a Chorus Girl (The Delacroix Series Book 1) by P. M. Briede - Free Book Online Page B

accusation because I’m curious to find out how far she is going to take this.
    She tears her eyes from mine and looks out over her office.  I can tell she doesn’t see any of it.  “To feel your life slip away from you.  To know it is now in someone else’s hands.”  Um, huh?   We haven’t released to anyone that Annie was strangled.  “To watch the world shrink from existence as you take your last breath.  And to do it with only death as your companion.  It must have been awful.”
    That was not the direction of her thoughts.  Her embarrassment and blush alone told me I was a part of whatever she saw in her mind’s eye.  It isn’t arrogance talking but years of training in observation of human behavior.  Em’s statement about Annie is not only morbid but also creepily specific to what I know about strangulation.
    What if Steve is right?  What am I going to do if Em is our murderer?   I still don’t believe she had anything to do with Annie’s death.  She doesn’t seem to be reveling in a memory or remorseful about her actions.  It’s more like she suffered Annie’s trauma.  Is it possible Em witnessed more than she consciously knows?
     
    Empathy Delacroix: Ill Timing
     
    Oh my God!  What the hell are you thinking?!  Why choose the memory of Annie’s murder to keep from confessing the sex scene the room played out for you?  Because, you fool, you needed something that would dampen the fire about to ignite between Richard and yourself.  Death certainly is a passion killer.
    Richard doesn’t move from my side, but I can see the wheels in his mind spinning rapidly.  I probably just put the nail in my own coffin to be the prime suspect in her murder.  I pull my sight from my thoughts to reality and quickly take stock of the situation I created with the ill-timed vision.  Until the bit about Annie, we seemed to be progressing nicely.  We teeter on the line the whole time, but I never feel like his reputation is in jeopardy.  Sure, he held me, but it was more out of a common bond of grief and loss than romance.  I feel as though a strong friendship is blossoming.
    But now, he has tucked his desire for me away.  Even though he is still sitting beside me, he no longer feels close to me.  Doubt emerges from the oceanic depths of his blue eyes.  Do something or you’re going to lose him .  I take a deep breath and ensnare his hands in mine.  I open my mouth to confess the truth, but my office door swings open and interrupts me.
    “Em?  Trevor said you would… be… here.”  The last word practically dies on Tom’s lips.  His eyes grow wide with shock, and Richard makes to pull his hands out of mine.  I steadfastly hold onto them, amazed at my own strength.  “This is your personal matter?!  He is your personal matter?!” Tom’s voice explodes, filling the room.
    Richard springs to his feet, pulling me up with him.  He positions me at his back, protectively standing between Tom and me.  I can’t help but feel relieved.  If his instincts are to protect me, he can’t think I killed poor Annie.
    I sidestep Richard and look cautiously at Tom.  “When something is described as a personal matter, Tom, a person shouldn’t have to answer for it.  Do I ever challenge you on the activities you partake in behind the closed door of your office?”  It’s a low blow.  He opens his mouth to blast me again, but I beat him to the punch.  “Do I judge you for them?”  That shuts him up.  “Now I will ignore the complete impropriety of you bursting into my office like you own it on two conditions.  One, you apologize to my guest for the embarrassment you caused.  And two, you wait, like the gentleman I know you are, for me on the other side of that door and do not call your lawyer whom I know is on your speed dial.  You know what the consequences will be if you fail in either of those conditions.”
    A furious ripple steals through his body from head to toe as he scowls