Read Online The Lady Who Cried Murder (A Mac Faraday Mystery) by Lauren Carr - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Lauren Carr
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asked.
“For getting kidnapped,” Khloe said. “They know I lied after I had escaped, but they don’t understand. Even if they did, they wouldn’t care. No one cares.” She reached for his hand. “You’re the only one who cares about what happens to me, Nick.”
“Tell me what happened.” Nick patted her hand. “I’ll believe you.”
Almost knocking his chair over backwards, Mac went to David’s desk to retrieve the case file for Khloe’s murder. He tossed it onto the table and opened it.
“I was kidnapped,” Khloe said. “I really was. I had been talking to this guy on the beach at the lake and he wanted me to spend the night with him, but it was getting late and I was tired. I was going to my car, and suddenly he grabbed me and threw me into the trunk of his car. Then, for the next four days—” She wailed. “We were in a motel. That part was true. But he had made me his sex slave for four days.”
“You poor girl,” Nick said. “Then what happened? How did you escape?”
“I crawled out through the bathroom window,” she said. “I thought he was going to kill me. I was afraid that if I told the truth that he would come after me and kill me, or worse, my mother.” She sucked in a shuddering breath. “I was only trying to protect my mother, but instead of being grateful, she turned on me like everyone else.”
“That’s bull!” David said when Mac paused the disc. The frame froze with Nick’s image on the screen. “She wasn’t raped.”
“She’s not a good actress,” Bogie agreed. “No wonder her career in Hollywood went nowhere.”
Mac went up to the television screen and held up the sketch drawing next to the Nick’s image. “Gentlemen, does this face look familiar to you?”
David and Bogie leaned forward in their seats to compare the image of Nick, Khloe’s homosexual best friend and confidante, to the drawing of the man Khloe had been seen speaking to on the lake before her disappearance. While the image of the man on the beach had a hairless face and long hair, Nick had shorter hair and a goatee. But the facial features, including the pointy nose, high cheekbones, and sunken eyes, were a match.
“Khloe said that the guy she was talking to on the beach abducted her and made her his sex slave,” David said. “But, according to that sketch, that’s the same guy she’s telling this story to.”
“We need to have a talk with Nick,” Mac said. “Even if he didn’t kill Khloe, he obviously knows something about that faked kidnapping.”
“It was a publicity stunt,” Bogie said.
“We all know that,” Mac said.
“Khloe wouldn’t have known the truth if it had bit her in the butt,” David said. “She was a pathological liar.”
“Which is why we need to talk to those close to her to find out what was really going on,” Mac said. “This…” He waved the picture in front of the image on the television screen while trying to recall his name, “Nick was seen with her the night she’d disappeared. Khloe claimed she spent four days in a motel having sex with a boy.”
“You’re thinking that boy,” David said.
“Whoever it was, he was in on the fake kidnapping, and we have yet to find him,” Mac said. “This guy matches the sketch. Do the math. The kidnapping was three years ago. This was shot almost two years ago. They’d been together for over a year at the time this was filmed—that makes it more than just a fling in a motel.”
“Does that mean he’s not Khloe’s gay best friend?” Bogie said.
“It’s not really reality,” Mac replied in a loud whisper.
Bogie’s mocking frown pushed his mustache up into his nostrils. “I’ll call the show’s producers and get the scoop on Nick, the fake gay guy.”
Mac realized he was being optimistic in hoping that Lily Carter, Khloe’s ex-best friend, would be of any help in identifying the murderer in their case. After the charade in which Khloe pretended to have been abducted, Lily
“For getting kidnapped,” Khloe said. “They know I lied after I had escaped, but they don’t understand. Even if they did, they wouldn’t care. No one cares.” She reached for his hand. “You’re the only one who cares about what happens to me, Nick.”
“Tell me what happened.” Nick patted her hand. “I’ll believe you.”
Almost knocking his chair over backwards, Mac went to David’s desk to retrieve the case file for Khloe’s murder. He tossed it onto the table and opened it.
“I was kidnapped,” Khloe said. “I really was. I had been talking to this guy on the beach at the lake and he wanted me to spend the night with him, but it was getting late and I was tired. I was going to my car, and suddenly he grabbed me and threw me into the trunk of his car. Then, for the next four days—” She wailed. “We were in a motel. That part was true. But he had made me his sex slave for four days.”
“You poor girl,” Nick said. “Then what happened? How did you escape?”
“I crawled out through the bathroom window,” she said. “I thought he was going to kill me. I was afraid that if I told the truth that he would come after me and kill me, or worse, my mother.” She sucked in a shuddering breath. “I was only trying to protect my mother, but instead of being grateful, she turned on me like everyone else.”
“That’s bull!” David said when Mac paused the disc. The frame froze with Nick’s image on the screen. “She wasn’t raped.”
“She’s not a good actress,” Bogie agreed. “No wonder her career in Hollywood went nowhere.”
Mac went up to the television screen and held up the sketch drawing next to the Nick’s image. “Gentlemen, does this face look familiar to you?”
David and Bogie leaned forward in their seats to compare the image of Nick, Khloe’s homosexual best friend and confidante, to the drawing of the man Khloe had been seen speaking to on the lake before her disappearance. While the image of the man on the beach had a hairless face and long hair, Nick had shorter hair and a goatee. But the facial features, including the pointy nose, high cheekbones, and sunken eyes, were a match.
“Khloe said that the guy she was talking to on the beach abducted her and made her his sex slave,” David said. “But, according to that sketch, that’s the same guy she’s telling this story to.”
“We need to have a talk with Nick,” Mac said. “Even if he didn’t kill Khloe, he obviously knows something about that faked kidnapping.”
“It was a publicity stunt,” Bogie said.
“We all know that,” Mac said.
“Khloe wouldn’t have known the truth if it had bit her in the butt,” David said. “She was a pathological liar.”
“Which is why we need to talk to those close to her to find out what was really going on,” Mac said. “This…” He waved the picture in front of the image on the television screen while trying to recall his name, “Nick was seen with her the night she’d disappeared. Khloe claimed she spent four days in a motel having sex with a boy.”
“You’re thinking that boy,” David said.
“Whoever it was, he was in on the fake kidnapping, and we have yet to find him,” Mac said. “This guy matches the sketch. Do the math. The kidnapping was three years ago. This was shot almost two years ago. They’d been together for over a year at the time this was filmed—that makes it more than just a fling in a motel.”
“Does that mean he’s not Khloe’s gay best friend?” Bogie said.
“It’s not really reality,” Mac replied in a loud whisper.
Bogie’s mocking frown pushed his mustache up into his nostrils. “I’ll call the show’s producers and get the scoop on Nick, the fake gay guy.”
Mac realized he was being optimistic in hoping that Lily Carter, Khloe’s ex-best friend, would be of any help in identifying the murderer in their case. After the charade in which Khloe pretended to have been abducted, Lily
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