Read Online Their Seductress [The Hot Millionaires #1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) by Zara Chase - Free Book Online

to be on paper before getting to the reason for my visit.”
    “What would that be?” Nick asked. “We’ve already told you what little we know.”
    “This is a high-profile case, and the brass are on my butt for results,” the lieutenant said, suddenly looking and sounding bone weary. “The Carters made generous political and charitable contributions in all the right places—”
    “Including the mayor’s reelection fund?” Isaac asked with an ironic twist of his lips.
    “Quite, and because of that I’ve been told not to release to the press details of Ms. Carter’s other life.”
    “Because she was a dominatrix?” Paige shrugged. “She didn’t keep it a secret.”
    “Nor did she advertise it,” Nick said. “I can see why people in authority wouldn’t want it to become public knowledge. It would destroy the Carters’s public image—”
    “And wouldn’t look too good for the mayor,” Isaac added. “Just think what his opponents would make of his coffers being filled by a dominatrix.”
    “Exactly.” The lieutenant shifted in his seat. “It’s only a matter of time before some news-hungry hack finds out, and I’d really like to get a result before then.”
    “How can we help?” Paige asked. “I assume you’re here alone because you think we can do something unofficially to aid the investigation.”
    The lieutenant rubbed his jaw. “I’m clutching at straws, I’ll admit it. We’re still checking out all the people who knew Ms. Carter, in all walks of her life, but that could take some time.”
    “Presumably they don’t get high priority because they weren’t at the office at the time of her death,” Isaac said.
    “Exactly. Everyone who doesn’t work in that building has to sign in at reception. We’ve checked the CCTV, and everyone who called at Carter Promotions is accounted for.”
    “So you think Ellie was killed by a member of staff,” Paige said softly. “By someone she knew and trusted.”
    “It looks that way.” The lieutenant sighed. “There was no sign of a struggle, and Ms. Carter died seated at her desk.”
    Paige flinched. “Someone just walked up behind her, hit her over the head, and she did nothing to protect herself?”
    “Hence the assumption that she knew and trusted her assailant. Whoever it was is most likely left-handed, by the way. Not definitely, but the medical examiner thinks it more likely than not.”
    “Couldn’t someone have come to the building, asking for another company, and then deviated to the sixth floor?” Paige asked.
    “Unlikely,” Isaac responded. “They’d have to get past reception on the sixth. There are no cameras there, but the desk’s always manned.”
    “We are looking at that possibility, but it doesn’t rate high on the list because, again, we’re convinced Ms. Carter knew her killer.”
    “You have suspects?” Isaac asked, sitting forward in his seat. “People with no alibi and reasons to wish Ellie ill?”
    “We have three possibles but, frankly, that’s all they are. I can’t crack their alibis, and I’m stumped.”
    “Who are they?” Nick asked.
    “Mike Lowell.”
    “Ellie’s stepson-in-law,” Isaac and Paige said together.
    “He was in the directors’ meeting with the rest of us,” Isaac continued alone. “He and Ellie used to get along well, but recently they’d drifted apart.”
    “I gather he was opposed to Ms. Carter’s management style and had his eye on her job.”
    “I wouldn’t go that far.” Isaac absently rubbed his chin as he thought it through. “In fact, at this latest meeting, his vote was pivotal in swinging the decision Ellie’s way.” Isaac frowned. “Anyway, I thought Mike had been cleared. His wife Lana called into the office, and they went to lunch together. Presumably you checked on that?”
    “Yes, but he got back to the office within minutes of the estimated time of death. That calculation only has to be out by a very small margin, and he goes to the top of my