Chapter Twenty
Lorelei
I am standing in the mirror wearing all black, and it doesn’t feel right.
This doesn’t feel right. She wouldn’t want this.
I look sad and Tris hated to see me sad.
I huff and strip off the dress and toss it on the pile of other dresses I’ve tried on.
Cameron and Remington are dressed and being incredibly patient with me.
“How can we help?” Cam asks.
“Nothing feels right,” I say. “Everything is black. She wouldn’t want me to wear black.”
“Can I show you something?” he asks. “I had Ross get it for me yesterday from the house.”
“What?” I ask. Cam leaves the room and comes back a few seconds later with a bright pink dress with a black hem on the bottom that I recognize. I instantly tear up and nod. “This was her favorite dress… I had one too, but I ripped it by accident… She said that seeing me in it made her happy.”
“She told me she always had you wear it because it matched your soul,” Cam says. “A lot of light, but a little darkness to keep you humble.”
Cam helps me put the dress on and it falls down to my knees. As he zips it up, Andrea and Ross walk into the room. “You look beautiful,” Andrea says. “Ready?”
“Yeah,” I sniff. I go to the closet and step into simple black heels.
“There will be a lot of police there, as well as the media,” Ross says. “You three stay together, no matter what. I don’t care if it’s going to the bathroom; you stay together. One of us will always be with you. Do not go off with any other officer unless we tell you.”
“Not trust the cops?” I ask.
“No,” Andrea says. “Beatris and Matthew’s initial autopsy results were leaked to the press last night, and it came from the police department.”
“Oh fuck,” I say as we get to the front door.
“This means they are quickly connecting it to human trafficking,” she tells me.
“Which means they know I am a target,” I add.
“Mhmm. Sometimes, other people try to sneak their way into an investigation and feed off the attention,” she says. “The last thing we need is a copycat or for other women to start showing up killed like this.”
“Any hit on the DNA?” I ask.
“No, the lab is backed up, but they are working as fast as they can,” she sighs. “They are thinking maybe next week when you all are in Seattle.”
“That would be good,” I say. “Will anyone be with us then?”
“I’m talking to the local police out there but… it’s looking like you might be on your own,” she sighs. “Other than asking you to cancel, there isn’t much we can do.”
“Well, we are taking the company jet. No one knows we are going to Seattle, and the people we are having the meeting with understand that no one can know we are there and know it’s for a safety reason.
Clay has the hotel suite under his name, so no one will know we are there,” I say. “We should be good.”
“Unless someone tracks the plane,” Ross says.
“I can call Clay and see if he can send his out here,” Cam says. “We went to high school with him, so he knows about Tris and a little about the situation, so he will understand.”
“Okay. Do that and tell no one,” Andrea says. “Ready to do this?”
“No, but we have to,” I sigh.
W e pull up to the community center, and I am suddenly thankful I overestimated attendance.
There are so many cars here, but they have a spot up front reserved for us to park.
The media are being respectful for a change, but Leann also volunteered to wrangle them, so we didn’t have to worry about them getting in the way.
She is a sweet woman, but tough as fuck.
She has probably already scared at least one of them
Andrea and Ross get out first before Cam does. Cam and Andrea walk around the car to Ross and Remy before he takes my hand and I get out. The media instantly starts snapping pictures, and I try my best to ignore them.
“Hey,” Sam says as he walks up. “Practically every employee is here. Leann has threatened to kill half of the media already, and Matthew’s wife is also here.”
“Fuck,” I sigh. “I’ll start with her. What’s her name?”
“Kate,” he says. We all walk with him to a woman standing by herself by the door.
“Hi. Kate?” I ask.
“Yeah,” she smiles softly. “You are Lorelei.”
“I am. I am so sorry to hear about Matthew,” I say. “I can’t imagine.”
“You can,” she says. “Just in a different way. I’m sorry about Beatris. It’s been all over the… well, everything.”
“Yeah. I am avoiding… everything,” I say, making her smile. “Sam said you wanted to talk to me?”
“Yes. I heard that you were one of the ones who found him?”
“Uh. Yeah. We were coming to check in on the audit. He had missed a meeting and we knew he was feeling down about Tris, so we went to go check in with him,” I explain.
“I am so sorry you had to see that. He never would have wanted you all to find him like that,” she sniffs.
“I don’t really understand. I talked to him on the phone, and he was sad, but he was planning on him and me sitting down and talking about what happened with the business.
I know about the club and everything… I forgave him for that because I wasn’t exactly making his life easy, but…
We were fine… he was fine… I’m sorry to be doing this today. I should go.”
“No. No. No,” I say. “Please, don’t go. I promise, it’s okay. I can understand how suffocating grief can be. You reach out when you can and if this is how you process, so be it. Matthew was a good man.”
“They won’t confirm if it was a suicide or not,” she says, glaring at Andrea.
“Well, I will tell you what I think,” I say. “I think he was killed… One, they said his cause of death was that he was hanged and did not specify suicide. Two, if it was suicide, they would just say that. If they aren’t, knowing I saw him, then they have reason to believe that he didn’t do it.”
“I’m with her,” Cam says.
“Who would do something like that?” she asks.
“The same person who raped Tris with a knife,” I say bluntly. “You are welcome to sit with us, if you’d like.”
“Are you sure? I didn’t really know her.”
“Tris loved adopting people and making them her friend. If she were here, she would have claimed you the moment she saw you standing alone,” I say. “Come sit with us.”
“Thank you,” she says. “I don’t know why I came. I just… Wanted to meet you.”
“Sometimes we need a little support. We are the ones who can probably relate the most right now,” I say. “Come on.”
We get closer to the media, and someone shouts a question. “Lorelei! Are you worried you are next?!”
Leann spins around and looks like she is about to punch him, so I walk over and get her attention. “It’s okay. I’ll talk to them,” I say.
“You sure?” Remy asks me.
“Yeah. People are curious,” I say. “I won’t stand here all day, but I will answer a few questions.”
“Are you worried you are next?” the same man asks.
“Well…” I say, looking at Andrea. She nods, so I tell the truth. “I know I was the intended target. I am concerned that someone or someones will get to me, but I am not going to let it consume my life. I will be vigilant, but I won’t stop living because of it.”
“Are there any suspects?” a woman asks.
“I am not privy to the investigation,” I say. “I know the autopsy findings, and that’s about it. Our employees were asked to volunteer to submit DNA, but all biological males within the media and surrounding businesses were also asked. As far as I know, everyone did.”
“Including Remington and Cameron?” she asks.
“Yes,” I say. “They were the first ones. Sam, the man who is stepping into the COO role and helping us keep things straight, was third.”
“Everyone who was asked submitted a sample,” Andrea says. “We do not have any suspects at this time, but we are following leads.”
“If you could say or ask one thing to Beatris’ attacker, what would it be?” a man asks.
“Jeez, uh… Well, I would ask what bratty thing she did to piss them off in the end,” I say.
“If there was one thing about Tris that everyone knew, it was that she was stubborn… I have no doubt that she did whatever she could to piss them off, even knowing she was dying… She likely knew that it was meant to be me, which would have only fueled her stubbornness. She was extremely protective of me.”
“That’s all for now,” Remy says, knowing I am being overly nice right now and won’t walk away.
“Thanks,” I say when we walk away.
“You’re welcome,” he says, holding my hand as we walk.
“Hey,” I say when we spot Mom.
“Hey, baby,” she says, hugging me tightly. “How are you? Are you okay?”
“I’m okay. Just… going day by day,” I say before turning to my dad. “Hey, Daddy.”
“Hey,” he says as he hugs me back, but pulls away. Mom hugs Cam and Remy just as tightly. Dad seems numb almost. He doesn’t do well showing emotion.
“You okay, Dad?” I ask.
“Yeah,” he says with a half-smile. “It’s just hard to believe she’s gone. I’ve just been trying to stay busy.”
“When do you two leave?” Cam asks.
“Tonight,” Mom says. “I saw her autopsy was leaked.”
“Yeah,” I say. “I’m kinda okay with that. At least everyone will get to see what kind of fucking deranged psycho we are dealing with.”
“You really think she is a target?” Dad asks Andrea.
“Yes,” she says. “We are taking a lot of precautions, though.”
“They are stuck to me like glue,” I laugh. “Especially with Tris being killed, I am not planning on going anywhere without Remy or Cam. And the detectives.”
“You can’t live your whole life stuck to someone though, hun,” Dad says.
“I know, but until I know for sure her killer is caught and I am not in danger, I have no plans of wandering,” I say. “I need to mingle. I will see y’all when it starts.”
“You still making a speech?” Andrea asks me.
“Yeah,” I say. “I love you, guys.”
“Love you too, baby,” Mom says.
“Love you, kid,” Dad says.
We spend the next thirty minutes mingling and talking with everyone from our employees to people we went to school with. I spot Omar and smile at him.
“Hey, pretty girl,” he says, hugging me tightly. “I am so sorry about Tris.”