Chapter Forty-One Petra
Chapter Forty-One
PETRA
It feels strange to be back in Fortune House after three years.
It has changed. A lot. In Leopold and Athena’s day it was off-the-hook bling.
Back in my early twenties, I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen, but I get how Ophelia’s designs will breathe new life into the place.
Less old boys’ club. More fresh-faced wellness.
I slip out the cell phone I concealed inside my camera equipment and check the time in New York. I’m still good. I make the call to my magazine editor, Max.
‘Petra!’ he picks up the call after one ring.
‘There were no documents in the elevator panel,’ I say. ‘I looked. You sent me chasing wild geese.’
He’s silent for a moment. ‘I had a tip-off from a colleague. Simone wanted to shoot an episode of Wrongly Accused out on location on Elysium. Feature length.’
I turn this over in my mind. ‘You think Simone solved the case? Who kidnapped Adrianna Kensington?’
‘Simone wouldn’t pitch for an hour slot just to rework old material. And my sources say NYPD have an undercover out on Elysium,’ he continues. ‘If Simone found something juicy out there, then we need to find it before they do.’
I’m shaking my head. ‘The only people out here are Adrianna’s bridesmaids, and there’s no way …’ I pause for a moment. Because there is someone else here, isn’t there?
Simone’s niece.
Thrift-store goth Holly Stone. And her suspiciously well-dressed assistant.
I had felt a lot of things, when Holly revealed her connection to Simone.
It was common knowledge that Simone’s family weren’t the ‘right people’. She got in on a scholarship so it didn’t exactly surprise me that she had some strange relatives hidden away somewhere, breeding bizarrely dressed chubby offspring.
But what I didn’t expect was to feel such anger toward Holly. It’s not like I have any feelings for Simone. Why do I care if she hired some relative to work for her?
Now I’m wondering something else. Could Simone’s niece be here to investigate her death?
And wasn’t Holly holding an envelope, when the elevator door slid open?
I’m thoughtful. ‘I can try to find out.’
‘You need to do better than try, Petra. Unless that slot is filled in the next two days, I’m running the interview of you with the Columbian police. Those no comments don’t paint you in a good—’
‘All right!’ I snap, trying to think. What could Simone have found out here?
My mind drifts back to the courtroom. Adrianna’s twenty-first birthday on Elysium was scheduled for two weeks after the case kicked off.
When I was called to the stand on the first day, I’d been nervous.
My attorney had explained that Silky claimed to have proof.
Pictures that showed abuse of younger girls.
That was uppermost on my mind, as I walked into the court …
I shift my attention back to Max on the other end of the phone.
‘This could bring down the whole Kensington family,’ he’s saying. ‘We’re talking front page, all around the globe viral.’
Hot fear spikes in my throat. ‘Are you saying Simone found some dark secret about the Kensingtons?’
‘It’s even better than that,’ he says. ‘From the pitch that Simone sent to the networks, it isn’t just about who kidnapped Adrianna. It’s about why she was kidnapped.’ He pauses for effect. ‘That’s what you’re going to find out.’
I hang up the phone, my jaw tightening. ‘But you’re assuming, Max,’ I say, ‘that I don’t already know.’