Page 93 of Passions in Death
“Yet your group agreed to go to the restroom in pairs or groups,” Peabody pointed out.
“So nobody’d get hit on, or cornered. But that’s not what happened to Erin. You didn’t say anything about her trying to fight off something like that.”
“You’ve thought about this a lot,” Eve said.
“I have. I knew her as through and through as she knew me. She wouldn’t have let anyone in that room she didn’t know. If someone pushed their way in, she’d have fought or tried to. So it had to be someone she knew, and she didn’t get a chance to fight.”
Angie pressed her lips together, and her voice went raw. “She didn’t have a chance. That’s so much worse than a stranger, so much worse. And I want you to bury them.”
She shuddered again, then her shoulders stilled, straightened. “And there it is. There’s the anger. Welcome back.”
“Who?”
Angie’s eyes, dark and hot now, met Eve’s. “If I had even the faintest glimmer of an idea, I’d tell you. She was—she was my person, Lieutenant. The person who meant more to me than anyone in the world.”
“All right. Who do you think she would have asked after Donna went to Baltimore—or maybe after Donna let her know she might have to go and miss the party?”
“I’m stuck there, too. I think she didn’t ask me or Becca—and those would be my first guesses—because she didn’t want to load on. And in Becca’s case, maybe because Becca might slip—not tell Shauna, but tell me because we were planning it all, or say something to Greg the way you do with a partner. Becca would be the first to tell you she’s not always an impenetrable vault with secrets and surprises. But any of us, really.”
“All right, try this. Who wouldn’t she ask—most likely,” Eve added.
“Oh, well. Glenda, because Glenda would be in Europe. Probably not Jodi, as Jodi’s so damn busy. Wanda’s unlikely because also busy. Kaydee because of just what happened—ER doctors have to handle emergencies.”
She named a few more. Moved across town, crazy workload, not altogether reliable.
“I don’t know all of Shauna’s friends well enough to say either way. Erin got to know some of them better than I did over the past year.”
“You’ve still formed a pretty tight group,” Peabody commented.
“Yes, we have. I like these women, and it’s hard to think one of them did this.”
“Wanda and Erin had a sexual relationship.”
“They did, briefly and nothing serious on either side. And honestly, I can’t see Erin asking her for something like this when she knows Wanda’s crowded schedule.”
“She also had a sexual relationship with ChiChi Lopez.”
“Yes.” Angie drank more water. “Yes, she did. Erin certainly wasn’t serious about it. I’ve never known her to be really serious before Shauna.”
“Was ChiChi serious?”
Angie set down the tube, folded her hands together on the table. “It’s hard to say what ChiChi takes seriously. You want to know if Erin might have asked her, and I suppose it’s possible.”
“They maintained a friendship?”
“Yes.”
“Do you consider Lopez a friend?”
“Erin did.” Angie unclasped her hands. “ChiChi is… can be difficult. We have certain things in common. We both grew up with certain advantages—a successful family who provided emotional and financial safety nets. ChiChi has a very loving relationship with her family, as I do with mine. She has a solid work ethic, and I like to think I do as well.”
Eve smiled. “But?”
“All right, every answer to every question helps. ChiChi’s either wired to or really just enjoys shooting out sharp little arrows. She’s judgmental, and can be harsh—deliberately harsh. She’d sometimes take shots at Donna because Donna and Erin were close. Donna wouldn’t tell Erin.”
“But she’d tell you?”
“She would, because ChiChi often took shots at me for the same reason. I could and did ignore them. Donna’s more tender.”
