Page 11 of The Masks She Wore

?I swallowed some aspirin and finally went to retrieve my phone. I wanted to turn it off and never hear it again. I didn’t have many friends due to my upbringing, so the only time my phone went off was either because of my Instagram or because Max was trying to get ahold of me.

?While I loved one, I hated the other with a passion.

?Lo and behold when I picked up my phone, I had plenty ofmissed texts and calls, along with a handful of notifications from Instagram.

?The profile was under a false name because my real profile had been hacked and taken down by Max. Luckily, I had millions of faithful followers who found me despite the fact that I hadn’t led them to my new profile. Call me self-absorbed, but I liked the attention, no matter how shallow it was, it was nice when people saw me.

?Although certain eyes made me queasy. For instance, Max.

?He was a dick and absolutely controlling, and I did my best to keep him at a distance, yet he persisted. I was handling it for now, but I could feel the catalyst coming. If he didn’t listen to me and back off, I would have no other choice but to get a restraining order, which wasn’t something I wanted to do to my only family, but he was leaving me no choice at this point.

?I skimmed through the texts. Most of them were from an angry Max because I didn’t tell him that I would be out for my birthday. Something I felt I shouldn’t have to tell someone who just walked into my life seven months ago. I didn’t know what his problem was, but I had to give him a little grace. Just a little.

?He had never met Marla. She had given him up at birth, having never wanted a son, only to find out too late that she had died. I could understand why he was acting the way he was, clingy and ‘protective’ as he put it, but I wasn’t sure how much longer I could handleit peacefully.

?Viv, my only friend, was fun, but she lived in another city, only here every so often to visit or for business. She believed Max was obsessed with me in the creepiest way, especially for being a half-brother, but I ignored her warnings. He didn’t have a good life, I had to give him a real chance.

?Although the ending of that chance was coming really quick.

?After pouring my cup of coffee, I headed back for the living room and sank to the ground between my couch and coffee table where my paperwork was spread out.

?Eight months ago, my mom was murdered. The cops left me a message yesterday morning claiming that they were putting it away for now due to there being no leads, so I promptly had everything shipped to my house so I could look through it myself.

?Money could get you a lot, almost anything. It was a miracle, honestly.

?Although Captain Bard was less than pleased over the stink I caused trying to get everything yesterday morning, but I truly didn’t care. Over the last eight months, he had coined me as an irritated, cock-hungry blonde who couldn’t let the police do their job. He had made plenty of innuendos about how the task force would move quicker if they had some ‘incentives’. I had done my best to ignore them, but it was a double-edged sword now. I hated that they had given up on this, but at least I wouldn’t have to deal with themanymore.

?Then again, I had found dozens of little notes within the files while looking over them yesterday before the party that proved he still wanted me to suck his cock for information. I think I had gotten them all, thrown them all away, but there was always a chance I had missed one.

?I wasn’t sure if he had actually kept things from me or not, all I could do was dive into the research they had provided and hope it was enough to give mesomething.

?I hoped it was enough. I was no ‘seasoned officer’ but I was desperate for answers, and sometimes desperation was better than experience.

?There had been no body, no blood, no fingerprints, no hairs, no evidence of any kind. The alley was empty of everything but a pool of her blood. Enough to make them immediately rule it a homicide.

?It seemed like an impossible case, but I didn’t care. I didn’t. I was going to find whoever did this and I was going to get them thrown into prison for the rest of their life, no matter the cost.

?The only problem was that I knew very little about her. Almost nothing at all.

?I had been raised by my nanny, Donna, who taught me everything there was to know about life, while my mom traveled the world, buying and selling art, creating an empire for her child—children—to live in. The relationship we had was nonexistent, but Istill loved her, and I respected her, and her murderer wouldn’t get away with this.

?Calling Donna would have been first on my list, but the week after the murder she left, disappearing from my life as quickly as my mom had. I thought it suspicious, but whatever excuse she had given the police upon interrogation had been enough to drop her from the case. Who was I to comment on the early work of the investigation? If they ruled her out, I had no reason to think she did anything besides assume I wouldn’t want her around after mom died.

?I hated that, but I understood it too.

?On the day of my mother’s memorial, three weeks after the case was filed, a man showed up with papers, claiming to by my half-brother. The proof was undeniable, but it only led to more questions. Mom had another child? Why had she never mentioned that to me? Where had he been all these years? Was he behind her murder?

?I tried to build a relationship with him just in case I could get him to answer some questions, but after a month, things started getting strange, so I tried to distance myself, which is when the obsession began.

?Harmless, but Viv was right, he was creepy. He showed up whenever I went out, which was one of the reasons I tried to stay in as often as possible, that and I really wasn’t an ‘outside’ person. He stalked me on social media, leading me to delete everything and start up a new Instagram. He tried to control what I did and where Iwent, always wanting me to check in as if we were in some sort of relationship. I hated it, but he was the only family I had left so trying to keep him at arms-length until this calmed down was my best option if I wanted him to remain in my life.

?So, here I was, hungover after my 26thbirthday, doing what the cops failed to do. I would find her killer. I would. If it took me the rest of my life and all of the money she had left me, I would find them.

?I turned my phone on ‘Do not disturb’ and got to work.

~~~

After a few hours, I was feeling stiff, hungry, and exhausted. I needed some real food, some better coffee, and some fresh air. A quick trip to the coffee shop down the street and I would feel good as new, I was sure of it. Max wouldn’t find me if I kept it quick.

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