Page 54 of The Masks She Wore

?Would he give me a jump scare? Was that why he was waiting? So he could scare me into fucking him again?

?I pressed my thighs together at the thought, my stomach buzzing in anticipation as the fear trickled down my spine.

?“Shit,” I muttered and refocused back on the papers. This was stupid, I was being an idiot. I needed to focus on this so I could solveit and shove it up Captain Bard’s ass.

?I pulled over my phone and dialed a number that I had found written in the margin of one of the papers sent over by the police station with the name ‘Oliver Abernath’ written just under it.

?Nobody at the police station would confirm or deny whether they had followed any leads or not, so it was up to me, and I would do a better job than any one of them. Because fuck them for trying to get me to fuck them for answers.

?The number was international, the United Kingdom, and after triple checking the time difference, I finally hit call. They were only seven hours ahead of us, which would make it just about 4 there. Perfect.

?I leaned back in my chair, pulling a knee up to my chest only to wince and drop it. I was still a little sore from the night of the masquerade. Maybe another warm bath today would help. Some salts and candles. One of my waterproof t—

?“Scotland Yard, Baily speaking.”

?I shook the thoughts away and felt my face twist almost immediately. I turned back to the number I had typed into the search engine on my laptop. I hit my screen a few times, irritated. Why hadn’t Google told me that? Fucking internet. Useless. “I was looking for an Oliver Abernath.”

?Why in the actual fuck would a number from Scotland Yard be written in the margins of some old paperwork dealing with mymother’s case? She was an art dealer, she traveled all over the world, but if she was murdered here, why did they have anything to do with this?

?The man was quiet a moment. “And what is this in regards too?”

?“I’m calling on behalf of Marla Bennett.”

?“Who?”

?I released a breath. “Marla Violet Bennett. She was an art dealer. Your number is written on this piece of paper with Mr. Abernath’s name underneath it.”

?He paused again, shuffling sounding in the background. “We don’t know of any Bennetts,” he replied. “Only Marla Violet Alascer.”

?My brows furrowed. “Alascer? No, it’s Bennett, her last name is Bennett.”

?“Then you’ve got the wrong number.”

?“Wait!” I called before he could hang up. “Wait, just…” I looked over the papers, my mind working quickly. “What does she look like?” It was the first thing I could think of to verify. A social security number would have worked, I guess, her age, but no, this was where my tired mind shifted too.

?Baily sighed. “I don’t have time for this,” he muttered more to himself than to me.

?I frowned, getting annoyed at his irritation. “I didn’t have time for my mother to be murdered in cold blood,” I countered coldly. “I’m not going to apologize if this inconveniences you, I’m just searching for answers.”

?He was quiet a moment before he spoke again, the irritation in his voice nearly gone. “She had amber eyes and dark blonde hair, that’s all I have for you.”

?A coincidence?

?With the exact same first and middle name? I chewed on my cheek. What the Hell was going on? Why would she have a different last name? My instinct thought was ‘secret agent’, but this wasn’t some sort of crime thriller, that stuff didn’t happen in real life, so what was a rational reason she would use a different last name?

?Separate family? She did have Max and his last name was Justice. There could be others.

?Did I have other half-siblings out there I didn’t know about? How many families did she have while I was sitting here with Donna, praying to God that she would just come home for Christmas?

?“You said you were this Marla Bennett’s daughter?” he asked when I didn’t respond. “What’s your name? Full name now, I don’t need any nonsense.”

?“Rae Charlie Bennett,” I answered, leaning over the table.

?He paused again, this time the silence was weighted. “She told me you’d call. We assumed it’d be sooner.”

?I straightened. “She what?”

?“Let me put you through.”

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