Page 55 of Corrupt Game

“You didn’t kill him?” She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes.

“What? No, of course not.” I was shocked at her accusation. “What would give you that impression?”

“He was last seen with you. Then the next thing we had information on was that he had a bullet wound in his forehead in Ireland. How were we not supposed to think it’s you?”

I ran a hand through my hair.

“That might be a logical assumption, but what would be the motivation for having him killed?”

“We can’t find any reason that makes any sense for why he was killed. He had to have known something or done something toyou that made you want to have him killed.” She appeared a little nervous and continued to look at Rossi’s imposing form.

“For the record, I did not kill Andrew Simpson. Nor did I have him killed.” I knew that it didn’t make me any less of a suspect, but I believed in telling the truth whenever possible.

“We’ve been trying to find out who killed him ourselves.”

She still looked doubtful.

“There are lots of rumors around you and the type of tactics that you employ with your company. It’s not outside the realm of possibility that you have people killed when it suits you.”

I shook my head.

“Seriously, when will people realize that not everything they hear is the truth?”

“Why would I meet with an agent from the FBI if I was the killer? I know that some people think killers try to integrate themselves into the investigation, but that’s a little more narcissistic than even I could pull off.”

“While that’s a good point, there just isn’t anything that gives us a clue as to why he was murdered and you were the last contact point. Can you explain that?”

“I can, but right now I’m not able to tell you about it. It’s very sensitive information and other lives might be in danger if I tell you anything.”

She sighed. “Then I’m afraid I can’t help you. This meeting was a waste of time. I’ve got a missing person and need to figure out where they’ve gone.” Ingrid stood, but turned back as if deciding on how trustworthy I was.

Chapter 18: Collette

After our unusual moment the night before, things started changing the next day.

At six am, the lights came on taking me several moments to get reacquainted. I had to hold my hands over my eyes and squint, but I’d take it. The elevator doors opened. Rossi appeared with a T-shirt and pair of shorts as well as new underwear.

“Please shower. Mr. Holdt will be with you shortly.”

I could only nod in shock.

In the stack of items, he’d brought me a full towel, clothes and socks, everything I could want.

The need to hurry into the shower was more from a compulsion to wear clothes again than to do as I was asked. Or so I told myself.

I emerged clean and dry to a room full of light just as the elevator doors opened.

Mr. Holdt stepped out with my food.

It was a bit of a shock to actually see him, after spending almost a week in the darkness in addition to sitting beside him on the couch.

I felt a slight moment of nervousness after what we shared the night before. It was so intimate and vulnerable. He’d been able to see me, but I hadn’t seen him.

He was just as delicious as I remembered.

Surprise filled me when he sat down next to me and began to feed me once again.

This time was much different because the lights were on, possibly dimmed so it didn’t hurt my eyes as bad as if they were full on and I adjusted to it.

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