Page 22 of Kissing Danger

Nathan explained the situation to the paramedics, who whisked Kiki and the other designer away. The police, however, hung around to question people and get an account of the incident.

That was when things started to get weird.

The police were conducting interrogations, as they should, yet they barely spoke to the people who had actually been present. Instead, they focused almost entirely on Nathan.

The man had three police officers standing around him, bombarding him with questions from all sides. He could barely get out a few words to answer one question before he was interrupted by another.

It looked like a group of cats batting a mouse back and forth, except this mouse refused to budge. No matter how insistent orannoying the police officers were, Nathan maintained his usual composure.

Curious, and a little suspicious, I crept closer to eavesdrop on the uneven conversation.

“You bought that cloth, didn’t you, Mister Sterling?” one of the police officers asked.

With a slight nod of his head that still kept his eyeline above the officer’s, Nathan agreed. “I did. I own the company. You’ll find that I funded most of the supplies here.”

The officers weren’t dissuaded, and immediately jumped in with another question. “Yes, but you specifically sought this fabric out personally. Why?”

Since all three officers were asking him questions at the same time, Nathan didn’t bother trying to look at them individually. He only addressed the officer standing in front of him, as if they were having a private conversation.

“Vicuna fabric is rare and hard to find. It was meant as a gift, so it had to be perfect.”

Right. The Vicuna fabric. I’d forgotten about that. It had been a gift from Nathan to celebrate moving into the new studio. Kiki had been gushing about it just that morning.

The officers couldn’t seriously be suggesting that Nathan had gifted the fabric specifically to poison it.

Could they?

That didn’t even make sense. If he wanted to poison anyone here, he had plenty of opportunities. He wouldn’t need to use such a dramatic method.

That was when the reality of the situation finally hit me. This hadn’t been an accident. Fabric didn’t accidentally end up laced with poison.

Someone had harmed Kiki intentionally. Even if she wasn’t their target, she had been harmed because someone chose to do so.

The fuzzy unreality in my head was clearing up, but it was replaced with too sharp clarity. My vision tunneled, and I could practically count every speck of dust floating through a nearby ray of sunlight streaming through the window. I could hear every nervous shuffle of the officers’ feet as they continued their interrogation, and the lack of any fidgeting or nervous gestures coming from Nathan.

A phone rang, shrill and sharp, and the sound bounced painfully off my eardrums. I flinched, but I still heard every word one of the officers said as they answered the phone.

“Hello. Yes. Really? I see. I’m sorry to hear that. Yes, we’ll be in to see the body soon.”

With a beep, the call disconnected. The officer turned back to Nathan with a smirk on their face that they were trying to hide.

“That was the hospital. One of the women died in the ambulance on the way there. This is it, Sterling. You’re looking at a murder charge.”

Nathan didn’t even flinch. He simply reminded them that whoever had poisoned the fabric was guilty of murder, but since he hadn’t been the one to poison it, he wouldn’t be the one arrested.

I barely heard a word he said. The officer’s previous statement rang in my head.

One of the women died.

My legs went numb, and I collapsed to the floor, knocking over a half-assembled mannequin and creating a cacophony of noise.

“Deke.” Nathan shoved past the officers to kneel beside me, finally looking upset for the first time. “Are you okay?”

“Kiki…”

I couldn’t say more than that. Even her name barely left my lips. Yet, Nathan luckily understood what I meant.

“I’m sure Kiki isn’t dead.” Wrapping an arm around my shoulder, he pulled me closer. “I heard the paramedics say that she didn’t get as big a dose of the poison. I’m sure she’ll be fine.”

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