Page 24 of Always Been Mine

“Ms. Porter!”

“What’s going on?” she asked, baffled.

“There are two detectives here to see you.”

Detectives? That was when Beatrice noticed the two trench-coat clad guys rise from the lobby couches. Not missing a beat, she nonchalantly walked to the concierge desk to pick up a newspaper and tucked it under her arm before she faced the approaching detectives.

“Detectives Moore and Smithers of the Metropolitan Police Department.” Both detectives flashed their badges.

“To what do I owe this visit?”

“Can we talk somewhere private, Ms. Porter?”

The penetrating look on Detective Moore’s face indicated that the matter was grave. She tried to wrack her brain on what could be wrong?

A knot of anxiety formed in her gut.

She nodded to the elevators to take them to her condo.

Beatrice sether keycard and coffee on the foyer table, turned and folded her arms in front of her. “What’s this all about?”

“Where were you between three and seven a.m. yesterday morning?”

Oh, my God, did something happen to Gabe?

“Did something happen to Gabriel Sullivan?” she blurted out, panic in her voice.

Both detectives frowned; one of them started writing on his notepad.

“Well?” When she heard herself shriek, Beatrice forced herself to calm down. But the silence of the two detectives was making it extremely difficult.

“Were you with this Gabriel Sullivan?”

Warning bells and self-preservation trilled in Beatrice’s consciousness. “Do I need a lawyer? If you don’t tell me what this is all about, I’m not saying anything else.”

“Eric Stone was found dead last night. Time of death initially puts it around the early hours of Saturday morning.”

Beatrice felt the room spin. Shocked at Eric’s death, relieved that Gabe was okay, it was too much. She forced her unsteady legs to walk across the foyer toward her living room and sat on the couch. The detectives followed but remained standing.

“How?”

“We can’t disclose the circumstances for now,” Detective Smithers said. “So, were you with this Gabriel Sullivan?”

“I was drunk; I’m not sure of the time frame.”

“Do you have his contact information?”

“No.”

“Really? That’s—”

“He was a one-night stand.” She had the resources to track him down, but linking Gabe to Eric was not a good idea given the two had an altercation a few days ago. The detectives might eventually find out. She didn’t even want to dwell on her reasons for wanting to protect Gabe.

“Oh.” Detective Smithers smirked.

“I’m sorry, I don’t have more information to help you,” Beatrice said. She wasn’t even going to volunteer information about Eric’s drug use. “Eric and I broke up a few weeks ago.”

“When was the last time you saw him?”

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