Page 24 of Sins of Seduction
See me.
That voice belonged to a memory Raven had buried deep in her mind. A memory she refused to let surface and think about. It had been five years since she thought about that night, and she stuffed that voice back in its box of things she hid from.
“Ms. Wright, I actually have a question.” Detective Grayson’s voice had provided the lure she needed to forget about that night. “A couple of the people we interviewed last night and early this morning again said you had known the white rose petals were tipped in blood.”
Grayson pushed off the wall and stood beside Cruz who looked like he was ready to kick Grayson out of the room. “They said you started shaking as soon as they fell from the sky. They originally thought you were, um…,” Grayson cleared his throat as a blush crept up his face. “Well, when the lights did kick back on, the chaos of the woman screaming, a couple of people said you seemed stuck in a trance until Jax reigned in everyone.”
Grayson leaned his hands on the table, getting eye level with Raven, and she saw the question in his eyes before he even asked it. She knew this was going to come up at some point, and it was better they knew now before they found out later and they thought she was hiding something.
“I’ve been getting a bouquet of white roses for the past year. They’re dropped off by a messenger—who doesn’t know anything. The box is unmarked, and there’s no card except for my name.” Raven took a breath before continuing. “And the last three deliveries, the white roses have been soaked in fake blood.”
My pretty little Raven
Spin your tales
You can’t expose me
Without exposing yourself.
You shouldn’t have anything to hide
Yet, I’ve seen the skeletons in your closet
I’ve watched you bury a few of them too.
Tell them your dark secrets
Let them taste your sins
But it won’t set you free.
Only when my hands are wrapped around your throat
Will salvation come for you.
Asilence fell over the interrogation room. Raven could see the wheels spinning behind Grayson’s kind eyes as he tried to find a link between what she just exposed and what happened at Lush. The confusion that settled over his face had mirrored her own. Aside from the religious people who loitered outside of her club, Raven hadn’t made any real enemies in her life. She couldn’t see the connection between the roses and Louis Bastillo’s killing, but she wasn’t the detective here.
Cruz shuffled through the papers in front of him. “There’s no mention of that anywhere.” He grounded out. “You didn’t report that because…?” Cruz’s tone was harsh, and when Raven glanced at him, she wasn’t surprised to see the narrowing of his eyes. He didn’t believe her and yet he wanted to. He wanted to link her to this killing; he thought the answer resided in her roses.
“Because they’re flowers, for one. Second, it’s getting delivered to my club, not my home address. I don’t know if you’ve noticed the mob of angry protestors outside of my club spouting almost inaccurate Bible quotes every night we’re open. For all I knew, it was one of them,” Raven snapped. This morning was quickly draining her patience.
Grayson pulled the empty chair out next to Cruz. The two together set off quite the contrast. They might have not gotten along professionally, but Raven could see how it worked for them. Cruz was clearly playing the role of the asshole detective while Grayson excelled in the role of the nice detective.
“Ms. Wright,” Grayson’s voice was soft and endearing—yep, definitely the nice detective, “what if it wasn’t someone outside of your club? Even if this was one of the protestors, you should have reported it. I read your thick complaint file for Lush. Every letter, every threat from them, you report. Why not this?”
Grayson’s gaze quickly shot to Cruz sitting next to him, and Raven saw the look of annoyance in Grayson’s eyes as he assumed Cruz was the reason for Raven’s reluctance. Grayson wasn’t entirely wrong in his assumption, but Cruz wasn’t the only reason Raven hesitated.
Diane leaned over, whispering in her ear that she didn’t need to answer the question, but Raven would. She didn’t have anything to hide. “Let me ask you this. The murder aside, what would you have done if I reported the roses? What have you been doing against the crazier verbal threats Lush has gotten over the years?”
Raven’s voice grew angrier as she spoke, knowing the truth in her words. Those protestors had a right to be outside of Lush since there were never enough of them to be deemed a fire hazard. The written threats she received had been put in a little file somewhere in this station, and all they did was tell the person who wrote them never to do it again. They weren’t seen as a threat, and while the cops had spent time interrogating her and her staff, Raven knew they hadn’t looked toward the angry mob of religious zealots yet.
“Do you know why people don’t report non-threatening,” Raven used air quotes around the wordnon-threateningbecause she didn’t believe there was such a thing, “crimes like receiving flowers or harassment that could be in the form of stalking or sitting outside an establishment you’re employed by?”
“Ms. Wright,” Grayson pleaded, but Raven put up her hand and shook her head, cutting him off.
“Don’t Ms. Wright me. I’ve made many complaints about the religious zealots, and the most they’ve gotten was a stern talking to, and I was told to ignore them. So forgive me if I didn’t think you would take a box of roses that had been just roses until two, three months ago seriously,” Raven snapped, her nerves were shot, and her anger was getting the best of her, but she didn’t let up when she focused her attention on Cruz who looked at her with smug satisfaction.
“Someone came into Lush and committed a murder, and I’m pretty sure you’re going to fuck this up because your obsession with me and who I fuck won’t let you see straight. Are we done?” She stood up, the chair making a screeching sound across the floor. “Actually, I don’t care if we are. Any more issues can be addressed to my lawyer. Let me know when Lush will be reopened, and I’ll waive your entrance fee, Cruz. Maybe if you bury your cock in something, you’ll be less obsessed with trying to bury me.”
