Page 59 of Carbon

“Fine, send him up.”

The sooner I spoke to him, the sooner I could get him to leave, and then I could get back to sorting out this mess in my head. How could Ben have slept with my sister, killed her, then done those crazy things with me within two hours and acted the way he did? Until we found the body, he hadn’t given off any weird vibes at all.

Footsteps on the stairs announced the detective’s arrival, and seconds later, a large figure darkened my doorway. I recognised him from Mother’s parties.

“You’re... You’re...”

“Nye Holmes.”

He held out a hand for me to shake, and inwardly, I cursed my sweaty palms.

“Augusta Fordham.”

Of course, he already knew that, but manners had been drilled into me from an early age.

“I understand your father told you I’d be coming?”

“He mentioned it.”

Nye looked me up and down, obviously taking in my four-day-old pyjamas and the greasy hair plastered to the sides of my head as I perched on the edge of the bed, and I closed my eyes so I wouldn’t see his disgust. Even wearing jeans and a day’s worth of dark stubble, he still looked worthy of a modelling contract.

“Do you have time for some questions?”

Well, I had a few minutes between my meeting with NASA and my high-end fashion shoot, so I could hardly say no.

“Yes, I have time.”

“How much do you know about—”

“Beau Davies? I’ve already answered that question a hundred times. Can’t you read the police report?”

“I was going to ask how much you knew about jewellery, but we can start with Beau if you like.”

“Jewellery?”

“I need to buy a gift for my fiancée, and I’m not sure whether she’d prefer earrings or a necklace. The guys at work weren’t much help. They suggested a box of chocolates instead.”

This was what my father was paying him for? Still, it helped me. “Uh, I’d go with earrings.”

“Modern or classic?”

“Classic.”

“Flashy or plain?”

“Plain. They go with everything.”

“A girl can never go wrong with a pair of diamond studs, right?”

“Right.”

“Is that why you tried so hard to find your missing earring?”

“Huh?”

“Your missing earring. The one you lost on the night Angie died.”

“Oh, yes.”

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