Unfashionably Dead

Chapter Four

Grant waves at Hernandez and tilts his chin toward the crowd. Hernandez reaches into their car and retrieves two notebooks and pens. He hands one of each to Grant then makes his way to the outer edge of the crowd.

"May I take your name?" Grant removes the cap from the pen.

"Elaina Hayes," she says through sobs. She takes a deep breath and leans against Adam. "But everyone calls me Lanie."

"When was the last time you saw Che-, Ms. Morgan?"

"About an hour and a half ago," Lanie replies. "I got a text from my neighbor saying there'd been an accident and I needed to get home A.S.A.P."

Lanie fidgets under Grant's stare. Adam starts to say something, but seems to think better of it. Instead, he embraces Lanie and whispers to her. She bristles at his words and shrugs out of his arms.

Grant watches them for a moment, like he is sizing them up. "By any chance, is that your apartment?" He points to a window on the seventh floor. Her curtain is flapping in the wind and appears to be caught on a jagged piece of the pane.

I count across three windows and imagine the pale blue curtains with cute, pink flamingos embroidered onto them being torn to shreds. I shiver at the gruesome image in my mind.

"Yes, it's my apartment."

"Would you mind taking me up there so I can look around?"

Lanie starts to say yes, but Adam shushes and interrupts her before she can give her consent.

"Do you have a warrant?" he asks. "Lanie's had a rough night."

"I can easily obtain a warrant, but my hope is that Ms. Hayes will cooperate fully with the investigation. Surely she wants to know what happened to her friend." He stares at Lanie. "Unless, of course, you have something to hide."

Lanie flinches at his insinuation and for what is probably the first time in her life, she is left speechless, her mouth open in surprise.

Adam steps between Lanie and Grant. I fully expect him to beat on his chest and scream about being Tarzan. "I know what you're trying to imply, but Lanie had nothing to do with this. I've been with her since she parted company with Cheline. I will not have you mistreating her right after her best friend has been found dead."

Lanie purses her lips then takes a deep breath.

He's really laying it on thick. Convenient that he gave himself an alibi while attempting to appear chivalrous. I hope Grant doesn't buy a word he is saying because if I was murdered, he's my number one suspect. Now that I'm out of the way, Lanie's heart is ripe for his vulturous picking.

"I'm not mistreating her. I'm doing my job, which right now is determining if a crime has been committed here." He fishes his blackberry from his back pocket and begins to text with the precision of a teenager. Somehow he maintains eye contact with Adam.

I hover above him to peek at his message and gasp at the warrant request.

Adam is still in Grant's face. I almost think he's intentionally making things worse for Lanie and I can't help but wonder if he's trying to send her to jail.

Lanie circles around and looks from Adam to Grant. "Please don't speak like I'm not even here. I have nothing to hide. You're more than welcome to search my apartment."

"I apologize for that. Judge Knight should be able to issue the warrant in a matter of minutes, so it'll be nice and official." A hint of a smirk on his face, he turns to Adam. "And what is your name?"