Cause to Kill (An Avery Black Mystery—Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

she
left?”
    Rachel broke down completely.
    Eventually, she raised a hand and nodded and pulled herself
together.
    “Yeah,” she said, “sure.”
    “Where is everyone else?” Avery asked as a distraction. “I thought
sorority houses were supposed to be packed with hungover girls in Kappa gear.”
    “They’re at class,” Rachel said and wiped her eyes. “A couple of
girls went out to get breakfast. By the way,” she added, “we’re not technically
a sorority house. This is just a place we rent to crash when we don’t want to
go back to our dorm. Cindy never stayed here. Too modern for her. She has more
of a ‘homey’ air.”
    “Where does she live?”
    “Student housing not far from here,” Rachel said. “But she wasn’t
headed home on Saturday night. She was supposed to meet up with her boyfriend.”
    Avery’s senses heightened.
    “Boyfriend?”
    Rachel nodded.
    “Winston Graves, big-time senior, rower, asshole. None of us ever
understood why she dated him. Well, I guess I did. He’s handsome and comes from
tons of money. Cindy never had any money. I think, when you don’t come from
money, it’s really appealing.”
    Yeah, Avery thought, I know. She remembered how the money and
prestige and power of her previous law firm job had made her believe she was
somehow different from that scared and determined young girl who had left Ohio.
    “Where does Winston live?” she asked.
    “In Winthrop Square. It’s really close to here. But Cindy never
made it. Winston came over early on Sunday morning looking for her. He assumed
she’d just forgotten about their plans and passed out. So we went to her house
together. She wasn’t there, either. That’s when I called the police.”
    “Would she have gone anywhere else?”
    “No way,” Rachel said. “That’s not like Cindy at all.”
    “So when she left here, you’re sure she was headed over to
Winston’s house.”
    “Absolutely.”
    “Was there anything that might have changed those plans? Anything
that happened to her early in the evening, or even at the end?”
    Rachel shook her head.
    “No, well,” she realized, “there was something . I’m sure
it’s nothing, but there’s this boy that’s had a crush on Cindy for years. His
name is George Fine. He’s handsome, tough-looking, a loner, but a little weird,
if you know what I mean? Works out and jogs around campus a lot. I had a class
with him once last year. One of our jokes was that he’s been in a class with
Cindy nearly every semester since freshman year. He’s been obsessed with her.
He was here Saturday, and the crazy thing is, Cindy was dancing with him, and
they even kissed. Totally not like Cindy. I mean, she’s dating Winston—not that
they have the perfect relationship—but she was really drunk, and raging. They
kissed, danced, and then she left.”
    “Did George follow her out?”
    “I don’t know,” she said. “Honestly. I don’t remember seeing him
after Cindy left, but that might be because I was totally wasted.”
    “Do you remember what time she left?”
    “Yeah,” she said, “at exactly two forty-five. Saturday was our
annual April Fool’s Night party, and we’re supposed to play this great joke,
but everyone was having so much fun we forgot about it until Cindy left.”
    Rachel lowered her head. Emptiness filled the air for a while.
    “Well look,” Avery said, “this has been really helpful. Thank you.
Here’s my card. If you can remember anything else, or if your sorority sisters
have something to add, I’d love to hear about it. This is an open
investigation, so even the smallest detail might give us a lead.”
    Rachel faced her then with tears in her eyes. And as the tears
began to roll down her cheeks, her voice remained calm and steady.
    “She’s dead,” she said, “isn’t she?”
    “Rachel, I can’t.”
    Rachel nodded, and then she cupped her face in her hands and
completely broke down. Avery leaned over and hugged her tight.

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