Death of a Chorus Girl (The Delacroix Series Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

the last two years have been like?  My heart fluttered when I got that lone smile from him.  It started racing when he brushed the lock of hair from my face.  But it stopped when I was trying to hand him my card and he parted and wet his lips.  And that was it.  I am full on infatuated with this complete stranger who makes me feel like I’ve known him all my life.  Once this case is over, Detective Richard Giordano is definitely someone I need to get to know better.
     
    Richard Giordano: Haven
     
    Frisco is going to kill me.  I am twenty minutes late.  Some helpful tidbits that will potentially lead us to Annie’s lover manifested this afternoon.
    “I found a carpet fiber in the heel of the dead girl’s Jimmy Choo’s,” one of the female lab rats told me when I joined Steve in evidence.
    “Okay,” I expelled slowly.  “What the hell is a Jimmy Choo?”
    “It’s a designer shoe.”  Her tone added the silent “you moron” to the end.
    “And that’s important because?”
    “Because between her Jimmy Choo shoes and Michael Kors handbag, this girl had expensive tastes but we didn’t find a phone.”
    “Did you look in the expensive handbag?” I questioned, making sure to cover all the bases.
    The female lab rat rolled her eyes.  “Well, gosh, detective!  That never occurred to me.”
    Steve chuckled under his breath.  “Easy there,” he said, “this is just how Dick is.  It’s nothing personal.”
    The lab rat settled down, some .  “As I was saying, the girl’s phone is missing.  It wasn’t among her belongings at the theater.  It wasn’t in her handbag and the crime scene unit just confirmed that it isn’t at her apartment.”  That was confounding.  Everyone has a phone nowadays.  “And, yes sir, we’ve already put a trace on it based on the number Detective Beauregard got from the witnesses.  It doesn’t appear to be on right now, but we’ll keep looking.”
    “Sounds like you’ve got it under control,” I said to her.  “Let me know if anything new turns up.
    Steve and I left and walked down the hallway to our desks.  “What did you get out of the witnesses?” I asked.
    “She definitely had a phone,” he answered, “according to the rest of the cast.”
    I sniffed with contempt.  “ I got that, Steve.  Any persons of interest?”
    “Hey, captain celibate.  Don’t take your lack of a sex life out on me because the first woman you choose to be interested in is untouchable at the moment.”
    “Persons of interest?” I growled.
    “Fine!  Yes, there seems to have been a boyfriend that no one met.”  Steve tensed at that admission and a dark shadow crossed his eyes.  “She apparently talked about him all the time but never shared his name or profession with anyone.  So far, no one saw them together either.  A couple of the girls stated that Annie always met him at his place.”
    “Sounds like one hell of a guy,” I retorted to which Steve stiffened.  “My money is on him for at least the lover.  When is DNA coming through?”
    “Tomorrow,” he answered.  “We’re putting a rush on it since it’s high profile.  You don’t think the killer and lover is the same person?”
    “I have my doubts.”
    “Why?”
    “Don’t know for sure,” I admitted.  I am what they call a gut detective.  I get feelings that tend to be right, but I still have to collect appropriate evidence to prove them.  “Frisco said asphyxiation is the official cause of death, but Annie also took a beating from the rig.  It’ll be hard to separate defensive bruising from the trauma of the crash.  Rats able to pull anything off the lighting rig?”
    “Nothing other than blood and hair.  That’s going to take a while to sort through.”
    The light changes at the crosswalk and the swarm bustles around me.  I shake off the memories of the case and send Frisco a text apologizing for my tardiness.  I include an offer to pick up a drink for her from the bar.
    While