Corpse Suzette

you,” she lied.
“Gome on out now with your hands up! Do it!”
    Then she heard it,
unmistakable this time. Someone was running down the opposite hallway, in the
other direction. And running hard.
    Gun in hand, but pointed at
the ceiling, she ran after them.
    If somebody was going to
spy on her, she was going to know “who” and “why.”
    Ahead, at the end of the
hallway, she saw a door open and bright sunlight stream in, but only for a
moment. Then it slammed closed.
    She raced to the door and
carefully, cautiously opened it.
    The sunshine was blinding,
but she saw a figure directly in front of her. She lifted the gun and pointed
it. “Freeze!” she shouted. “Hold it right there. Hands up and don’t you even
twitch!”
    “They’re up!” the figure
said. “I’m not moving. Don’t shoot!” Her eyes adjusted, and she realized she
was aiming her gun at Jeremy Lawrence.
    He was standing there, six
feet in front of her, his hands and arms raised, a look of alarm on his face.
    “Why were you spying on
me?” she demanded.
    “What? Spying? I don’t know
what you’re talking about.”
    “Don’t lie to me. You were
back there in the entry area. You were watching me. I chased you out here, so
don’t act like you don’t know what’s up here.”
    “I was over there...” He
lowered one hand long enough to point at a smaller building across a large
patio area. “...saying goodbye to Yasmina. I was coming over here to the main
building to lock up. I think I saw somebody run out just now, before you, but I
didn’t get a good look at them.”
    She studied his perfect,
beautiful face and saw absolutely no expression. His pale blue eyes gave
nothing away, nothing at all.
    He was remarkably cool for
a guy who was on the receiving end of a big bad Beretta.
    And that could mean that he
was innocent. Or very, very good at being guilty.
    She scanned his figure
quickly, but saw no outline of a weapon beneath his thin silk shirt or in his
twill slacks.
    Lowering her gun, she said,
“You must have seen something. Was it a man or woman?”
    He dropped his hands. “I
don’t know. I just caught a glimpse and—”
    “Big or small?”
    He shrugged. “Really,
Savannah. I didn’t even get a look, just a blur of movement and that was all.”
    “I thought you were
supposed to be at Emerge, helping with Abigail’s makeover,” she said as she
reholstered the gun. “I just left you there.”
    “I probably left a few
minutes before you did. I heard that Yasmina was here, packing and getting
ready to go. I had to say good-bye to her. I’m heading back to Emerge right
now. They’re coloring and cutting Abigail’s hair. That’ll take a while.”
    Savannah felt the war
inside herself... the trusting, kind, loving person whom Granny Reid had raised
to always be fair and never accuse an innocent person of wrongdoing... versus
the cop who had been punched, spit on, shot at, and lied to twenty times in one
evening.
    She decided to let Granny’s
girl come forward and deal with Jeremy Lawrence. At least for the moment.
    She offered him her hand.
“I’m sorry about the gun, Jeremy. I hope you understand. I’m investigating a
murder here and a possible kidnapping.”
    His blue eyes widened. “A
murder? Sergio was murdered?”
    “Yes. The lab reports are
in and the M.E. is ruling it a homicide.”
    “Oh, no! That’s horrible.”
He shook his head as though in disbelief. “It’s bad enough that he died. But we
figured it was natural causes. Murder? Who would want to kill him?”
    “You tell me, Jeremy. You
tell me.”
    “I don’t know. I really
don’t. He wasn’t exactly a gentleman where women were concerned... or, I hate
to say, an especially good businessman. But to have someone deliberately kill
him! Are you sure?”
    Savannah nodded. “Yes, but
if you could keep that to yourself...”
    “Sure. I understand. You
don’t want the person who did it to know that you know what they did.”
    “Right.”
    “I need to get back to
Emerge now,” he said, “if you’re finished with me, that is.”
    “I am. Thanks, and sorry
about the gun business.”
    He smiled his soft,
peaceful, ethereal smile. “It’s forgotten. Just catch whoever did that to
Sergio and help find Suzette. That’s all we want right now, Savannah.”
    “I’m trying. I’m trying.”
    Savannah watched the young
man walk into the building and close the door behind him. And she wondered. He
was so perfect. Perfectly handsome. Perfectly