Drake Sisters 06 - Turbulent Sea

arm. 'Something's wrong; that's a medical examiner's van.'
    'It doesn't look good.' He caught her hand when she would have headed down toward the commotion. 'Don't. Let me check it out first.'
    'It could be one of the band members or my crew. We're practically the only ones here.' Her mouth was dry.
    Something terrible had happened here. She felt violent energy swirling through the rocks. Auras were dark and subdued. The medical examiner's van was parked to one side along with several sheriff cars.
    Ilya walked with her toward the officers and security people milling outside the tape. She gripped his arm tightly as a man dressed in a gray suit approached them.
    'Miss Drake? Joley Drake?'
    'Yes. Tell me what happened.' She couldn't stop the anxiety in her voice.
    'One of your crew has been killed - murdered. My name is James Branscomb, I'm a detective. I'd like to ask you a few questions.'
    She wished she could say the murder came as a complete surprise, but with the sick dread weighing so heavily on her, she had expected trouble. She glanced at Ilya. As usual, his expression was unreadable, the calm mask in place, but he had to have known, had to have felt the deep, violent disturbance permeating the amphitheater, just as she had.
    'Who? Who was killed?' Unknowingly she stepped closer to Ilya.
    He pulled her beneath his shoulder. 'I'm Ilya Prakenskii - bodyguard. We've been running up the trail and have no idea what's going on. If you could fill us in, we'd be grateful.' He glanced around, his eyes sharp. 'You've got several paparazzi here, Detective. Perhaps we should get Miss Drake into her bus and away from the photographers.' His voice made the suggestion a command.
    The detective's eyes narrowed, but he nodded. 'We'll talk inside the bus then.'
    Ilya slid his arm around Joley's waist, keeping her beneath the protection of his shoulder, his body shielding hers, sheltering her face from long-range lenses as he started her moving past the yellow tape.
    'I want to know who it is,' Joley insisted.
    'A man by the name of Dean Walters.' The detective watched her with shrewd eyes.
    Joley's breath caught in her lungs. 'Dean? I just saw him. Before my run. He was angry with me.'
    'You spoke to him?'
    Ilya kept Joley moving. She seemed stunned. Ilya wanted to be able to watch the cop, to feel his emotions as he questioned Joley, but until he got her in a safe place, he couldn't do that. He didn't want to take a chance on prying eyes, or worse, a photographer, recording Joley's emotions and making money off her distress. And he didn't trust the cop, or anyone for that matter, not to take advantage of the fact that Joley was a high-profile celebrity. He yanked open the door to the bus and almost pushed Joley inside before she could answer. He kept his body between hers and the detective's.
    Joley flung herself into a chair and covered her face for a moment. When she looked up, the detective was seated across from her and Ilya was pulling water bottles from the refrigerator. He handed one to her, offered one to the detective, who declined, and took one himself.

    'I'm sorry, what did you ask me?' Joley said. T can't seem to take this in. Did someone identify the body? When did this happen? I just saw him, before I took off for my run. He was in the parking lot, heading over to his bus. Are you absolutely certain it's Dean?'
    'Yes. I'm sorry,' Branscomb said. 'Several members of your band came forward and positively identified him. You said he was angry with you.'
    Joley nodded and rubbed at the relentless pounding in her temples. T have a rule about minors partying with any band or crew member. It's actually written into the contract they sign with us when we go on the road. After the show in New York, I went out to a party to deliver a message to one of the band members, and I saw a group of girls who looked too young to be there. Dean was with one of them. He had his arm around her, and when I called out to him, they took off running.'
    'How old was this girl?'
    Joley sighed. 'Thirteen, I later found out. I was going to talk to him about it, but in all honesty, with the traveling and everything else going on, I didn't have a chance and even forgot about it until Chicago. A woman came up to me after the concert and said her daughter had been missing since my show in New York. She handed me a photograph, and I swear, it's the same girl.' She looked around the bus. 'It's here somewhere.'
    Ilya retrieved the photograph from the