Poker Face Read online

  Was Charles a suspect? Liv considered the thought as he invited them both in. They followed, although Liv noticed that Ryan was careful to place herself close to the door. Charles wasn’t known for being a violent drunk, but alcohol did strange things to people and their inhibitions.

  “When did you two break up?” Ryan asked, trying to keep her voice casual.

  Charles swung his head in her direction, the over-corrected movement typical of the intoxicated. “Is this an interrogation?” He tried to scowl but couldn’t quite get the facial muscles all the way there, so it looked like a grimace.

  “No,” Ryan said, and it rang true.

  “She’s just here for me.” Taking a risk, Liv reached over and squeezed Ryan’s hand.

  Ryan turned to her, her face frozen in that slight smile to protect their cover. But Liv could almost feel the alarm through their touch.

  “Good, good.” Charles nodded, his head bobbing up and down. “Y’all should have someone t’love.”

  The air became uncomfortably thick. Liv cleared her throat, but when she went to let go of Ryan’s hand, she didn’t let her go.

  There was a question in Ryan’s eyes, and Liv let it go. It kept up the facade, at least. “When was the last time you saw Cairo?”

  “Last Wednesday,” Charles said without additional prompting. “She came over for the night since Steven was ‘away on business’.”

  “Was that often?” Liv kept her grasp on Ryan’s hand, hoping she wouldn’t break to take notes. She didn’t want to scare Charles off.

  “Yeah.” He exhaled slowly. “We was gonna run off together.” His eyes were distant now.

  That caught both Ryan and Liv off guard.

  “What about Steven?” Liv said cautiously.

  Charles made a derogatory noise. “Fancy bastard.”

  “They were engaged,” Ryan said.

  “He was a right bastard,” Charles repeated. “Couldn’t even fight like a man.”

  “You two fought?” Liv tried to print all of this information into her mind, so she wouldn’t forget.

  “Couple weeks ago.” Charles scowled. “Cairo came by crying with some bullshit story.”

  “Are you saying that Steven was abusive to her?” Ryan’s voice was low and nonjudgmental. It could be a big break in her case, though, Liv was quite certain.

  At the very least, it would create a possible motive for murder.

  “I’m saying she was upset over something, and he was what upset her most often.” Charles sighed, almost resigned. “If she hadn’t spent all her time at that damn bar…” His voice trailed off.

  “Sports?” Ryan asked.

  Liv couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Was it relevant? Maybe it was. Everything was relevant to a murder case, until proven otherwise.

  “Yeah.” Charles pointed in the rough direction. “Wherever it is.”

  “There.” Ryan corrected him, pointing in the right direction.

  “Thanks.” Charles smiled an overly big smile to her.

  “How did you and Cairo meet?” Ryan asked.

  “Originally,” Liv clarified. In a small town, there were tons of ‘origin stories’ floating around, and this was one that had never been clarified. Had they met at a poker club in Vegas like some had said, or was it love at first sight when they’d met in school?

  “We met playing poker online.” Charles’s eyes were distant. “She was one of the best there was, you know.”

  “Best?” Liv frowned.

  “Made thousands and thousands. Coulda made more, if she was willing to go back and play in person.” Charles turned to look at the two of them. “I didn’t need her money. I just wanted her.”

  The broken tone to his voice tugged at Liv. Ryan, however, seemed more impassive.

  “Did you play poker?” Ryan asked, her hand shifting slightly to reconform itself to Liv’s.

  “I’m a Texas Hold-Em man.” Charles puffed up slightly. “Played poker just for fun.”

  “How’d you end up meeting her, then?” Liv looked at him. “If she was one of the best…”

  “Didn’t say I wasn’t any good.” He looked at her, admonishing.

  “Did she quit?” Ryan asked, interrupting him.

  He nodded. “When she met Steven, she went straight. No more poker for her.”

  Ryan nodded, Liv alongside her. Liv’s mind was spinning again. “Have you ever met her cousin?”

  “Vermillia? Velunima? Veronica?” Charles tried to sort out the name.

  “That last one,” Liv said with a hint of amusement.

  “Gold-digger,” Charles muttered. “All she wanted was Cairo’s money.”

  “She owns the bar in town,” Ryan said.

  That was news to Liv, something she was still assimilating from their earlier conversation.

  Charles shrugged. “Still a bitch.”

  Ryan pursed her lips.

  “Is there anything else you can tell us?” Liv asked.

  There was a change in his demeanor. He straightened up, looking at her with almost a frightening intensity. He stepped in her direction and grabbed the collar of her shirt before she could flinch. “Catch the bastard,” he said, his alcohol-laden breath blasting her in the face. “Catch him before I kill him.”

  “Thanks.” Ryan knocked his hand off of Liv’s collar, ducking out of the way. “We’ll be going now.”

  Charles didn’t seem to notice, sinking back into his chair and sobbing.

  Ryan got behind the wheel of her car, shifting its gears and backing out of Charles’s driveway with barely a squeal. Her heart was racing and her head was going crazy trying to assimilate everything she had learned. Was it murder? If it was, how was she going to prove it? What roles did Charles, Veronica, and Steven play?

  It was like attempting a crossword with half the clues missing.

  Liv was silent in the car next to her, her beautiful eyes focused on the scenery behind them. Part of Ryan was just happy to have some time to study her, to think about her and remember.

  Part of Ryan still hurt about what had happened all those years ago. She couldn’t handle being abandoned again. No, if she was going to commit to someone again, it had to be someone who trusted her. And she didn’t know if Liv would ever fit that bill.

  “Is that enough to take to your Chief?” Liv’s voice was too quiet for her liking.

  Ryan gripped the steering wheel tighter. “I don’t know,” she said helplessly. “I’m going to talk with the forensic scientists and see if we can find some physical evidence to support his stories.”

  “Or some circumstantial.”

  Ryan nodded acknowledgment. “That’s harder.” She grimaced. “Juries demand physical evidence, nowadays.”

  Liv hummed and then turned back out the window.

  Ryan pulled into her driveway, not quite ready to give up the closeness that had started to build between them. Her heart was racing, her hope was building. Maybe Liv was ready now.

  If Ryan didn’t lie to herself, she’d admit that Liv was the only one for her. There was no one else she wanted to be with. If she couldn’t have Liv, she’d live alone. And she was okay with that.

  “Do you want to come in?” Ryan asked before she could stop herself. “Not for anything specific,” she added hastily. “Maybe coffee, or something.” Inwardly she cringed.

  Liv looked up, her gaze straight forward, then she turned to Ryan with an apology. “I can’t.”

  “Okay.” Ryan’s throat felt sandpaper dry as Liv got out of the car and got into her own. Darkness was starting to fall before Ryan went inside. All alone. Again.

  12

  Sunday 2nd October; 8pm

  He sat at the bar, his attention on the phone in front of him. The shipments were on time. He needed to get the supplies packaged for distribution. He had a group of girls coming in to do their work, and they couldn’t be wasted.

  As long as they stayed in their place, at least.

  He scowled at the bar as if
it was going to tell him something. Who had reported that girl missing? No one should have noticed for weeks. She was integral. At least for now.

  He scrubbed a hand across his face. Then there was that other girl. The one who was back in town, for the first time in a long time. Could he recruit her to his side? The idea was tempting. But the way she had looked at the Detective ruled things out.

  But he was good at talking his way out of things. He’d done it enough, after all.

  His phone beeped. He looked down at it, the chunky ugliness of the burner phones he used then disposed of, and checked the message.

  I can’t.

  He smirked. She could, and she knew it. He tucked the phone casually in his pocket and left the bar as easily as he had snuck in. The woman hunting him would have to wait. He had business to take care of.

  13

  Monday 10th October; 4pm

  Ryan sat at her desk, trying to ignore the events of the previous week and focus on what was in front of her. She was trying to find anything and everything she could in the public records on the two missing girls. Most importantly, she needed a connection between them and Cairo. It had been a week with no progress, and she felt like she was spinning her wheels without going anywhere.

  There was something there, she could feel it. She just didn’t know what it was.

  Jasmine Turner, age 19. Grew up in Amaranth to a married family that had since left. Where had she been living? With Ashley Palmer. They’d taken over a small farmhouse on a lot, away from Ashley’s parents. Interesting. Her parents hadn’t mentioned that particular fact.

  Neither had any prior arrests, nor any documented history of gambling, in contrast to Cairo’s history. Frustration was starting to pound in her temples. They weren’t getting anywhere on anything.

  Not that there was anywhere to go on Cairo’s case, not any more. She gritted her teeth, certain she was going to hear from the Chief sooner rather than later. She wasn’t going to let it go until she was satisfied with the ending. Until she was certain they had uncovered every facet there was to find.

  “Thinking too hard?” Dane sounded amused.

  “Working on those missing cases,” Ryan said.

  “Instead of Cairo’s case?” Dane raised his eyebrows.

  Ryan didn’t look at him, instead using the bitterness she felt to fuel her typing as she delved further into public records. They were younger than Cairo so it wasn’t likely they had gone to school at the same time. Did they know her family? What was Cairo doing for a living, now that she had given up poker?

  “There’s too many untied ends,” Ryan said finally, turning to look at her partner. “In the Cairo case.”

  Dane turned to face her fully, his elbows on his knees and his fingers steepled under his chin. “Explain.”

  “It feels staged.” Ryan frowned. “Why the poker cards? What was she saying with that?”

  “She was a poker player,” Dane pointed out. “Maybe she killed herself because of that.”

  “But why?” It didn’t make any sense. “She made a ton of money off it and no one has said she was unhappy.” Ryan hesitated, tapping her chin as she thought. “Then there’s the whole thing with her ex-boyfriend…”

  It took Dane’s raised eyebrows for Ryan to realize she had said too much.

  “When was this?” he asked, amusement in his words.

  Damnit. “I was with Liv and we ran into him at the store,” she lied. It was close enough to the truth. She hadn’t seen Liv since she had come over. And she missed her.

  That just sparked his interest even more, Ryan could see. Not because of Charles, but because she was with Liv. “Are you two —”

  “Together? No. It was a coincidence.” Ryan was going to stick to that, at least for now. No matter what she wanted to happen, it was what it was. And she had a murder to solve and a missing teenager to find. “Anyway, he confirmed that he was still seeing Cairo while she was engaged to Steven.”

  “Do you think Steven killed her?” Dane asked.

  “I think it could have been either,” Ryan said helplessly. “I just don’t think it’s a suicide.”

  “Toxicology comes in today,” Dane said, glancing around the desk. “Prelim reports supported a suicide.”

  “Thus the Chief announcing it,” Ryan muttered. She hated politics. The Chief was an elected role in their small town and, like many politicians, he was going to do whatever he had to in order to maintain his position. And a tragic suicide looked a lot better than an unsolved murder.

  The phone rang, drawing their attention. Ryan reached for it automatically. “Detective Olsen.”

  “We’re emailing over the toxicology reports right now.” It was a lab tech on the other end of the line. “But we thought you should know. Cairo was pregnant.”

  Ryan stared at air for a moment. “It was missed in the autopsy?”

  “She was only four or five weeks along,” the tech replied. “And it was ectopic. Elliot didn’t find it until toxicology revealed high HCG levels and checked the slides she had.”

  “How the hell did she miss that?” Ryan was almost speechless. Elliot was good at her job.

  “When the pregnancy implants in the fallopian tube, the uterus doesn’t do anything to prepare,” the tech explained. “And the pregnancy was small enough that nothing looked different.”

  “Thanks.” Ryan hung the phone up. As much as she hated it, that made sense and she couldn’t blame Elliot. She looked at Dane, who was looking at her. “Cairo was pregnant.”

  “Guess it’s time to talk to Steven,” Dane said grimly.

  Ryan grabbed her stuff, standing up. “We need to arrange for the embryo to be DNA tested, too.” Was Steven the father? Or was Charles?

  “Olsen.” The Chief’s voice caught her off guard.

  Ignoring the shiver down her spine, Ryan straightened up and turned to look at him. “Yes, sir?”

  “Where are you going?” The Chief’s eyes weren’t nice.

  “We’ve just found out that Cairo was pregnant, Sir.” Ryan kept her voice respectful. “So we were going to go talk to Steven Blackstone.”

  “That case is over, Detective.” His voice was warning now.

  “With the utmost respect, sir, this introduces a new variable into the equation.” Ryan balled her hand into a fist. Was he going to warn her off?

  “Maybe you didn’t hear me. This case is closed.” There was no emotion in his voice. The flatness made her shiver. “If you cannot respect my decision, I’ll have to find another Detective who will.”

  The thought paralyzed her. Give up her job? This was all she had been doing for almost a decade. Slowly, as if in a daze, she sat back down. “Yes, sir.”

  The Chief studied her for a bit, and then nodded to Dane before he disappeared back into his office. Ryan was still sitting there, not sure what to do. She had promised Liv. And not just Liv, but she wanted to find the real truth behind Cairo’s ‘suicide’, not just be told she had to give the case up like a minion.

  “Go.” Dane’s voice was quiet.

  Ryan turned to look at him, shock flashing across her face. “What?”

  “I’ll cover for you.” Dane waved a hand at her. “Go.”

  Ryan hesitated, then nodded. “Thank you.” She turned and left the building.

  Monday 10th October; 4:30pm

  It would have been too obvious to go to Steven’s right away. Surely the Chief would be tracking who talked to him, and Ryan wasn’t that eager to lose her job. She’d wait for a bit, and then go.

  She didn’t know what drew her to Liv’s coffee shop, but there she was. It was the only place she knew where to find her. Even in high school, they’d spent all their time at Ryan’s place. Liv hadn’t offered, and Ryan hadn’t asked. In high school, there was nothing more important than love.

  Ryan pushed open the door, catching sight of Liv talking to another woman that Ryan recognized. River, one of the other girls who had attended high school with them.
/>   Liv’s eyes brightened when she saw Ryan. Either that, or Ryan was imagining it. Given how her day was going, either could be true. But she desperately wanted to believe that Liv still cared about her.

  That the day before wasn’t a ruse, designed to get Ryan to reveal more about Cairo’s case. She shoved the thought away. The situation with the Chief was making her more and more paranoid.

  “Can I get you something?” Liv asked. River whispered something in her ear and Liv swatted her away, her cheeks flushing crimson.

  Ignoring the obviously cheesy and lewd response she could have given, Ryan coughed. “Can I talk to you?”

  Liv’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “About what?”

  Ryan’s eyes flickered to River. “In private. It’s important.”

  “I’ll bet it is,” River muttered.

  “River!” Liv hushed, but she was turning pinker.

  Ryan couldn’t help a faint smile coming to her lips, but it was mostly hidden by her grim expression.

  “Follow me.” Liv pointed a finger at River as if warning her to behave, then gestured for Ryan to follow her further into the kitchen behind the coffee shop. Liv leaned against the counter, her arms crossed over her chest. “What’s wrong?”

  “I’ve been kicked off Cairo’s case,” Ryan said ruefully.

  “What?” Liv looked shocked.

  “If I don’t stop looking into it, the Chief will fire me.” There was bitterness in Ryan’s voice. Why would he give her up like that? She was a fine Detective. Was something else going on, besides politics? Or would it really have that much of an impact?

  “That’s ridiculous.” Liv’s voice was flat.

  “Yet he said it,” Ryan drawled.

  “He’s stupid,” Liv muttered. And it was like they were sixteen again, rebelling against whatever teacher had given them too much homework or tricked them with a question.

  All Ryan wanted to do was laugh and lean in, elbow her, until they were both giggling out of the sheer happiness of being together. But then Liv had pulled away, and things had ended.