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“Are you okay?” He steps closer, reaching a hand up to touch me, doubt clouding his eyes.
“Well, hello, you two. Glad to see you could make it in here today. How are you feeling, sweetheart?” Detective Riggs booms from behind us, and we both start.
Adam straightens, reaching out a hand to the man in a blinding turquoise-and-white tropical shirt.
“I’m fine. Can we make this quick though? Got a headache,” I mumble as they shake hands.
The detective squints at me in the mid-morning light.
“We’ll do our best, okay? I have some questions for you, seeing as you’ve been…working near Tyler Donniver for some time.”
I swallow over a lump as he turns to walk inside. My stomach is cramped, and I think I might get sick. Adam practically force-fed me eggs this morning, but now, I’m afraid I’m going to see a rerun of my hospital breakfast.
We step into the smell of coffee and sweat. The police station in Carbona is an enormous establishment. Our city isn’t known for being filled with law-abiding citizens.
We follow the tropical shirt through the halls, past sad-looking, scantily clad women and rough men with shaved heads in orange jumpsuits.
Adam’s face is tinged a little green as he observes the scene, and his gaze turns to me. He clenches his jaw, reaching for my hand to squeeze it.
We finally reach a little office with a glass door, and my heart plummets as I see Victoria and Lenny both already inside on the dingy fabric chairs. Her face is smug as she sips on a venti Starbucks cup.
Detective Riggs holds open the door, and Adam and I shuffle inside.
“All right, since we’re all here, let’s get to it. Sorry I’m late. I had to do a little homework.”
He makes his way behind the cheap metal desk, taking a seat in the office chair. He looks up at the four of us as he sips on a to-go cup. He smiles, motioning for Adam and me to take the folding chairs that were clearly brought in to seat us.
“So, I guess I’ll start with you, Lenny.” Riggs looks down at his papers. “Are you the agent representing Miss Harley Kain for modeling?”
Lenny nods, clearly uncomfortable in the presence of law enforcement. “Yes, sir.”
“How long have you been representing her?” Riggs asks, leaning back in his chair and interlacing his fingers.
“About three years.” He shifts in his seat. His dark eyes flit over me, then back to the man behind the desk.
“I see, and when did you meet Tyler Donniver?”
He stammers, looking over at Victoria, “Uh, we, uh, we met…a while back.”
“Would your previous meeting happen to have been when you were incarcerated together?”
Riggs’s face gives nothing away, his body still relaxed in the chair. If you saw him through the glass, you’d think he was asking Lenny what his new puppy’s name was.
Lenny’s mouth is agape, beady eyes shifting over me and Victoria.
My foster mother gasps belatedly. “What?! I had no prior knowledge of this, Detective! He lied to me about—”
He cuts her off, “Ms. Kain, I would like to ask you to remain silent until I am finished or I address you.” He smiles, which I’m beginning to realize doesn’t always convey his true thoughts.
He turns back to a sweating Lenny. “How did you end up connecting your client with Donniver?”
Lenny wipes an arm across his brow. “He, uh—he wanted a new model, and I happened to know Victoria and Harley were looking for work.” He uncrosses his legs, sitting up straighter.
Riggs consults the papers again. “Lenny…Garbocia? Garbisha? Am I getting that right?”
“It’s Garbicia,” Lenny offers, squirming a little under the detective’s gaze.
“Okay. So, being Harley’s modeling agent, would you say that you handled the legal aspect of things?”
