“I don’t know who it was who attacked you. If I did, and if I could prove it was the same killer from the other two pageants, I’d do it in a heartbeat.”
“Would you, though?” Anger simmered low and hot in her belly. “You want to catch a killer. Take away Ms. Mustang Valley and you have no bait, no means of attracting him.”
“Tell me about the files you were looking for.”
“Pageant records. They’ve been in that old file cabinet since I went to Mustang Valley High.”
“The drawers were empty. You saw that.”
“I assumed that MVPD took them. For evidence.” She spoke to him as professionally as she could muster this late in a day that had included her first physical attack, ever. It was a blessing she had little memory of any of it, other than the creepy voice behind her before she was knocked out.
“The person who attacked me—did you see him?”
“I did. But he was completely disguised.”
“His voice sounded odd.”
Lines appeared between his brows and on the bridge of his nose and her fingers twitched. It’d be so easy to reach across the table and smooth those out for him.
What was she thinking? She shoved her hand under her thigh.
“The voice disguiser... That’s pretty high-tech, isn’t it?” It sounded like a seriously committed criminal to her, to have special disguise equipment.
“Not at all. You can buy them from five dollars on upward to hundreds of dollars. They’re available in party stores for Halloween, and online. There are even apps that do it for you.”
A shiver ran up her spine and down her front. She crossed her arms against the involuntary response. “I can’t see someone trying to protect the pageant files going to such lengths.”
“Nor can I, unless...”
“Here you go.” Angelina was back and set their platters down in front of them. The aroma of her hot meal made Bella’s stomach growl. Holden’s surprised glance, then that quick grin, let her know he’d heard it, too. Red-hot embarrassment assaulted her cheeks but she kept a smile pasted on her face until Angelina left.
“I haven’t eaten since early this morning, over fourteen hours ago. I’m allowed a stomach noise or two.”
“Hey, I’m not saying anything.” But the grin was still there.
“You were saying why you think my attacker used a voice disguiser?”
He chewed his hamburger for several moments, wiped his mouth, took a sip of iced tea. “It’s not just the voice disguise—it’s the lengths he went to, to completely hide his identity. It points to someone local, and if it’s someone from Mustang Valley, it could be related to the pageant. Who holds this competition so dear that they’d hurt others to keep it running?”
“That’s my question to answer, isn’t it?” She munched on a fry. “I’m keeping all avenues open. My first thoughts are to find the evidence for the extreme weight and diet restrictions that Gio told me were assigned as a matter of course for every contestant. I’d hoped to have that in hand already, in those files.”
“You don’t. So until you get the files?” He didn’t miss a beat.
“I have to keep going, play along as if I’m really a legitimate contestant.”
“Which you are. Does it bother you, the lying?”
“Not as much as my trust being compromised.”
“How so?” One brow up, his intense chocolate gaze on her. Did his lids lower a smidge as he checked out her lips?
She shivered, but not from temperature. This chemistry had to be in her imagination. Maybe it was part of surviving the attack. She may have been unconscious but her brain had witnessed all of it; isn’t that what her friends in medicine told her?
“Cold?” He’d seen her shudder.
Bella shook her head. “No. Annoyed is more like it. I told you what I was working on in confidence. And then you told someone during your phone conversation. I couldn’t help but overhear it.”
“That was my supervisor—I’m obligated to keep him informed about all aspects of this op, especially since I’m working solo here. It won’t go any further.”