“I might have to tell my partner. That girl beside me earlier. Aside from that, you have my word it won’t go anywhere. If you see any press or news sites outing her, then call Agent Dark at the Lancaster PD and I’ll have it taken down.”
Martin nodded, looking a little unconvinced. “How did you know?” he asked. “That Kate was an escort.”
“As if a website designer could afford this place,” Ella said.
Martin laughed. “Yeah, that’s her cover job. But really, that’s it?”
“No, I rebuilt the scene. That’s what we do. Two drinks on the table. She was wearing a thousand-dollar dress and two-thousand-dollar shoes. Her closet is a fashion catalog come to life. It was obvious she was entertaining someone last night, and Kate isn’t the kind of woman who’d cheat.”
“You think?” Martin asked. “I did sometimes wonder. I mean, I trusted her, but it’s always hard to know for sure. A woman whose daily life is characterized by sex.”
Ella put her hand on Martin’s. “Have you seen the pictures she has of you in her bedroom? You take up an entire wall. That’s a committed lover. Her clients meant nothing to her.”
“Who’d do this?” Martin asked, turning back to the railing. “Why would someone do this to Kate? What did she ever do wrong?”
“Nothing. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But I promise you we’ll catch the person that did this.” Ella clocked Martin’s t-shirt again. “And if you come down to the cells when we catch him, you can punch him square in the jaw.”
Martin smiled. “Sign me up.”
Ella began to take her leave. “If you think of anything that might help us, please give us a call.”
“I will,” Martin said and went back to staring into the abyss. Ella knew he’d be staring into it for a long time to come.
Once off the balcony, Ella went out into the corridor to get away from the busy apartment, but found even more bodies waiting out there. What was it about the spectacle of death that drew so many eyes? Kate Sutton deserved peace, not morbid scrutiny. Ella needed to get out of there before she gave someone a piece of her mind. Paige spotted her and joined her outside.
“Are we done?” Paige asked.
“I hope so. Did you speak to forensics?”
“Yeah. I noted everything down.”
“Good, then let’s go outside. We’ve got some profiling to do.”