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“He was a player. I saw it clearly from the start, but Felicity turned a blind eye. Thankfully, she eventually saw sense and when she told me she suspected he was cheating, I told her if she was feeling that way, she was probably right.”
From the sound of it, the termination of the relationship hadn’t been mutual, rather one-sided. Trent might be onto something with the positioning of the stab wound. To the heart from a jilted lover? “How did Luis take the breakup?”
“Not well. At all.” A swoosh of her hand emphasized the point.
Her response didn’t help alleviate Amanda’s suspicion. They needed to speak with this guy.
“It was just days after the movie deal was finalized too, wasn’t it?” Barry asked his wife.
Celeste shook her head. “Not right away. That deal was signed a few months ago, but she ended things, say, three weeks ago.”
Was Luis bitter Felicity had ended things not long after she came into money? They weren’t married, but he could have deceived himself into thinking he’d financially benefit anyhow. He might even have thought he contributed in some way toward her success. “How long were they together?”
“Seven months, somewhere in there,” Celeste told them.
“Safe to say it was a serious relationship then, exclusive?” Trent asked.
“As serious as Luis could be, I suppose. He was a cheat, as I said. I can’t believe he proposed to her.”
“He proposed?” Amanda nearly choked on that revelation. The stakes in this breakup just got larger for Luis Navarro—cut off financially and left with a broken heart.
“Yep, right after she signed the movie contract. What a slime bucket!” Celeste was shaking her head and looking at Barry. “Thankfully she had the sense to turn him down. I still can’t believe she stayed with him a while longer though.”
Sadly, Amanda could believe that Luis would want to cement his union with Felicity. He probably imagined her payday benefiting him, and she’d burst that bubble. Thinking back to the murder scene, there hadn’t been signs of forced entry as of yet, which meant Felicity may have let her killer inside. Had that been her ex? Though there was another option. “Do you know if Felicity gave Luis a key to her house?”
“She did, a while back now.”
Luis could have let himself inside and pleaded for Felicity to reconsider their relationship. When that didn’t work, he snapped and killed her. “Did Felicity get the key back?”
“I don’t know that for sure.”
Luis Navarro had potential motive, but she couldn’t afford to pigeonhole the investigation this early. “Going back to Felicity’s recent success, those in the spotlight often attract certain types—stalkers, obsessed fans, even haters. Did Felicity ever mention anyone like this bothering her?”
“Sometimes she’d gripe about fans bombarding her with messages of a rather personal nature, but she didn’t say it was anything that had her concerned.”
“A personal nature?” That alone had the skin tightening on the back of Amanda’s neck.
“They’d overshare and ask probing questions, trying to get Felicity to reciprocate.”
“Then nothing lewd or sexually inappropriate?” Trent asked.
“Not that she said.”
Celeste had used that caveat twice now, and it wasn’t reassuring. All it meant was if Felicity was contacted by dangerous types, she never shared her concerns with her friend. “Can you give us any examples of what the messages were about?” Having a better understanding in this area could help immensely. It would tell them how much effort to concentrate on this angle. Though, they’d pick up the topic again with Felicity’s publishing contacts regardless of what Celeste had to tell them. But one step at a time.
“Some wanted her to talk about her next books, connect online, follow them back. But if they wanted updates, all they had to do was follow her social accounts. Do they want her to write books or chitchat her days away?”
Celeste made fans sound like irritating flies buzzing around, but without them, Felicity wouldn’t have had the success she had.
“Actually, that didn’t come out right,” Celeste backpedaled. “And Flick adored her fans.”
Amanda nodded, placated. “Did she ever mention any one person in particular?”
“Not to me, but her editor or agent might know of someone.”
An agent didn’t surprise her, but… “Her editor…?” Amanda wasn’t familiar with the world of publishing aside from the fact publishers acquired works from authors and put them into the marketplace. As for an editor, she imagined their role was limited to proofing manuscripts for grammatical errors.
“Her point of contact at her publisher,” Celeste said.
