Page 100 of Beguiled

My stomach lurched, sickened from a terrible thought. What if… No, I wasn’t going to go down that road. She was okay. My best friend was just fine.

Someone stepped in front of me before I could make out anything about the victim, the moment jarring.

“Such a shame,” someone said from a few feet away.

“She was so young,” someone mentioned.

“What happened?” I croaked.

“A suicide. Someone said they watched her jump.”

Given the articulated words, I sensed whoever had spoken was close. Turning, I locked eyes with a woman I recognized. She did at the same time, her eyes narrowing.

“You’re Tawny’s friend. Right? You work with her.”

“Yes,” I said, nodding furiously. “Have you seen her? I’ve tried calling but no answer.”

I’d experienced death before, the same look on the woman’s face I’d seen on my father’s when telling me my beloved grandmother had died.

She hemmed and hawed, shifting her weight. “I’m so sorry.”

“No,” I whispered. “There is no way. None. She wouldn’t do that.” Fear and anguish rolled through me, destroying all sense of protocol. Fuck the rules. I had to know for certain. I pushed my way through, crawled under the tape and moved closer just as someone pulled back the tarp covering the body.

The world collapsed around me if only briefly. There was no sound, nothing to strip the horrible vision of seeing my best friend splayed out on the car, both her mouth and eyes wide open. This wasn’t possible. Tawny wouldn’t do this.

“No. No!”

I hadn’t realized I’d continued moving closer until I was jarred into a sudden stop by someone stepping in front of me.

“I’m sorry, miss, but you can’t be here.”

Even though I blinked several times, I couldn’t see clearly for several seconds. I finally lifted my head, staring into the eyes of a young man in a uniform.

“Miss. Are you alright? Did you know the victim?” he asked, the tone of his voice completely different.

He reached out as if he was going to touch me, but I backed away, nodding as I did. “She was my… friend, but this isn’t right. Someone pushed her.”

As he took a deep breath, he looked away briefly. “We’re going to do a full investigation, but right now, it appears she jumped. When was the last time you spoke with her?”

“Jarvis. Over here,” someone called and the officer glanced in the direction of the voice. “Stay right here. I’ll be right back.”

As soon as he moved further into the crowd, I slowly turned my head toward her. She died with a look of terror on her face. My God. She hadn’t jumped. I would yell that to the world if I could.

As I glanced back to the roof, I took a few steps backward, finally spinning and racing to try to find the easiest way to move past the crowd. Once I managed, I slipped around the corner of the building, fading into the shadows so I could take deep breaths.

This wasn’t happening. Yes, she’d been under some kind of duress, but I knew Tawny well enough to know she would never commit suicide. Certainly not after planning on coming to talk with me. That didn’t make any sense. Nothing did.

Still shaking, I held my arms, so nauseous I leaned over. There were only dry heaves. I didn’t even know how to contact her family. When I stood, I remained so lightheaded I pressed my head against the brick. Just controlling my breathing was close to impossible. After a full minute, another emergency vehicle flew by. The forensics unit.

Unwanted tears formed and I wiped them away furiously with the back of my hand. What should I do? Something was very wrong. I needed to go somewhere and think. As soon as I pushed away from the wall, I noticed someone standing over a block away. From a distance, it was hard to tell anything about who it was and they’d likely popped outside because of the noise, but my nerves were instantly on edge.

Very slowly I moved closer to where the sidewalk met the road, peering down the street. The stranger was standing close enough to a streetlight I could tell a couple of things. By the size it appeared to be a man and whoever it was had dressed in all black.

The little voice inside my head told me to get away from the area. To be able to make it to where my car was parked, I’d need to cross the road either in front of him or backtrack toward the crowd, risking the police officer seeing me. Even with their belief Tawny had died by suicide, now that I’d admitted I was a friend, he would want to talk to me.

Thoughts of the asshole in the subway flitted through my mind. With my nerves on edge, I now regretted not asking for Stash’s personal number.

At least the man on the street wasn’t moving, standing with his hands in his pockets. When there was a shout from someone, I took the opportunity to cross the street, trying to keep my head down. As soon as I stepped onto the sidewalk on the other side, I took a quick glance over my shoulder.