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Cindy’s red lips pursed into a pout when Cormac moved away, but did respond. “While I worked on Kristof’s costumes, I never touched any of his equipment. Kristof was very particular about who touched his things. He was someone who had to have everything in order. And in his mind, since I wasn’t someone who maintained or repaired things, I had no reason to go near them. But, enough about that,” she purred. “What are you doing after this? Want to come back to my place?” Her gaze flicked to Henry and she sent him a wink. “You’re invited too, handsome.”
Cormac made a choking noise.
What in the hell was wrong with these people?! Every single person they had come across had flirted with either him, Cormac, or both. Was the gravity of someone they knew dying not enough to curb their libidos?!
* * *
Turney snuggled close to Octavius.“Admit it, you chose this outfit for me for easy access.”
Octavius chuckled. “I don’t have a single clue as to why you would think that.”
“Mmhmm, sure you don’t,” he snorted. “What is my life? Fucking in a fake graveyard, and coming over fake gravestones.”
He peered up at the vampire’s face. Octavius was smirking and looking smug as he stared at the ceiling. But then the male’s eyes suddenly widened. Turney yelped in surprise as a split second later they were rolling across the fake grass.
There was a loud crash, with the sound of glass shattering and scattering nearby. He winced as something sharp sliced across his arm, the one part of him not covered by Octavius’ body.
“What the fuck?” Turney rasped, eyes wide. “What happened?”
Pulling from Octavius’ hold, he sat up, staring at the spot where they had just been lying. A destroyed chandelier now littered the ground.
Octavius sat up with a grimace.
“Are you okay?” Turney asked.
“I’ll heal… What about you?” The vampire lightly grasped his arm with a frown.
“I’m fine. You definitely took most of the hit.” There was blood, but he bet if he wiped it away, the skin would be healed. He eyed the red droplet…it was a lot paler than it used to be. “Second chandelier to fall…can’t be a coincidence, can it?”
Octavius shook his head. “Unlikely.”
“I guess we should take a closer look.”
They pushed up, Octavius wincing as he did. He winced himself as he got a look at the vampire’s back. Dozens of little cuts. Shards of all different sizes were embedded into Octavius’ back, blood dripping down in streaks. “Octavius…”
“My body will push the foreign materials out on its own. Don’t worry.”
Moving closer, they kicked glass, crystals, and diamonds out of the way as they did. Turney crouched down and eyed the lines that were supposed to keep the chandelier secured to the ceiling. It was…cut and damaged, the same way that the other chandelier had been. But why?
His head tilted as a smell that seemed misplaced caught his attention. “Do you smell…human? Not like in the room, but near the chandelier?”
“I do. A citrusy smell mixed with ozone. And you are correct, the smell is from someone human. Possibly someone who likes to use way too much cologne or perfume.”
Turney straightened and backed up away from the mess, looking around the room. Octavius remained hunched over by the chandelier. “The thing was obviously sabotaged the same way as the other one, but why? Why sabotage something in a room few will even go in?”
Octavius straightened from his hunch and came to stand near him. “Because, originally, this was where the second half of the party was set to take place, and thus, the performance. We had already started to set up when Scarlett offered her home. After the switch I, on a whim, decided to make it a graveyard.”
Turney eyed the room. It was certainly big enough to hold the crowd. “So, the person sabotaged this to fall, but when the performance was moved, they didn’t bother to fix it? But the other broke when it started to lower, so why did this one fall on its own?”
“If I were to guess, the weight is probably a contributing factor.”
“Wouldn’t they have taken weight into consideration when they sabotaged it?”
“We never did a full weight analysis and safety check on this one. It didn’t get to that point in the preparation. It’s possible the person wasn’t informed about the location change right away. So when they were given the specifics of the other chandelier, they assumed it was for this one. While nearly the same size, this chandelier is significantly heavier than Scarlett’s. So, if they cut based on those calculations, it’s not surprising it ended up falling on its own.”
Turney frowned. “Why bother with the chandelier at all? It seems so pointless, since we know he was poisoned.”
“Maybe they hoped we wouldn’t look into it further, and would just assume he fell to his death.”
