AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Would Annabelle Murray’s killer also get away with the crime?
Carmen had been a sweet, peaceful girl who had shared her candy necklace with me one day in kindergarten. Although we weren’t friends after elementary school, her terrible death left me feeling miserable and wracked with pain, long after the funeral was over.
What were we supposed to do now?
Leigh asked us not to talk to the media and said we could go home if we felt like it.
Pam rose from her chair, we hugged briefly, and then, like cattle in a herd, followed our stricken colleagues out of the room.
I parked myself in Pam’s office, which was so crammed with manuscripts and books that it usually made me claustrophobic after five minutes. Today was different. I was too traumatized to care about the untidiness surrounding me. It seemed impossible that Annabelle was not going to pop in on the marketing meeting that afternoon, lead the pre-sales conferences next week, secure a publishing deal for Craig, give me the raise, or . . .
“Poor little girl,” I said aloud.
Pam’s head was resting on her hand. “Dora?”
“Yes, life is hard enough without losing your mother.”
“What in the world happened?” Pam sighed.
“When I saw Annabelle this mornin
g, she was already dressed for work. Maybe she got mugged outside the park. She would definitely have resisted if someone tried to snatch her bag.”
“You saw Annabelle this morning?”
Uh-oh. Annabelle had sworn me to secrecy on the Moms Mabley project and I wasn’t about to betray her trust, especially now. “Yes, I was campaigning for a promotion.”
Pam’s eyes were riveted on me. “Oh, my God! Where was she? How did she look?”
I told her what Annabelle had been wearing and that I’d seen her at The Dakota but omitted the fact that she looked as though she’d been crying.
It was time for me to leave before I ended up putting Annabelle’s business in the street. I stood up. “Pam, I’ll see you later. Are you going to be okay?”
Her green eyes welled up with tears again and she nodded.
On the way back to my office I noticed that the atmosphere was hushed and dismal, although there were several knots of assistants standing around whispering about how the crime might have happened. The junior staff had very little contact with the head honchos like Annabelle and Leigh, so they really couldn’t be expected to mourn.
On impulse, I walked into the bullpen-like area where Asha spent her working hours. She was on the phone but hung up immediately when she saw me approaching her desk. Asha’s face looked just a little sad and confused.
“Do I have any messages?”
She handed me a stack of pink slips.
I leafed through them quickly: Penelope Aaron, a few writers, and Alyssa.
My line rang again while I was standing there. Asha put the caller on hold. “It’s Paul,” she said.
“I’ll take it in my office.” In my disoriented state, a chat with a trusted friend would provide a tiny bit of relief.
“I guess you heard about what happened,” I managed to say before bursting into tears.
“No. I was just calling to chat. Why are you crying?” He paused for a moment. “Jackie, what’s wrong? Did Victor get married or something?”
Perish the thought. “Paul, somebody killed my boss this morning.” The words clogged up my throat and the tears continued to slide down my face.
He gasped. “That’s terrible! I just ran into her at a cocktail party last week. She told me she had just booked a cruise to Bermuda.”
“I’m not talking about Leigh. I meant Annabelle.”
