Intimate Relations, Rebecca Forster [best ereader for manga .txt] 📗

"I'm surprised he didn't have the guts to come himself."

"Bev." Cori put one arm on the table and leaned in just enough to get the other woman's full attention. "I'm going to say something to you off the record. Finn has more guts in his pinky than you or I will ever possess. Not only that, he's a nice guy. When you are old and grey, when you've had your third face lift, and your all-natural boobs are hanging to your knees, and whoever owns this shanty has kicked you to the curb, you'll be sorry you didn't hang on to him."

Cori sat back, took the purse from her shoulder, and put it on the table. Bev hadn't moved, but Cori saw a flicker of fear in her eyes as her future came into focus. She covered up fast with a pair of fancy sunglasses. Cori took off her jacket. Now they were just two women ready for battle.

"I am curious about something," Cori said. "If this is what you wanted, why marry a cop in the first place? I mean, what did you expect?"

"I didn't expect him to be Don Quixote and tilt at windmills," Bev sniffed.  "He could have walked away after he was cleared and had a cush job with a private security firm. He had offers after all that, and he blew it."

"Well," Cori said. "That clears things up. I guess you both landed on your feet then."

"I guess we did," Bev said. "Can we get to it?"

Cori smiled, she took out her notebook and opened it.  She also took out her phone and put it on the table. When she looked up again she could see there were water droplets on Bev's lashes. She looked very pretty if you discounted the wrinkles starting around the eyes. Bev's expression was one of resignation, perhaps sadness. Cori hoped hers was unreadable. She was looking forward to surprising Beverly O'Brien.

"I'm glad he's got his head on straight," Bev said. Cori nodded. There might be some hope for Bev yet.

"I'm glad, too," Cori said, and in the next minute hope was gone.

"So what do you want?" Bev stretched out her legs and took a sip of her drink. "I told you everything I know about Cami."

She used the edge of the towel to pat her lashes dry, and then let it fall back to cover her breasts.

"I want to talk about what happened before the party," Cori said.

She picked up her phone and tapped the screen, waited, tapped again and handed it to Bev as a video started to play. The other woman watched all the way through. She sat for another thirty seconds before she put the phone on the table, and pushed it toward Cori.

"Do you want to see again?" Cori asked.

Bev shook her head.

"This was recorded on a Ring doorbell in a unit that faces the back of the Cucas’ unit," Cori said. "I admit it isn't the clearest video, but it works for me. So, do you want to tell me what I'm looking at?"

"I hit her. I pushed her. So what?" Bev shrugged.

"You're on this video assaulting a girl who was killed. You had to be pulled off her. You don't see a problem?"

Cori tapped the screen again and the video played. She held it up.

"You. An Asian man. The victim. I'm out of here as soon as you tell me what you were arguing about and who the dude is?"

Cori stopped the video at the point where Bev pushed the victim. The action froze on the girl falling. Her face was obscured by the man who lunged for her. Sadly, Cori still had no idea what the girl looked like. She had been wearing the same dress when they found her, so it was definitely the victim in the grainy video.

"Come on, Bev. Why waste my time and yours?"

"It's no big deal. I was going into the party, and I heard her laughing," Bev said giving in faster than Cori expected. "I couldn't believe it would be her after the trouble she caused, so I went to check it out. I saw her. I lost it."

Bev pulled her legs up and put her heels on the chair. Her toe nails were polished white. She tugged at the ends of the towel; agitated and unhappy to be talking about the victim. She was also smart enough to know that she didn't have a choice.

"Cami had been at a couple of Asylum parties. Some of the women are friendly with each other, but that's not my thing."

"Are they friendly enough that one of the women would have had an outside relationship with Cami?" Cori asked.

Bev shrugged. "Could be. The ones that come in together are usually into threesomes, or watching if things goes that far. Sometimes they hang with one man in pairs because that's his thing. It wasn't mine. I was looking for someone who wanted a relationship, but open."

"Everyone should have a goal," Cori said.

Bev ignored her.

"You'd have to ask the other women if they knew she was there or if they brought her. If I had to guess, I'd say Cami found out about this party and showed up on her own," Bev said. Seeing that wasn't enough for Cori, Bev went on. "What I know is this: I saw her taking pictures of the men a while back. I must not have been the only one to report her because I heard she was black balled. When I heard that laugh of hers, I couldn't believe she was going to crash an Asylum party—especially this one. It ticked me off bad."

Bev leaned forward and tapped the screen on Cori's phone. The video played. She looked at it for a second and then tapped it again, stopping the action before turning it face down on the table.

"Was she taking pictures of you?" Cori asked. "Is that why you lost it?"

"Lord, no." Bev snorted a laugh and shook her head. "The men pay