the arrow in the center of the screen. The image was a grainy, black and white view of a professional kitchen. From the angle, she assumed it was a security camera placed up high in a corner.
At first glance, there was nothing familiar about the location. Paige waited for something more to happen. Ronnie hadn’t arranged all of this without a reason.
A woman with pale hair pulled up high into a ponytail walked into the kitchen, a notebook in her hand. Paige swallowed as she recognized Melissa, the chef helping her with her dad’s surprise party. Melissa turned abruptly, dropping the notebook and raising her hands in the air. There was no audio, but she was clearly speaking to someone out of the camera’s view.
She tapped the screen to pause the video and looked up at Ronnie. “This is Melissa Renner’s kitchen?”
He nodded, then reached over and hit play.
A moment later Melissa crumpled to the floor, her hands clutching her midsection. Paige gasped and tears filled her eyes as she watched dark fluid puddling around the body, flowing slowly toward the floor drain. Even in black and white it was clear to Paige that the chef had been shot.
She pressed her fingers to her lips, doing her best to keep the sob in her throat from bursting out. Melissa was more than one of the best chefs in the city, she was a good friend. Paige shoved the tablet away. “I’ve seen enough.”
“No, no.” Ronnie grabbed the tablet and hit rewind then turned the device toward her again. “Keep watching.”
“I can’t,” she pleaded. “That’s my friend. And she’s…”
“She’s dead, yes.” Ronnie’s confirmation was colder than a wall of ice. “I want an explanation, Paige. And I want it right now.”
“I don’t know anything.”
He sat back. “She was murdered last night. Two bullets hit her, one ricocheted from a rib into her heart. Two other bullets were lodged in one of the kitchen walls.”
“Between nine and midnight?” she guessed, based on his question about her whereabouts.
“That’s what the medical examiner tells me,” he confirmed. “We have the time and location embedded in the video as well.”
“You can’t think I did this. She’s my friend.” Ronnie’s relentless expression didn’t waver. “I was working with Melissa. I sent her a text about desserts for an event while I was waiting for you.”
“Clever, but hardly enough to clear you.”
Clear her? What would make him understand? Her gaze slid to the glass. Ronnie had said her father was here at the station and if she could preserve the secret of the party she would. “I need her alive more than just about anyone else in town right now.”
“Is that so?” Ronnie braced his arms on the edge of the table. His head drooped for a moment before he pinned her with another hard gaze. “It’s better if you’re straight with me, Paige. Don’t make me run around in circles.”
“What are you talking about?”
He brought up the video again, his finger moving over the screen. He placed it in front of her once more. “Watch.”
Melissa’s body remained lifeless on the floor, but now a woman with dark hair was crouched at her side. The woman held a gun in one hand and pressed her fingers to Melissa’s throat and then her wrist, apparently checking for a pulse.
Her hair was pulled back into a tight bun and in profile Paige noticed the dark-framed glasses. She wasn’t dressed in the uniform Melissa’s staff wore. In fact her low-cut dark shirt showed generous cleavage from this angle. Not typical attire for a person who belonged in Melissa’s kitchens.
Then the woman stood and, intentional or not, she turned toward the camera.
“What on earth?” Paige couldn’t make sense of it. That was her. She was looking at herself. But it wasn’t her. Finally she understood Ronnie’s hard-nosed attitude. Other than the thick-framed glasses, she might have been looking into a mirror. “This isn’t me. I don’t know what you’re up to, but this isn’t funny, Ronnie.”
“Detective Lewis,” he reminded her through gritted teeth. “This isn’t a stunt or a joke, I assure you. Don’t make this harder, Paige.” He sat down, looking earnest now, but she wasn’t buying it. “I didn’t go to your house as I would have with anyone else. I asked you and your father to come here to keep things as quiet as possible.”
Because everyone who knew the family well knew Cora had “episodes” occasionally. Paige wanted to spit nails. Betrayal sliced through her, left her feeling