Page 11 of Girl, Unmasked (Ella Dark #28)

Ella and Ripley had spent the last hour playing the world's worst game of Telephone. They’d moved from one shell-shocked employee to the next as she and Ripley tried to piece together a picture of who Sophie Draper was in life.

So far, it was the same song, different verse.

Sophie was a peach and a real straight shooter.

She never missed a deadline and always had a kind word and a cup of coffee for the newbies.

Sophie had the kind of golden personality that made Ella want to hurl.

Not that she doubted the sincerity, it was just the sheer uselessness that came with knowing that all the posthumous praise in the world wouldn't do jack to catch Sophie's killer.

Ella could feel the pall she’d cast over this place.

She'd lost count of how many hands she'd shaken and how many times she'd flashed her badge and watched the color drain from yet another face as she broke the news of Sophie’s death.

Seeing a dead body was one thing, but delivering the news that a loved one was never coming back was the part of this job that stuck with you the most. Ella had the decency to spare the gory details, because no one on this earth needed to know that their friend and colleague had been mutilated and enucleated, although she suspected it would hit the news any hour now.

Ripley nudged Ella and jerked her chin towards the last door on the left. ‘Last stop.’

Ella readied herself for another awful conversation and knocked on the door that read; Sienna Graves – Senior Editor.

But before Ella could make contact, the door swung open to reveal a woman already halfway to a full-tilt ugly cry. Her mascara had made a break for the border and left charcoal smears in its wake, and her nose was rapidly approaching blinding levels of shininess.

However, it was the deadness behind her eyes that twisted Ella’s guts the most.

Ella's throat closed up and for a moment, she was five years old again, coming to terms with her dad’s death. She could feel Ripley's gaze boring into the side of her skull but she waved her off, instead focusing on the shell of a woman huddled in the doorway.

‘Sienna Graves?’ Ella asked.

The woman just nodded.

‘Detectives Dark and Ripley with Norwalk Homicide Division. Some of your colleagues told us you were close to Sophie Draper?’

At the mention of her friend's name, Sienna crumpled like paper. Tears welled and spilled over as Sienna wiped them away with a forearm.

Hell, Ella could never stand to see a woman cry. Before she quite knew what she was doing, she had an arm around Sienna’s quaking shoulders and guided her back into her sanctuary. Ripley followed in and closed the door behind them.

‘I know this is difficult,’ Ella said as she eased Sienna into a chair. She’d said those same words a thousand times but they never got any easier. ‘You and Sophie were close?’

Sienna made a tiny gesture that made her look all of five years old. ‘She was... my friend. We just got each other, you know?’

Ella did know. ‘Can you tell us about her? We’re trying to understand how something like this could happen to someone like her.’

Sienna found a tissue in her drawer and wiped away a collection of fluids. ‘Sophie was a rock star. This industry is pretty… cut throat. But Sophie always had a smile.’

‘When did you last see her?’

‘About six PM last night. She was still here.’

‘Is that normal for Sophie?’

‘Yes. The woman works her ass off. First one to arrive, last to leave. I swear, this company would have folded years ago if it wasn’t for Soph. She could make crap salad out of crap.’

Ella glanced at Ripley but she just shrugged, clearly as baffled by this peek behind the publishing curtain as she was. Ella had always penned publishing as a woman’s paradise.

‘Sophie have any trouble here at work?’ Ella asked. ‘Conflicts with co-workers, authors, anything like that?’

‘God, no. Sophie was great. She was sweet and impossible not to love. I mean, sure, she could be tough when she had to be, but that was just the job.’

‘What about outside the office? Any enemies you know of?’ Ella hated having to use that word. Only superheroes and TV detectives had enemies.

‘None that I know of. She never mentioned anything. Barely mentioned her personal life at all.’

A dead end. Ella was beginning to feel like a rat trapped in a maze with no exit. She glanced over at Ripley and caught the look of frustration written on her jaw. The look that said they were getting nowhere fast.

‘What did she tell you about her personal life? Any boyfriends, partners?’

‘No. I doubt Sophie had time for relationships.’ Sienna let go of a watery chuckle, more sob than laugh. ‘It sounds stupid, but I always thought we’d be old ladies together. Rocking the Early Bird Special.’

A new ache took up residence in Ella’s heart. She knew that feeling all too well. The certainty that your nearest and dearest would always be there, cracking wise and kicking right alongside you until the road ran out, until they suddenly weren’t.

‘Nothing else?’ Ripley asked.

‘No,’ Sienna swiped at her eyes again. ‘God, some friend I am, right? Barely know a thing about a woman I thought I knew better than myself. Tell me this gets easier.’

Ella nodded, not trusting herself to speak immediately. What she wouldn’t have given to be able to say yes, to offer some threadbare comfort that this would someday scab over.

‘No. It doesn’t get any easier. You just learn to carry it better.’

Something like absolution flickered over Sienna’s face, there and gone between one blink and the next. She reached out and covered Ella's hand with her own. Her fingers were cold and clammy but her grip was strong.

‘Thank you. I know this is just another body to you, but…’

‘It’s not.’ Ella surprised herself with her own vehemence. ‘It’s never just another body. It’s always a real person, and we never stop until we get them justice.’

Sienna held her gaze, searching for something Ella couldn't name. Whatever it was, she must have found it because she squeezed Ella's hand once before letting go, taking the warmth with her.

Ella wanted to say more, but Ripley cleared her throat in that way that meant wrap it up, we're burning daylight.

Her partner was right, loathe as she was to admit it. They had a killer to catch, and no amount of hand-holding would bring them any closer to that goal.

So she did one last sweep of the office, and there her gaze caught on a framed photo of two smiling women with their arms slung around each other's shoulders like they were holding up the world. Sophie and Sienna, faces flushed and eyes bright, caught in a moment of unsullied joy.

A lump rose in Ella's throat but she swallowed it down, along with a hundred useless platitudes.

Such mementos had been absent in Sophie’s own home. Not unsurprising, considering the woman lived in the office.

Then an idea came.

‘Sienna, could we take a look at Sophie’s work station?’

The woman grabbed another tissue from her drawer. ‘Of course. She has her own office.’

‘Anyone been in there today?’

‘I don’t think so. Janitor might have been in last night but no colleagues.’

‘Can you show us where it is?’

Sienna got up from her chair and led Ella and Ripley down the hallway. Time to go digging for skeletons. And Ella had a feeling Sophie Draper's closet held more than a few.