Page 13 of Royal

“Something tells me he’s not smart enough to pull it off,” I admitted after a few minutes of thinking. “Everything about the crime scene just…I don’t know. It doesn’t feel like a vengeful ex. It was methodical. Calculated. Cruel.”

We were on our way to talk with Beth’s coworkers. It didn’t occur to me until we were at the news station that Royal might be there. My heart beat faster as we walked to the entrance and went inside.

What would I say to him after all these years?

Sure, I needed to be professional. But how could I stand there and look him in the eye and pretend we didn’t have history?

The place was in a tizzy. No one from my unit had told them about Beth’s death, so I assumed her parents or ex had told someone, and the news had spread from there. A girl was sitting in a chair near the camera crew, crying.

I searched the faces for Royal but didn’t see him. He was an anchor for the evening news during the week, and he had weekends off. How had I forgotten that? Of course he wouldn’t be there on a Saturday.

Three men stood in a group, talking amongst themselves. All seemed upset.

“Good afternoon,” I greeted them, flashing my badge. “I’m Detective Riley, and this is Detective Shaw. I take it you’ve heard the news about Beth Monroe?”

“Yes, sir,” the older of the three men said. “I’m Rick Franklin, the news director. How can we help you?”

“We need to ask some questions,” Ruby said, tucking her badge back into her pocket. “How did Beth get along with everyone here?”

“Everyone loved her,” Rick answered. “Beth knew how to light up a room just from being in it. She was kind and funny. Wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

“Everyone loved her?” I asked. Beth didn’t seem as innocent and sweet as everyone we talked to tried to make us believe. “There wasn’t anyone she didn’t get along with?”

One of the other guys shifted his weight from foot to foot. “Well…noteveryoneliked her.”

“Can you give a name?” Ruby asked.

“Her co-anchor, Royal Henderson,” the guy responded. “After the news aired last night, I heard them fighting and came around the corner to see them in the hall. She was shouting about him hurting her.”

I couldn’t believe it.

Royal didn’t have an evil bone in his body. It might’ve been eight years since we’d had a decent conversation, but I knew him. He was a bit of a control freak and tended to get mad when people put the dishes in the dishwasher wrong, but he wasn’t a killer. People changed but notthatmuch.

“Right!” the other man chimed in as realization lit his eyes. “She said Royal was sending her white flowers.”

White flowers.One had been placed on Beth’s dead body. A detail that hadn’t been released to anyone yet, outside of the force.

Ruby glanced at me, picking up on that detail, too.

Great.

As if my day couldn’t get any worse.

My ex-boyfriend had just become our number one murder suspect.