Page 39 of Wild Idol

A devilish grin appeared. “It did. Posted it last night. You should have seen the text messages he sent.”

“You like to stir the pot.”

“Maybe a little.”

“You’re trouble,” JD teased.

“The best kind,” she replied with a wink.

She swiped through a few more photos. “If you liked that, you’ll love this.” She searched through a few photos, then had second thoughts. “I don’t know if I should show you this one.”

“Oh, now I definitely need to see it.”

She squinted at him, playfully considering it. “I don’t know. If I show it all now, you might not be impressed later.”

“I think I’ll be impressed no matter what,” JD assured.

“Oh, you know what?” Vesper said as another thought popped into her head. “I’ve got pictures from the record release party.”

She swiped through a few images. Vesper had grabbed selfies with a few celebrities that night, including Sable. There were photos with a bunch of people. She liked to take pictures.

Vesper swiped through a few more, then stopped at one of interest. She zoomed in. “That’s her, isn’t it? That’s the dead girl.”

JD and I huddled around the phone, the glow illuminating our faces.

“That’s Haley, alright,” I said.

She was snorting lines of white powder from a table. Vesper’s pic just happened to catch Haley in the background at just the right moment.

“Who’s the guy she’s with?”

“That’s Deezy. You know, the rapper?”

I had never heard of him.

“Tell me more.”

“Darius Zimmerman. That’s his real name.”

“Would you text that photo to me?” JD said.

“Then you’d have my number. You’d have no excuse not to call.”

Jack grinned. “No, I wouldn’t.”

Vesper mirrored his smile. “Good.”

He gave her a card, and she texted the photo.

The sheriff buzzed my phone. I didn’t want to take the call, but I did. “Isn’t it past your bedtime?”

“It is,” he grumbled. “I need you two to get down to the port.”

“What happened now?”

21

Much to Jack’s dismay, we had to leave Vesper at the club. She was a cute girl, but I had no doubt they would reconnect at some point.