Black Orchid Girls (Detective Amanda Steele)

“Again, elimination purposes.”

“I drive an Equinox sometimes. It belongs to my parents. Why?”

“Do you ever drive their Toyota Prius?”

“Nope.”

“And that’s what your parents would tell us if we asked?”

“You don’t need to talk to my parents.”

Now she wanted to. “And why’s that?”

“They loved Chloe. Let me break the news to them.” He ran a finger under his nose, but he easily met her gaze, which led her to believe his request was made from a place of integrity.

“Are you aware of anyone who had a beef with Chloe?”

“A beef?”

The tone, the enclosed mocking at her turn of phrase, made Amanda feel old. “Someone who didn’t like her and might have had reason to kill her?”

Josh looked from Amanda to Trent, back to Amanda. He wasn’t in any hurry to assure them Chloe was perfect and loved by everyone, like the girl’s parents had been. He had someone in mind.

“Josh?” she prompted. “If you know of someone, tell us.”

“Yeah, okay, she had her haters. She had a lot of friends, but she probably had an equal number of people who were envious of her and despised her. You know how beautiful she was, but she was smart too. The world doesn’t seem to quite know how to handle both in one package.”

Deep thought. Maybe she’d judged him too soon. “We’re going to need some names.”

Josh got up without a word and, a few minutes later, returned with a piece of paper that looked like it had been ripped out of a notebook. He gave it to Amanda. Two names were scrawled in messy handwriting.

“Just two?” she asked.

“You want more?”

“Are there more?” It had sure sounded like there were a second ago.

“Those two probably disliked her the most.”

“Why?”

“Best you talk to them.”

“Okay,” she dragged out. “Do they both go to Geoffrey Michaels?”

“Uh-huh, at the science center with Chloe.”

“Thank you.” She moved to get up.

“They’re not the only ones by far,” he reiterated.

So much for Chloe’s mother’s claim that her daughter was liked by everyone. It was just the idyllic hopes of a parent.

Josh glanced at Trent. “Surprised that I have to tell you this, that you don’t already know… Or at least I don’t think you do, but Chloe was a brand ambassador on Snap VidPic.”

Amanda had heard of the new social app, which had recently gone viral. She didn’t know much about it other than it was a place for people to share pictures and videos. As for what a brand ambassador was, the generational divide was rearing its head again, and Amanda’s thirty-six years might as well have made her an old lady for the breakdown in communication that was happening.

“What products did she endorse?” Trent said when Amanda hadn’t opened her mouth to speak. He was roughly the same age as Amanda but obviously more knowledgeable with social media.

“Mostly workout wear, but she also did some jewelry. All of it environmentally friendly. No need to even say that, as everything she did was to help the planet. But it also attracted a lot of haters online.”

“For one company or several?” Amanda’s mind wasn’t far from that logo on those flyers.

“Just the one. Planet Rebirth. They’re out of Washington.”

And they come up again…Did Chloe’s murder have something to do with this environmental group or one of their enemies? She’d been found in nature, naked as the day she was born, cleansed, and left with a flower. Still, their involvement would be a great stretch at this point in the investigation, but she’d keep them in mind. “We’ll need her Snap VidPic handle.” At least she knew that much. But in her defense, it wasn’t like she had a reason to be savvy with the new social media site. It probably didn’t help there was a new one popping up every other day either.

Josh rattled off the handle like he’d said it a million times before. “There were some people who got really nasty on there. You’ll notice it if you go to her profile and read the comments.”

Amanda was grateful for the lead but also a touch overwhelmed. Depending on just how popular Chloe had been online, there could be a lot of information to wade through. A lot of false leads. A lot of wasted manpower.

But one step at a time. That was the only way any case ever got solved, and they had somewhere else they needed to be. “My partner and I are going to leave now, but we’re very sorry for your loss.” We’re sorry…? Either that was the first time she’d phrased it that way or it felt different this time. Even Trent glanced over at her.

“I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do without her.” Josh’s gaze fell to the floor briefly, and he sniffled.

“We’re going to have to ask that you stay in the area. Just in case we have more questions. Do you understand?” she asked.

“I’ll do whatever I can to help.”

“Actually, one more question before we go. Does a black orchid mean anything to you?” She’d thought maybe the inquiry would catch him off guard; she never expected absolute confusion.

“No…” He shook his head. “Sounds like it could be a rock band.”

“It’s a flower.”

“Never heard of it.” She could see in his eyes that he didn’t understand why she’d brought it up, but he never verbalized his curiosity.

“We’ll see ourselves out,” she said.

He’d put on a good performance, but it was hard to believe he had no concept of what a black orchid might be.

Back in the car, Trent got the vents blowing some heat, and faced her.

“Do you think he did it?”