Inspector Rames

Chapter 53

Iberia Mills had lived in a brownstone building just one street away, built on grey concrete against a dull sky. Cassia and I walked there with her pathologist robot a step behind us, lost in thought.

We entered the building and rode a lift up to the second floor. Iberia's flat wasn't too far down the hallway, easy to identify because she'd chosen to replace the standard black wood with a sheet of mirrored glass. A PRB was standing on duty outside it, watching us with eerie blue eyes.

Near the robot were Detective Constable Emily Laney and a young woman who looked like Ruby Beaumont. A folding umbrella hung limply between her fingers, glowing neon blue.

I flashed my warrant card at the PRB, and it handed us two forensic suits before stepping aside. I was grateful that I didn't have to make a verbal request -- they rarely did what I asked them to.

I left Cassia to suit up and enter the flat with her robot assistant, drifting towards the young woman instead. Laney was attempting to take an informal statement from her, but she fell silent as I halted beside them.

"Inspector Rames." I held my warrant card up again. "Are you Jade Beaumont?"

"Yes." The woman's voice thickened, and her lower lips trembled. "I was the one who... I kept ringing the doorbell, but Iberia wasn't responding. Oh, God..."

"What time did you arrive?"

"Just before ten. We were supposed to arrive between ten and half ten so that we could begin getting ready for the afternoon ceremony -- she was getting married."

"Who to?"

"Ethan Sharpe." She scrubbed away a tear. "Someone will have to tell him."

"Leave that to us." I glanced at the detective constable. "Laney, could you sort it?"

"Yes, ma'am." She broke away from us.

I turned back to Jade. "You were a bridesmaid?"

"Yes. And the others should be here soon." She looked over my shoulder anxiously.

"What are their names?"

"Danielle -- Ethan's sister -- and Ruby."

"Ruby Beaumont? Your sister?"

"Yes." Her eyes came back to mine and narrowed. "How do you know that?"

Oh, fuck. It was the moment I'd been dreading.

"I'm very sorry, Jade. Ruby was stabbed to death this morning."

***

When Laney returned, I left her with a hysterical Jade and instructions to let me know when the remaining bridesmaid turned up. Until she did, all the other answers would be inside.

I attached my ilenz, then put my forensic suit on and approached the front door. It had been left open a crack so that we didn't have to keep requesting access, and I almost smiled as I entered the crime scene. If Alex had been here, he would have already disengaged the doorbell system to solve that problem.

The entrance hall was plain: bright magnolia walls, pine floors, and not a hologram photograph in sight. It smelled of cheap perfume and instant coffee, but expenses had been splashed out on the doors, which were all mirrored.

Ahead of me, Cassia was bending over something in the bedroom, her blonde ponytail flopping forward. She didn't notice my arrival, so I postponed meeting the body in favour of passing through the only other open door.

It led to a small kitchen, arranged in a galley style with a little blue table at the back of the room. The counters were clear, but the table was piled with real wedding magazines and bits of breakfast debris. A mug emblazoned with BREAKING NEWS: CAFFEINE TIME was balanced on an old, clunky tablet.