Ch.37: Possible Suspects

"Okay, so these are the names of everyone who was at that party?" I said, looking at the list that Jude had drawn up.

"Yeah," he said.

His voice was flat, and I couldn't blame him. He'd already acknowledged that someone he knew was responsible, but it must feel a million times worse now that we were actively trying to narrow down the names.

He stood opposite me at the breakfast bar, his mouth pulled tight, his eyes restlessly scanning the list. Elle sat beside me, her hair gathered into an elegant ponytail, small diamonds glittering in her earlobes.

"We can rule Annie out, right?" she said.

"No," said Jude at once.

"Can we rule anyone out?"

Jude didn't answer.

Elle turned to me. "You're absolutely sure it was a woman following you yesterday?"

I nodded. I hadn't seen her face, but the shape of her body, and the way she moved, that had been female through and through.

Elle's forehead furrowed. "And are you absolutely sure it was a man in the bathroom at Rush?"

"You know any women with boots that size?" I said.

"But you only saw the boots, right?"

"Yeah."

"So you don't know who was wearing them."

"If we knew that, we wouldn't be sitting here now," Jude said.

"No, I mean, you literally only saw this guy's boots, so how can you be absolutely sure that it was a guy and not a woman wearing guy's boots?" Elle said.

"Because that's silly," I said.

"Is it?"

It was, but was it really any sillier than anything else that had happened? Suddenly I wasn't so sure.

"Whoever phoned you the morning after was a guy. There's no doubt about that," Jude said.

Elle deflated. "Oh yeah."

Jude sighed. "But clearly we can't assume it's only a guy."

I bent over the list, studying Jude's crooked handwriting. "I feel pretty useless here, guys. I didn't even meet any of these people until recently."

"Yeah, well, apparently knowing them for years means jack-shit, because one of them's behind this," said Jude darkly. "Or maybe more than one."

I rubbed the back of his hand. "I don't know where to start. A crazy ex? Someone you rejected or otherwise pissed off?"

"That could be a long list, considering some of the shit Darrell and I pulled in the past," Jude muttered.

"If we're starting with crazy exes, then Natalie Sokolova should be at the top of the list," Elle said. "You guys have been broken up for a year, and she's still bitching about it."

Jude looked surprised. "She is?"

Elle looked at me, and I shrugged. Natalie had sold interview after interview when she and Jude broke up, and none of them had painted a flattering picture of him, but gradually public interest had moved on, as it always does. Natalie had got on with her life. Although, she had still seemed pretty bitter at that party.

Elle pulled up something on her phone and held the screen up so I could see it.

I read the title of the article aloud. "Model Natalie Sokolova has a few words of advice for Jude Scott's new wife." I raised my eyes to Elle. "What the hell is this?"

"This is Natalie indulging what still appears to be her favourite hobby – trashing Jude." Elle took her phone back before I could read more. "I'll spare you the details; it's just another rant of everything she thinks he did wrong during their relationship. Some of it's real, some of it's completely pulled out of her ass."

Elle shook her head and shot Jude a stern look. "I'll never understand how you couldn't see what a conniving bitch she is."

"Why did you break up with her?" I asked Jude.

"She wanted to get married and I didn't. We both wanted different things from the relationship, so I ended it," Jude said.

"She didn't take it very well," Elle helpfully added.

"I remember," I said.

"Why do you think she's still pissed about it?" Jude asked.

"Didn't you notice she was at your party a couple of weeks ago?" Elle said.

"Yeah, she came with Cole. She was fine with me."

"Well, she wasn't fine with me," I said.

"What do you mean?"

"She was very surprised that you picked me, out of all the women in the world. She probably would have said a lot more if I hadn't told her to fuck off."

Jude's lips tipped up. "That's my girl," he said.

Warmth sparked in my chest. There was nothing I liked more than being his girl.

Elle cleared her throat. "Can you guys save the eye-humping for when I'm not here?"

I looked away from Jude.

"We all thought that Natalie had moved on, but judging from the way she reacted to Camden, she hasn't. That's why she should be at the top of the list," Elle said.

"You really think she's capable of this?" Jude said.

"I think she still has feelings for you, and she's still pissed about being dumped."

"That doesn't make her a stalker."

I put my hand on Jude's again, rubbing my fingertips across the stars on his knuckles. "In the nicest possible way, you were completely oblivious to Annie's feelings for you, so maybe you misjudged Natalie too."

"Wait, Annie?" Elle said.

I looked up at Jude, wordlessly asking if it was okay to share this, and he gave a little nod. I told Elle what had happened with Annie. Elle's eyes were wide by the end.

"Um, okay, maybe Annie should be at the top of the list," she said.

"Why do you think she's been given some time off," I said.

Elle gave me a hurt look. "I can't believe you guys didn't tell me about this."

"There's been a lot going on," Jude said.

"Okay, back to Natalie," I said. "If she's still this mad about the breakup, we have to consider her, right?"

Elle considered it, nibbling daintily at her lower lip. "The more I think about it, the more I have my doubts. Can anyone really imagine Natalie Sokolova clomping about in men's biker boots?"

"I don't know her. I have no idea what she's capable of," I said. Then something occurred to me. "What about Cole Roth? He brought Natalie to the party; if she is behind this, could he be helping her?"

Jude shook his head. "Nope. Cole can be a real bastard sometimes, but he wouldn't do something like this."

"How do you know?"

"He toured with me, remember? We spent months living in each other's pocket, and I got to know him pretty well. Cole's fucked up, I won't pretend he's not, but he doesn't try to hide it. He wouldn't sneak around trying to scare someone, and he wouldn't jump just because some model told him to."

"She's not just any model, though, is she? She's one of the world's most famous supermodels," Elle pointed out.

"And Cole's one of the world's most famous rockstars. Darrell and I have had our share of groupies, and so have Darius and Rhydian, but trust me, when it comes to women, Cole has us all beat. Natalie being a supermodel wouldn't impress him," Jude said.

"Then why did he bring her?" I asked.

Jude shrugged. "He likes having a pretty girl on his arm."

"Even when that pretty girl is your ex?"

"He probably doesn't remember that I dated her. He's probably already forgotten her name."

"Has he really got that bad?" Elle asked.

Jude nodded.

"Then how can you still say for sure that you know what he is or isn't capable of?" said Elle quietly.

Jude's jaw worked, but he said nothing.

"Three years ago, Darrell Deal was your closest friend in the world. You would have trusted him with your life, and I probably would have too. But we both know he's not the same man he once was, and we sure as hell can't trust him now, can we?"

Still Jude said nothing.

"Why do you think Cole's any different?" Elle asked.

"Because Cole's not an addict."

"Are you sure about that?" I said, remembering the way he'd looked the morning after that party, like he'd been cracked open and hollowed out, and the way he'd clutched that vodka like a lifeline.

"Cole is dependent on booze and drugs, but he's not addicted to them," Jude insisted.

"Dependency is the last stop before addiction," I said.

Jude gave me a pained look.

"Besides, how much time have you spent with him lately?" Elle added.

Jude was silent again.

"Maybe you should ask Darius if he thinks Cole's an addict," Elle said.

"Why would Darius know?" I said.

"Cole's toured with Incarcerated more than he has with Angels & Demons. He got pretty close with Darius and Rhydian. I'm guessing you know that Rhydian was a cokehead?"

I nodded. "He's clean now, though, isn't he?"

"I think so. Darius has his own history of substance abuse but, like Jude, he's always been able to walk away from it if he wanted to. When he realised that Rhydian had developed a real problem, he put everything into helping Rhydian get clean."

"Like you tried to do with Darrell," I said, gazing at Jude.

He looked at me and his eyes were full of shadows. "Except Darius helped his friend. I let mine down."

"Heroin is a very different beast to coke. Stop beating yourself up," Elle said. "The point I was trying to make is that Darius saved Rhydian and now I think he's trying to save Cole. But judging how wasted Cole was at that party, Darius hasn't managed it yet. So why don't you call him and ask him if he thinks Cole's crossed that line into addiction? Why don't you ask him what he thinks Cole might be capable of now?"

Jude blinked and looked away, and my heart squeezed because I thought I knew why Jude didn't want to make that call. He didn't want to face that he might be losing another friend to the claws of addiction.

But if there was even a chance, however small, that Cole was involved with this, then we needed to know.

"Jude," I said, and placed my hand on his arm. His muscles were tense. "Cole was at Rush that night."

"I know," he said, in a low voice.

"Then can we at least ask Darius? Please?"

Jude deeply exhaled. "Yeah, okay. But I'm not doing this over the phone. I'll go see him, face to face."

"You want us to come?" I asked.

Jude cupped my face and placed a soft kiss on my lips. "You stay here with Elle."

Elle said nothing as Jude grabbed his jacket, petted Digger goodbye, and left the loft, but the moment the door closed behind him, she turned to me, her eyes bright with determination.

"While he's doing that, we're going to make a visit of our own," she said.

"We are?"

"Yep. We're going to see Natalie Sokolova."