Played to Death by Meg Perry

Facebook?”
    Our heads all turned to Kristen simultaneously. Kevin said, “None of us have Facebook accounts.”
    Kristen was astounded. “ Seriously? ”
    Pete said, “It’s not a good idea for cops, or ex-cops, or families of cops, to have a major presence on social media.”
    “Oh.” Kristen considered that for a minute. “I guess that makes sense.” She turned to Kevin. “Well, I’m on Facebook, if you want me to see if I can find anything about your musicians.”
    Kevin grinned. “That works.”
    “Good. Then we’ll do that when we get to the house.” Kristen put her backpack back on. “Let’s climb this mountain.”
    When we got to Kristen’s house, she organized us, putting Liz in charge of condiments and Jeff and Pete in charge of the grill. Ali and Mel changed into swimsuits and got in the pool with Gabe. Jon, Kevin, Kristen and I gathered around her laptop.
    Kristen opened Facebook and said, “What was this girl’s name?”
    Kevin said, “Elena Morales. Pasadena City College.”
    Kristen did the search. I said, “We still might not be able to see her account, right?”
    “Right. It depends on her privacy settings. But…” Kristen clicked on a name. “Here she is.”
    Elena’s page opened up completely. It was full of tributes to her. Kevin said, “Can we read through this?”
    “Sure.” Kristen turned the laptop over to Kevin. “I’ll go supervise the cooks.”
    Kevin, Jon and I read as Kevin scrolled. Jon had his notebook with him and was writing down names of friends. Kevin said, “We’ve talked to most of these people.”
    “Yeah. Check on who’s commenting the most on her posts. Those are probably her best friends.”
    Elena’s page seemed to me to be that of a typical teenager, with comments about music, TV shows and her college classes. Lots of “OMG” and “LOL.” She posted frequent pictures of her cat.
    Jon said, “Had she friended her parents? If so, there’s probably not much useful on here.”
    Kevin checked. “There’s no one else named Morales.”
    We kept reading. At one point Kevin said, “Take a look at this.”
    One of Elena’s friends had posted to her wall. “Did Mr. Wonderful do anything for your birthday?”
    Elena had answered in a comment. “Oh, yeah, he DID something. LOL.”
    Another friend had said, “Did he GIVE you something?”
    Elena’s answer: “Haha. Nothing contagious.”
    Jon sighed. “We need to see how the hackers are doing with Elena’s computer.”

 
    Scott
    One of Scott's favorite writers, Juanita Ortega, was doing a reading from her new book at an indie mystery bookstore in Pasadena on Saturday morning. Scott was determined to keep his mind off Elena’s death and the missing piece of music. He hoped to temporarily lose himself in someone else's problems - even if they were fictional problems.
    When he got to Pasadena, he was pleased to see a good turnout for the reading. He liked the guy that owned the bookstore. It was good to see an independent bookstore of any kind prospering. It crossed his mind that Jamie had brought him here the first time and introduced him to the owner. He put that out of his mind as well. To think about Jamie was to think about his own murder mystery. He’d prefer to forget that.
    He took a seat in the center of the back row just as another man took the seat beside him. Scott glanced his way and was temporarily stunned. The guy was beautiful . Longish dark hair, fine features, broad shoulders, flat abs, and the most incredible blue-gray eyes Scott had ever seen. Those eyes locked with Scott's for a moment and held his gaze, then the guy cocked an eyebrow. “Hi.”
    Scott found his voice somehow. “Hi.” Could the guy possibly be gay?
    The guy flashed a grin, and Scott's knees got a little weak. This guy was fucking stunning . Scott tried to remember the last time when meeting a new guy had produced this kind of reaction in him. He couldn't.
    Gorgeous said, “Have you heard Ortega read