Say Yes to the Death by Susan McBride Page A

caught the distant sound of the outer doors opening and closing downstairs.
    â€œAndy,” Malone’s voice had turned from groggy to panicked, “what the hell’s going on?”
    I said all I had a chance to say before I heard the footsteps on the stairwell. “Olivia La Belle was murdered, and I’m a bit in the thick of it.”
    â€œWhat is that supposed to mean?” he asked.
    â€œJust hurry,” I said and hung up.
    I took deep breaths, trying not to freak out. Would the police think I had something to do with Olivia’s death, too? Would they arrest me and Millie both? What had I gotten myself into?
    I did have enough presence of mind to tell Millie not to say a word until Malone met us at the station.
    â€œI shouldn’t have come,” Millie murmured, wringing hands streaked with drying blood. “I should have ignored the text.” Tears slipped down the older woman’s cheeks beneath her owl-­like glasses.
    I heard noises at the door to the suite before it flew open and the place was suddenly swarming with people, EMTs coming first followed by a pair of uniformed police.
    â€œI’m the one who called,” I said as they took in the scene. “I think Olivia La Belle was attacked,” I added in a croak.
    The officers—­a short middle-­aged white male followed by a tall young woman—­quickly ushered me and Millie into the anteroom, away from Olivia, so the EMTs had enough room to do their thing.
    â€œAre you injured, ma’am?” the female cop asked Millie, and I saw her name tag said SHANDS.
    â€No,” Millie replied and started shaking hard.
    I put a hand on her shoulder. “She’s in shock,” I told the cops. “She found Olivia with the knife in her neck and tried to help her.”
    Before either could respond, one of the EMTs emerged from Olivia’s office, blood all over the latex gloves on his hands.
    â€œIs she gonna make it?” the male cop asked, and the paramedic shook his head.
    Millie loudly wept.
    Officer Shands cursed under her breath. Then she nodded at her partner. “Let’s secure the scene.” She gave me a hard look. “Don’t either of you so much as twitch,” she instructed, before turning to speak into her shoulder mic. I heard her mention a “DB” and my head began to swim as everything started to fully sink in.
    Olivia La Belle would no longer push around Millie or anyone like her. My prep school bully was now a DB, and that didn’t mean dumb blonde. It meant dead body.
    Ding dong, the Wedding Belle was gone. I just hoped to God there was a guilty butcher or candlestick maker out there and it wasn’t the baker who killed her.

Chapter 10
    M alone was waiting at the police station—­aka the Highland Park Department of Public Safety—­when I arrived in the back of a squad car. He had on blue jeans and sneakers, and his face looked unshaven and grim. Millie had been whisked away from Olivia’s office in a separate patrol car. Officer Shands and her partner had separated us as soon as their backup appeared along with officers from the Criminal Investigations Division and a van from the county morgue.
    I knew from every cop show I’d ever watched that witnesses at crime scenes were kept apart so they didn’t start talking and change their stories or let someone else’s perception skew what they’d really seen. I realized, too, that Millie was probably more than a witness in their minds, especially with all that blood smeared on her clothing. And maybe I was a suspect, too. They’d taken my cell phone—­the second time in two days I’d had to give it up—­and my driver’s license along with it.
    But I was far more worried for Millie than for myself. She’d looked so lost and afraid when they led her away. Even from afar I had seen her hands shaking. I heard a detective tell her that she