SSMM Ch31

It makes sense to start with the victim.

“Towels,” Ingrid murmurs, making her way around the huge bathroom. She touches the towels that hang beautifully on the rack. Jane’s handiwork, no doubt.

She’s paying particular attention to the water on the tile floor. She kneels and touches one small puddle, then sniffs the water.

Annette provides Aubrey’s full name, and Ava Googles.

Aubrey is most active on Instagram. She has all the socials, but most haven’t been used in ages. The pics look ordinary enough. Aubrey’s hot and she knows it, or she was and she did—there are some thirst traps, mostly swimsuits and beaches. They seem typical enough to Ava for someone in a trophy wife role.

There are Red Carpet pics. Aubrey’s been to three premiers with Viv. She always looks gorgeous and happy, like there’s nowhere she’d rather be.

Ava notices that Aubrey’s social media posts become less frequent as time goes by. And a little less thirsty.

As far as interactions go, she draws some cruel comments online due to Viv’s reputation. There are a couple of heated exchanges, but those too seem to be rare. Aubrey didn’t get a lot of press, although she will now.

She has a small wiki page. It looks like Aubrey started out as an actress herself; Ava sees a couple of small TV roles, nothing recurring. Aubrey had been cast as a stripper in a club that Viv’s character had a gun battle in when Viv dipped a toe into the ‘Taken/John Wick, except a woman,’ genre. The movie had been considered mediocre, although Viv’s performance had been praised. It’s easy enough to imagine how Aubrey might have caught her eye.

All it says is that they met on the set of the film; there’s no detail about any possible affair, although a quick search shows that they met while Viv was rumored to be having some kind of thing with Kristen Stewart. Ava doubts that Kristen Stewart did this.

“She seems like just what you’d think,” Annette murmurs.

Ava can only nod in agreement. If anything, Aubrey seems less awful than Ava’s prejudices would lead her to expect.

Ingrid frequently speaks to Ebba in Swedish, and Ebba does something with her phone and reports back. Ingrid is having Ebba do her research for her. Ava wishes she spoke Swedish.

“Can we cover her up?” she asks suddenly, breaking the stillness in the room as Ingrid stands over the body.

Ingrid looks over her shoulder at Ava and hesitates.

“Not yet. I am sorry,” she says.

“It’s OK.” Ava turns her back on the dead body. She feels sick.

“OK,” Ingrid says, sweeping the room one last time with her eyes. They linger on the tub, the window, the towels, the light fixture, and finally on the body. She looks up at Kia, then steps carefully over the corpse, avoiding the water.

Kia tenses as the blonde approaches in her jammies and slippers.

“May I look at your eyes?” Ingrid asks.

“I feel weird. I was so mad. I…” Kia puts her hand on her forehead and blinks, shaking her head.

“Please,” Ingrid says.

“OK.”

Ingrid leans in to peer at Kia’s eyes.

“Did you take something?”

“What?”

“Did you take something?” Ingrid repeats.

“I mean, I had a drink.”

“Are you tired?”

“How could anyone be fucking tired?” Kia demands with a laugh. Then she realizes that she just laughed and covers her mouth. “What the fuck is wrong with me?”

Ava’s eyes widen.

“Holy shit,” she says.

Everyone looks at her. She points a finger at Kia. Kia wears a tiny pair of shorts with a velvety sheen and an undershirt that can’t hide the fact that she’s wearing a serious black bra underneath, but it’s the shorts that have Ava’s attention. Kia’s discreetly rubbing her palms across the fabric.

“Molly,” Ava says, snapping her fingers. “Can’t believe I didn’t notice.” It makes sense, though. Kia was upset. She cared about Aubrey. But she is high as a kite right now.

“Did you take something?” Ingrid asks one more time.

“Jesus. No.” Kia looks down at her hands in panic.

“Stay calm,” Ingrid tells her, perfectly placid. “Jane, please invite everyone in.”

“OK. Sure. For what it’s worth,” Jane says, pausing by the door. “Aubrey was a little off, too. When we came up here earlier. Eyeballs.” Jane points at her eye, then goes to the door. “Everyone in.”

It shows how palatial the bathroom is, where everyone can fit.

Ingrid watches carefully as each person enters the room and sees the body. There are winces, grimaces, and lots of wide eyes. Nobody screams or faints; they’ve had plenty of time, standing out there, to prepare.

Belinda is stony, arms folded.

Karina chews her lip, her eyes on the corpse.

Hailey doesn’t seem upset; merely distant.

Ebba is grave and serious.

Chitose’s face betrays nothing.

Cristy has a hand over her mouth. She isn’t crying, but there’s emotion.

Jane seems sad.

Kia is on MDMA, and her emotions are complicated.

“I have questions for some of you,” Ingrid announces.

Who should Ava check out next?