Prologue
Sam Price knelt down next to the body, white nitrile gloves covering his hands so as not to leave fingerprints. She lay peacefully on the floor, her skin ashen and her eyes half open. No struggle happened here. Nothing was askew or out of place except a bottle of water spilled on the floor that she probably dropped as she fell to the ground. She had been dead several hours by the time housekeeping found her. The poor little Latina was so rattled, she was still sobbing as she gave a statement in a neighboring room that had been provided for them by management.
Although there weren’t immediate signs of foul play, they took photos and collected evidence because 19 year old girls didn’t show up in hotel rooms dead very often. But the initial investigation was yielding nothing to suggest someone else had a hand in what happened here.
But Sam didn’t agree.
Over ten years investigating homicides gave him good instincts. He hadn’t been wrong very many times and his instincts told him this scene had a story behind it. Pretty young girl, aspiring model, which meant she had been vulnerable to unsavory types as she looked for ways to promote herself and further her career. They often found themselves in the sex trade, or performing demeaning acts, or worse... some they found dead.
He lightly touched a lock of her bleached blond hair to brush it away from her face. She had on makeup, and a nice slinky black dress. She had met with someone, or was planning to meet with someone. That could prove interesting later. His eyes panned over the scene and caught something just under the bed. He reached over and plucked it up carefully and placed it in an evidence bag. Her phone. This would probably tell them a lot about the last few minutes of Alyssa McNaughton’s life.
