Read Blackmail for Free Online Page B

good.”
    “I was, until I made the biggest mistake of my life.” Avery explained how she had been drugged while at a bar, set up with a strange woman and then blackmailed to perform at the strip club.
    A knock interrupted them. Gabe stood, opened the door, paid the delivery boy and set the food on the table. While he removed containers from the carry bags, Avery organized plates, eating utensils and two candles.
    Gabe emptied the water from his glass into the sink and found another glass in an overhead cupboard.
    Avery followed what he was doing with a questioning expression on her face.
    “Soda?” Gabe held up the glasses.
    “Yes, please.”
    Avery lit the candles which cast a glow over the room, softening its dilapidated austerity. It would have been romantic at any other time.
    They sat at the table and spooned rice and various meats onto their plates. Gabe filled their glasses. Once settled, he spoke again.
    “Why didn't you go to the police?”
    “Vince, the owner of the club, said if I didn't do exactly as I was told, he would release the pictures for all to see. I couldn't risk it, so, like the other girls, I did as I was told. It would have broken daddy's heart if he’d seen them.”
    “But the pictures are online anyway. The Detectives investigating Tegan's murder found them.” He paused before asking the question that had lingered on his lips since entering the apartment. “Were you my sister's lover?”
    “Fuck, no.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    “I was filling in for Tegan the night after she must have been murdered. When she didn't show, I was called in. Vince and I argued, mother and daddy were dead so it didn't matter to me who saw the pictures.” She shrugged. “I quit. The following day my boss, ex-boss, was sent the link, saw the photos and fired me. The pictures on the internet are fakes. Tegan and I were never naked together. She was only eighteen for fucks sake.”
    “Fifteen,” Gabe corrected quietly.
    Avery dropped her fork as her head jerked up. “What?”
    “My baby sister was fifteen not eighteen. She was still at school.”
    “Shit. Vince mentioned she was eighteen and Tegan never said any different. She was probably too scared. How the fuck did she end up in the club? She was too young to have been set up in a bar like me.”
    “I don't know why she was there. I was hoping you could tell me. She was a great student, top of her class. She didn't drink or do drugs, heaven knows I had lectured her about them often enough and, she swore she would never touch them. She did go to the occasional party. Maybe that's where they got her.”
    “Maybe, I just don't know. It was something we didn't talk about.”
    “Was there anyone at the club who had threatened her?”
    “There was one man. Marty. A fucking asshole. He was always at her. Often I would replace Tegan on stage because he would come into the dressing room and reduce her to tears. I wanted to go to the police but she wouldn't let me. She was terrified and made me promise not to. I understand why, now.” Avery smiled at Gabe. “She wouldn't have wanted her big brother to know where she was and what she was doing.”
    “I wouldn't have cared. I would have helped her if I had known.”
    “I know you would have.” And, somehow, Avery did know he would have helped his baby sister. No matter what.
    “This Marty, did he harass all of you girls?”
    “Not that I know of. I worked the same nights as Rachel and Tegan. He didn't even speak to us.”
    Gabe's brows drew together as he frowned. “I wonder why he only picked on her.”
    “I wish I knew more. I wish I could help you figure it out.”
    “You have helped me so much. You can't tell me anything you don't know.”
    “I know Marty killed Tegan. I can't prove it, I just know. I don't think Vince knows anything about it. He gave me the impression he thought she had run off. That’s probably why he picked her to set up in the pictures with me. He wanted her to pay