Read Tacked to Death for Free Online

she thought she heard a door shut. There was no door
to the kitchen, only swinging panels. The only doors were either
the back one or the office. Must've been Camden grabbing
something.
    She dressed and headed back to the
office to find her hairbrush and some lip gloss. Placing the key in
the lock, she discovered that the door was already open. Hadn't she
locked it when she showered? She didn't want anyone going in there,
especially with her things around. Maybe in her haste she'd
forgotten.
    Michaela opened the door. It took a
second to sink in that what she was looking at wasn't just a pile
of discarded clothes…oh, she was looking at a pile of clothes, all
right, but not just clothes—clothes with someone in them. Blue
jeans, white T-shirt with red sprayed across it. Red. No. Blood!
Everywhere. Michaela looked down again. A polo mallet. Next to the
clothes. Her polo mallet. Oh no. Next to a body. Sterling Taber's
body. And the back of his head all bashed in.
    Five
    Michaela knew that Sterling was dead
and all she wanted to do was get the hell out of there, but her
conscience made her check just to be sure. She bent down next to
his body. He was not breathing. His eyes were rolled back, showing
the whites. She scrambled backward, ran out of the office and into
the bathroom, where she threw up several times.
    She faced the bathroom mirror, blinked
her eyes repeatedly. Was this really happening? Then it hit her:
What if whoever did this was still around? What if they were hiding
in her office or just outside the bathroom door? She had to find
Camden. No, she had to call the police. No, she had to find Camden.
Hell. Security guards. Yes. They'd hired a couple to man the tent
outside. Start there. No. The police. Shit! She stepped out of the
bathroom hesitantly, then ran to the front of the store. They'd
locked the doors when they'd started serving lunch, except the back
door for the waitstaff going in and out of the kitchen. Dammit, why
didn't she just go out the back door? Her mind raced with
confusion. She turned and headed to the back of the store again,
everything she passed a blur of colors.
    "Michaela?"
    Mario Sorvino was walking through the
back door as she reached it. He looked at her oddly. "Is everything
okay? You look a little pale."
    "We have to call the police.
St-Sterling Taber has been…murdered in my office."
    "What? No." He shook his
head.
    She nodded.
    "Stay here," he said. He headed toward
her office.
    Michaela suddenly realized that she
wasn't too comfortable staying put. Mario Sorvino hadn't exactly
proven to her that he was a good guy with his earlier remarks. No
way. She was out of there.
    Once out through the back door, she
stopped the closest guest walking by. "Do you have a cell phone? I
need to use it. It's an emergency."
    The woman, dumbfounded, handed her a
phone and Michaela dialed 911. "There's been a murder," she said,
her voice shaking. The operator took down the details and told her
that help would be on the way. She then went to find Camden, who
was marching models onto the stage.
    "Michaela! Have you seen Sterling?
Jeez, I hope that little stunt the makeup girl pulled didn't chase
him away. It's not good. See all those women out there? They are
here to see him," she wailed.
    In a sort of fast-forward daze,
Michaela was aware that Camden had pulled back the drapes inside
the tent where the show was going on and pointed to the crowd, but
she couldn't see anything. It was all a blur. Oh God, she thought
she might be sick again.
    Camden turned to Juliet, who had just
tripped over one of the acoustic cords, and said, "Hurry up, get
out there. You need to be up there." Then she asked, "Have you seen
Sterling?"
    Juliet shook her head. "No, I haven't.
I don't know if I can do this. I've never modeled before! There's a
ton of people out there. I didn't know I'd get so
nervous!"
    Zach Holden was just coming off the
stage. He looked at Juliet and asked her if she was okay. She
nodded. "I'm