So I Married a Rockstar

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Ch.37: Possible Suspects

"Okay, so these are the names of everyone who was at that party?" I said, looking at the list that Jude had drawn up.

"Yeah," he said.

His voice was flat, and I couldn't blame him. He'd already acknowledged that someone he knew was responsible, but it must feel a million times worse now that we were actively trying to narrow down the names.

He stood opposite me at the breakfast bar, his mouth pulled tight, his eyes restlessly scanning the list. Elle sat beside me, her hair gathered into an elegant ponytail, small diamonds glittering in her earlobes.

"We can rule Annie out, right?" she said.

"No," said Jude at once.

"Can we rule anyone out?"

Jude didn't answer.

Elle turned to me. "You're absolutely sure it was a woman following you yesterday?"

I nodded. I hadn't seen her face, but the shape of her body, and the way she moved, that had been female through and through.

Elle's forehead furrowed. "And are you absolutely sure it was a man in the bathroom at Rush?"

"You know any women with boots that size?" I said.

"But you only saw the boots, right?"

"Yeah."

"So you don't know who was wearing them."

"If we knew that, we wouldn't be sitting here now," Jude said.

"No, I mean, you literally only saw this guy's boots, so how can you be absolutely sure that it was a guy and not a woman wearing guy's boots?" Elle said.

"Because that's silly," I said.

"Is it?"

It was, but was it really any sillier than anything else that had happened? Suddenly I wasn't so sure.

"Whoever phoned you the morning after was a guy. There's no doubt about that," Jude said.

Elle deflated. "Oh yeah."

Jude sighed. "But clearly we can't assume it's only a guy."

I bent over the list, studying Jude's crooked handwriting. "I feel pretty useless here, guys. I didn't even meet any of these people until recently."

"Yeah, well, apparently knowing them for years means jack-shit, because one of them's behind this," said Jude darkly. "Or maybe more than one."

I rubbed the back of his hand. "I don't know where to start. A crazy ex? Someone you rejected or otherwise pissed off?"

"That could be a long list, considering some of the shit Darrell and I pulled in the past," Jude muttered.

"If we're starting with crazy exes, then Natalie Sokolova should be at the top of the list," Elle said. "You guys have been broken up for a year, and she's still bitching about it."

Jude looked surprised. "She is?"

Elle looked at me, and I shrugged. Natalie had sold interview after interview when she and Jude broke up, and none of them had painted a flattering picture of him, but gradually public interest had moved on, as it always does. Natalie had got on with her life. Although, she had still seemed pretty bitter at that party.

Elle pulled up something on her phone and held the screen up so I could see it.

I read the title of the article aloud. "Model Natalie Sokolova has a few words of advice for Jude Scott's new wife." I raised my eyes to Elle. "What the hell is this?"