LOOK UP AT THE STARS

CHAPTER 12 - MURDER

Camila

Some days start off perfectly normal but end up completely bizarre, and that was how this day was for me. I woke up and ate breakfast and showered. I hadn't heard from Shawn yet but I knew from the many progressively mushy and error laden texts that had come through overnight that he had spent a big night with his friends after the show, so he would be lucky to be out of bed in time to catch his flight. I was having a pampering day, so when the call came through around ten am I was still in my pyjamas, sitting out by the pool with Tarzan asleep beside me, a sheet mask on my face, painting my toenails.

I put the polish down and answered the phone. The number was unknown but was a New York number and something told me to answer it.

"Camila?"

"Shawn?" Why was he calling me from a landline? What had happened?

"Where are you calling from?"

"I'm at the police station," he told me which one. "This is my phone call."

"What did you do last night?"

My mind went a bit wild thinking of the various scenarios that would have resulted in Shawn being arrested, and the subsequent publicity disaster that awaited. I groaned inwardly and closed my eyes. Well, this was a job for Andrew, and Shawn's legal and PR teams, I would be waiting with a tapping foot and a frown for him on his return. I didn't like the idea of him being in the jail though, and I was worried, hoping Andrew would spring him soon.

"I didn't do anything, I had a big night and rolled home about four am and went to bed."

"So, why did they arrest you? What do they think you have done?"

I was so confused.

"Mila, Tyler was beaten to death last night, not far from my hotel."

I felt my gorge rise. I had no love for the guy, but I had been married to him, and I didn't really wish that kind of ill will on anyone. I didn't know anyone who had been murdered before.

"That's.....I don't know what to say. It's horrible," I said, then a thought suddenly occurred to me and in horror I asked "are you saying they think YOU did it?"

"Yes, apparently he muttered my name on his death bed and now they think it was me!"

"But you have an alibi! You were with the others!"

"I was until three-thirty, then I walked back to the hotel, it was only a couple of blocks from the bar."

"Shawn! Walking by yourself in New York at 3am! What were you thinking?"

"Well, I was pretty wasted, so I probably wasn't thinking to be honest."

My heart was thumping. Murder. He was being charged with murder?

"Have they charged you?"

"Not yet, they're waiting for a detective to come and talk to me apparently. I hate to ask this, but could you drop Tarzan at your parents' place and come here?"

"Of course, I was coming before you asked. But Shawn, why would he say your name on his deathbed?"

There was a silence and then he almost whispered. "I don't know, I really don't know."

Shawn

I hung up the phone feeling like a complete failure. I didn't want her here, to see me in a place like that, to be opened up to the bad publicity that was sure to follow, but I needed her.

"Hey, pretty boy," the cop came to the door and began to unlock it. "You're lawyer's here, and so is Detective Harris, come on."

He led me upstairs and into an interview room. Andrew and a lawyer I'd never met were there. He hugged me and whispered that everything would be alright, they'd sort it out.