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My parents came to pick up Emma shortly after she found her shoes and I was by myself for a moment and my mind flew back to the one of the most nerve racking moments of my life.

"I would like to call Mr. Wolfgang Caldwell to the stand," my lawyer said as he stood in front of the judge, peering over at the jury. I felt a lump begin to form in my throat and quickly swallowed it. I'd be damned if I let him see how badly he hurt me. Wolfgang made his way tot he front and when he was seated, my lawyer began his attack.

After denying all of the charges against him, Wolfgang looked me straight in the eye and with every ounce of the hatred he had for me he spat out...

The ringing and buzzing of my phone caught me off guard and threw me from my thoughts. "Pataki," I spat into the phone. My past brought out an unpleasant side of me.

"Helga," my partner, Drew Gable, said on the other end of the line. "You need to get here immediately, we got a call and have to go to Brooklyn. The body of a young, rich female was found."

"Is that all you know?" I demanded.

"Well, apparently it's in your old neighborhood," my mouth went dry and I was unable to speak. I hung up and went to the station in a zombie like trance. All I could think of was the list of people women I knew from my old neighborhood. There was Phoebe, Lila, Nadine, Sheena... Rhonda. Fuck. It had to be Rhonda. No one had more money than Rhonda Wellington Lloyd. She was New York's most eligible bachelorette. Before I could comprehend what was happening, tears were stinging my eyes. Why was I crying? I hated Rhonda.

I arrived at the address in no time and the took a deep breath before getting out of the car. In the two years I'd been a detective, I never ran into anyone I had known previously. The crime scene tape surrounded the large townhouse and after showing my badge I made my way in and Gable met me at the front door. "25 year old female," shit, "dark hair," fuck, "blow to the head, possible rape." My heart sunk and my eyes began to burn with unshed tears.

"Rhonda Wellington Lloyd," I said, unaware that I had interrupted Gable.

His sad eyes found mine, "You knew her?"

I quickly wiped the tears from eyes and shook my head slightly, "From grade school." He nodded his head and said nothing more as I put on a glove and bent down to examine the body. I lifted her head slightly and saw the gaping wound in the back of her head and peered around the wound, "Do we have any possible murder weapons?" I inquired.

Gable nodded, "We have a few possibilities. The medical examiner thinks it was a bat or some other blunt object. I, personally think, it was a smaller object," he said motioning for me to follow. We walked deeper into the room of purples and reds. Gable stopped by a shelf and pointed out a small circle on it that was surrounded by dust. "There was something here. Nothing else is missing in the house, so whatever was here was definitely used to kill the stunning young woman." I mentally made a point to investigate what was there.

Rhonda's parents owned the home before they moved to the Hamptons and gave it to their only child. So, they would without a doubt know where it was, but first, Gable and I had to break the news to them.

There was a unit sent out to tell the Lloyd's about their daughter's unfortunate death and they were on their way to talk to Gable and me. I hadn't seem the couple since I graduated high school seven years ago and never thought I would see them again.

The Lloyds made it to the station in record time and thirty minutes from telling them about their daughter we had them in the room for questioning. We were 99% sure they didn't kill her, but we had to rule out ever possibility.

"Helga? Helga Pataki?", Brooke Lloyd said squinting in my direction.

"Detective Pataki," Buckley said, ignoring his wife, "What happened to our baby girl?" he asked. I immediately thought of my own baby girl at home and had to push the thought away.

"I'm so sorry for your loss. Although Rhonda and I were never close she was still a good kind person, who never deserved this." Okay, maybe she wasn't particularly good or kind, but she sure as hell didn't deserve this. "She died of blunt force trauma to the head," I stated simply. I looked over at them and sighed heavily. "I hate to ask you this, but where were you this morning around four am?"

I thought Brooke was going to jump over the table and strangle me, but her husband's hand on her arm calmed her slightly, "We were at Roanoke Vineyards with my in laws," he said taking his wife's hand.

"Alright. We will have to look into that, protocol," I said. The last thing I wanted was to step on their toes. I knew they had a close relationship with their daughter and we may need them, later on. "Now, if you don't mind, we would like to know all of the people Rhonda was around. Friends, boyfriends, family, anyone who might know where she is." I slid a pad of yellow legal paper and a pen across the table and left the room without another word. Gable stayed in the room with them, talking them through the process and occasionally asking about the names on the list.

Meanwhile, I made my way into the viewing room to watch them in the interrogation room. After watching them make their way through the list, Brooke froze. "Gracious," she mumbled pointing to a name on the list and peering over at her husband.

He answered with a shake of the head, "No, it can't be," he said.

Gable peered at the name Brooke pointed to, "Arnold Shortman? Who is that?"

The lump in my throat grew and I felt as if it were suffocating me. I shook my head. "What could Arnold have to do with Rhonda's murder?" she whispered to herself