Suspect #3.

The HR Director. 

Lila has beautiful blonde hair. The kind that you see on shampoo ads. The kind you swear is a wig, it is too lustrous to be real. She flips said hair over her shoulder as she walks down the long corridor separating my old office from hers. 

Has she just been with Kenny again? 

I cringe at the thought. Poor Kenny's wife. So terrible. Wrong on so many levels. 

"Hmm...almond milk, tofu, the expensive lotion, I need to get to the store after work."

She likes to eat as healthy as possible. Not unlike myself, when I was alive. In fact, we have a lot in common. We could have been friends if not for her personality. And the bit of an age gap. Though I didn't mind, but Lila did. She never socialized with any of the younger staff. 

'The bitch' is what most of my peers called her. Anyone caught having to go see her for a dispute or work issue came out in a bad mood. She took no guff, from anyone. Luckily, I kept my head down at work and never had to see her in that capacity. Except for staff meetings. My section was responsible for attending every daily one. 

Tio and myself along with Kenny had to listen and take notes. We answered all the comments on the major sites our hotel was listed under and as such, needed to be in the loop on what was happening in every section. Housekeeping changing up the way they cleaned? Noted. Dining adding new menu items? Noted. It was tedious but interesting work. 

Lila stops by the legal office, sticking her head inside. I come to an abrupt halt in the air behind her. 

What is she doing?!

I used to date Marcus, our company lawyer. Rage boils up inside me. Lila couldn't have Kenny and Marcus! 

"Hey handsome. Ready for the meeting?" 

Her sickly fake voice makes me even angrier. 

"Oh hey Lila. Not yet. I'm handling a case. I'll be down when I can, need to consult my boss." 

"Anything I can help you with?" 

"Unless you have a law degree, no." 

Marcus smiles at her, flashing the cutest dimples in the process. I had really liked him. We only stopped dating because of time. He was always working. 

"I forgot to ask you, did you hear how Leilani died?" 

She was a bitch. 

"Lila, I won't speak ill of the dead, and I liked her, you know that." 

I move so I was next to him, staring back at Lila. Her face drops. Good. She finally got the hint and shrugs, then moves on. I want to see how Marcus was doing since I'd passed but not right now...he was busy. As usual. 

Rejoining Lila, my spirit feels uneasy. The overwhelming urge to know what had happened to me was slowly creeping in. Hopefully, I'd be able to figure this out. And soon. 

"Detectives!" 

🩸

Positioning myself in the corner, I watch the scene unfolding. 

Detective Keele and detective Jones were sitting, as they usually did in these 'interviews'. I assumed that's what they'd call these meetings. Only they weren't recording them like you'd see in a murder or crime show. Instead they just scrawl words onto the pages of individual notebooks. 

Detective Jones takes the lead in questioning this time. 

"Tell me, how long have you been having an affair with the head of guest services?" 

"I...well...Kenny and I are just colleagues. I don't know what you've heard, but you're mistaken." 

"You were seen kissing him on many occasions in the parking garages. Both the employee and general guest parking." 

"Seen by who??" 

Her face turns crimson from its usual light tan coloring. I gloat in her getting caught. What she was doing was wrong. There was something satisfying seeing the head of HR held to her own standard of employee conduct.

"Cameras are everywhere Lila. I can call you that, correct?" 

"Yes, Lila is fine. I don't understand. Cameras supposedly saw us kissing? How preposterous." 

Detective Keele decides to take a turn now. 

"Let's view the feed, shall we?" 

He opens the video on his cell phone but Lila shakes her head no. She is caught and knows it. 

"I don't need to see it. So we did kiss. So what? What does this have to do with Leilani?"

"It has everything to do with her actually. She knew about your affair didn't she?"

Her face takes on a look of genuine horror. She turns more red if that is possible. 

"Leilani?! She didn't know. How could she have?"

Detective Keele taps his pen against the desk in a rhythmic motion. It was something new I hadn't seen him do yet. Interesting. He had a tick? Clearly he was thinking, that or he was stalling. 

"We think she knew. And we think she told Kenny...."

I didn't know! I just found out yesterday, when they confronted Kenny. Where was he going with this?

"She didn't know. Kenny would have told me."

"But you didn't like her did you?"

"I....I didn't know her very well. How could I have formed an opinion on her?"

"You didn't like her because she was young, attractive and single. And she worked with your married boyfriend."

Slowly it was dawning on me. The detectives were forming motives. This is why they were doing these impromptu interviews. To find where each person was hiding something that pointed towards my murder. They were all suspects. 

"I was not jealous of her! If that is what you're implying! Kenny didn't think of her in that way."

"So, tell us Lila, where were you two mornings ago around 5 am?"

🩸

5 am. 

The time was stuck in my mind. It was the first that I had heard indicating a time of death. I died at 5 am. Or so the detectives had eluded. What could I have been doing? I usually get up early and sometimes I surf, sometimes I run or jog. Other times I do go on the rooftop to watch the sun rise. 

I must have been up on the roof. That is where I fell from, or was it? I didn't know. 

"Kenny, did Leilani know about us??"

Lila holds her phone to her ear and in a shocking surprise, she puts it on speaker. I am still with her, wanting to catch anything she might say or do to try and get more answers. She told the detectives she had been at home with her husband at the time they inquired about, but it had felt contrived, her answer. 

"I don't think she did. She never ever mentioned it to me!"

"The detectives were here. They grilled me and said they had evidence that we kissed in the parking garages.."

"They what?!" 

"Yes! Video evidence!! How could we have been so stupid?! We thought we could outsmart the cameras. Clearly that didn't work!"

"What did they say they were going to do about it?"

"Nothing...nothing. They are trying to establish a motive obviously. They think by implying Leilani knew, I would go apeshit or something."

The line is silent except for faint office sounds. 

"Are you there Kenny??"

"Yeah....I'm here. Did you do something to her?"

Lila's eyes flare open wildly and she grabs a stress ball with  her claw like manicure, squeezing tightly. It is unsettling and gives me the heebie jeebies.

"I cannot believe you'd think I would do something like that. Murder?! Are you insane?"

"Does Kale know?"

"How could he know? I haven't told him. Does Vanessa know?"

"Of course not."

"Then there you go. No one but us knows we are seeing each other."

Lila was not convinced, she rocks her heels and stands up. Pacing the floor in an erratic manner. 

"Did the detective ask you where you were at 5 o'clock?" 

"No. He only asked about the time I got here. Why? Did he ask you that?"

She stops walking and her face twists, contorting to convey disgust.

"I've got to go. Keep this hush hush."

"Ok but..."

Lila hangs up on Kenny mid sentence then sits at her desk. I am beyond confused now. Where was she really at two mornings ago? She told the detectives she was just waking up and getting her day started, at home. But it seemed contrived. As if she was reaching for an explanation. 

Could she have killed me? Did she know where I lived? And what would her motive be?

Jealousy. Has to be. 

Kenny was her obsession and he was my boss. We spent all our time together. I was younger and better looking, at least my body was. Kenny hadn't shown an interest in me in that manner but what if Lila thought he did. Just a thought can lead to irrational behavior. 

This was becoming too complicated. Even for my college educated mind. Which was still clearly functional from the grave. I hover behind Lila's computer, but only see her opening a site for shopping. Her phone is quiet. There isn't any proof of anything. 

Deciding that I was done here, I scan her desk one last time and a notepad by her pen holder sticks out. It is small, the lettering, but I can see it. 

My name.

~ This book is Copyrighted by K E Jennings and only available on Wattpad. if you are reading this on another site, it has been stolen without permission or monetary payment to the said author. ~

🩸🩸Thank you for voting and commenting🩸🩸

What do you think of Lila?

🌴

Fun Hawaiian Fact: Instead of smog, Hawaii frequently gets vog. Volcanic smoke that floats over and blankets islands.