“Speaking of which, let me introduce you to the guys.” He pointed at me. “Guys, this is Melody. She’s going to be taking guitar lessons from me.”

  Kyle’s bandmates waved at me.

  Kyle then pointed at his bandmates one by one. “Melody, this is Gavin. And Ash. And Connor.”

  “It’s nice to meet you,” I said.

  “I hope you enjoy the show,” Gavin said.

  “I’m sure I will,” I said.

  “Anyway, I hate to cut the conversation short, but we have to get our equipment setup,” Ash said.

  “I understand. My offer to help you out still stands,” I said.

  “No, we’re good,” Ash said.

  Kyle put his hand up. “Speak for yourself. You should come backstage.”

  “Really?” I said.

  “Yeah. Have you ever been backstage before?”

  “No.”

  “Then you have to come.”

  Connor stepped in. “Kyle, are you sure about this?”

  “Of course,” Kyle said. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “What about Brianna?” Connor asked.

  “What about her? I’m not inviting Melody backstage to seduce her. I just want to show her the life of a rock band.”

  “All right. It’s your call,” Connor said.

  Kyle turned to me. “So, what do you say?”

  ***

  Secretly, I was hoping that Kyle would invite me backstage. Not for romantic reasons. It was strictly for the sake of this investigation. If I hung around with the band, there was no telling what I might see. Being backstage could lead to a development that would blow this case wide open.

  When Kyle brought me backstage, it wasn’t all that remarkable of a space. Neither was the band’s dressing room. But I still felt fortunate to be back there. The odds that I would get a lead were a lot higher.

  All told, it took the band about half an hour to setup their equipment. During that time, I kept a close eye on them. In addition, I tried to hear every word that they said to each other. For the moment, there was no indication that they were on drugs. Or that any of them were doing something sketchy.

  Of course, that could change at any moment.

  When a few more minutes went by without anything remarkable happening, I began to wonder if things would stay relatively quiet during the entire evening.

  It turned out that I had gotten ahead of myself. Shortly after eight o’clock, Kyle’s girlfriend, Brianna, arrived at the theater. When she came backstage, she had a manic energy to her. It was a completely different vibe than the one she was giving off at the burger place earlier in the day.

  When she spotted Kyle, she approached him and gave him a big kiss. Once they were done kissing, she looked around and saw me.

  The moment she spotted me, her eyes widened.

  She then turned to Kyle and his bandmates. “Who is that?”

  “Her name is Melody,” Kyle said.

  “What’s she doing back here?” Brianna asked.

  “I invited her back here.”

  Brianna nearly did a double-take. “Wait a minute. Why?”

  “She’s going to be taking guitar lessons from me.”

  A look of confusion came to Brianna’s face. “Uh-huh. That doesn’t explain why you invited her back here.”

  “I wanted her to see what things were like backstage.”

  Brianna snarled at her boyfriend. “You have a lot of nerve. I can’t believe you did this.”

  Kyle shrugged. “What’s the problem?”

  Brianna folded her arms. “Isn’t it obvious?”

  He shook his head. “No. I don’t get why you’re so bent out of shape. I’m trying to get as many people to come to our shows as possible. At this stage in our career, we need as many fans as we can get.”

  “Regular fans are one thing. Female fans are another.”

  “Brianna, let me stop you right there—”

  “Why? Am I making you uncomfortable?”

  He shook his head. “No. You’re just jumping to crazy conclusions.”

  “Am I?”

  “You know I hate it when you get really paranoid.”

  “I’m not being paranoid.”

  “You could have fooled me.”

  “I’m just being careful. I’m watching my back.”

  “Brianna, I would never cheat on you,” Kyle said. “You know that, don’t you?”

  As their argument escalated, I became really uncomfortable. Up until that point, I just stood off in the corner.

  Right then, I decided to speak up.

  “Should I leave?” I asked.

  Brianna didn’t hesitate to answer my question. “Yes,” she said.

  Kyle didn’t agree with his girlfriend. He shook his head. “No. Don’t go anywhere.”

  Brianna let out a groan and gave her boyfriend a disgusted look. “I can’t believe you.”

  Kyle threw out his arms. “Me? You’re the one who is acting crazy.”

  A fire came to Brianna’s eyes. “Did you just call me crazy?”

  “No, I said you’re acting crazy,” he replied. “Now, will you please calm down?”

  “If you want to see crazy, I’ll show you crazy. Tell her to leave,” Brianna said.

  Rather than ordering me to take off, Kyle focused on his girlfriend. In particular, he stared deep into her eyes. He then became outraged with her.

  “Have you been snorting coke again?” Kyle asked.

  “Just a few lines,” Brianna said.

  Kyle shook his head in disbelief. “Brianna, I told you that you need to kick that habit.”

  “Why should I?”

  “Because that stuff is bad news.”

  “That’s what you say.”

  “Not only is it addictive, but it’s terrible for you. Besides, it makes you crazy paranoid—”

  “Will you ease up already? I don’t need a lecture.”

  “I’m just trying to help you out.”

  Brianna groaned. She then reached into her purse and pulled out a baggie that contained a white substance. “I need to do another line. This conversation is killing my buzz.”

  Kyle grabbed the baggie from her. “No. What you need is to stop snorting this stuff.”

  Brianna tried to grab the baggie from her boyfriend. “Give that back. Right now.”

  He shook his head. “No. I’m doing this for your own good.”

  “Give it back. Now!” she demanded.

  “You’re not getting this back.”

  Brianna didn’t give up. She continued trying to grab the baggie.

  Kyle took a number of steps back. “Don’t come any closer.”

  Brianna stared him down. “Give me the bag.”

  “You want it that much? Fine. It’s yours.”

  Brianna smiled. “Good.”

  “But know this. There isn’t enough room in this relationship for me and cocaine. You’re going to have to make a choice. So, which is it going to be? Me…or the drugs?”

  “Are you serious?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Now, make your decision. Which is it going to be?”

  “Give me the baggie,” Brianna said.

  Kyle let out a sigh and handed her the baggie. “I was afraid you were going to say that.”

  “It doesn’t have to be this way,” Brianna argued.

  “You’ve made your decision. Now, get out of here,” Kyle replied.

  Brianna tried to plead her case. “Kyle—”

  He had no interest in continuing their conversation. “I said, get lost.”

  Brianna took one last look at Kyle. She then turned around and left the theater.

  An uncomfortable silence followed.

  When a number of seconds went by, one of Kyle’s bandmates spoke up.

  “I’m sorry,” Connor said.

  I spoke up as well. “So am I.”

  “I can’t believe it. I really thought she was going to choose me,” Kyle said.

  ***

  As bad as I felt for Kyle, I wasn’t going to stick around to watch him lick his wounds. After all, I barely knew the guy. Besides, as an investigator, there was suddenly a new wrinkle in this case that demanded attention.

  I said a quick good-bye to Kyle and then left the theater.

  I then looked around the parking lot. Thankfully, Brianna had not driven away. Instead, she was sitting in the driver’s-seat of her car. She was snorting a line of coke.

  While it was an incredibly uncomfortable thing to watch, I knew that I had a responsibility to get it on camera. I grabbed my phone and began recording what I saw.

  My client needed to see this.

  Chapter Nine

  The following day, I was not in any hurry to head over to my office. I wanted to make a stop at The Majestic Cove Bakery first. I was in desperate need of a pastry. Normally, I ordered a croissant or a blueberry muffin for breakfast. That morning, I got a chocolate chip muffin.

  That fact drew Kristina Fowler’s attention.

  “Isn’t it a little early for chocolate?” she asked.

  “Not today, it isn’t,” I said.

  “Uh-oh. What’s wrong?”

  “The case I was working on took a nasty turn.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that. Do you want to talk about it?”

  “Not really.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Thanks for asking, but I just need a little time to work through things before I meet with my client.”

  “Fair enough. Well, you know that I’m here for you if you need me.”

  “I realize that. Thanks.”

  “Of course. That’s what friends are for.”

  “Speaking of which, what kind of a friend would I be if I didn’t ask you about your date?”

  “Are you sure you want to hear about this right now?”

  “That depends. Is it bad news?”

  “Actually, it’s great news.”

  “I want you to tell me all about it then. I could really use some good news at a time like this.”

  “In that case, here we go. The date was fantastic. Dinner was delicious. The movie was great. But most importantly, William is a wonderful guy.”

  “I’m so happy to hear that. Does that mean you’re going out again?”

  Kristina nodded. “Tonight.”

  “Wow. So soon.”

  “Neither one of us saw any point in waiting. We were both really excited to go out again.”

  “I hope this second date is just as good as the first.”

  “Fingers crossed.”

  “Wow. This could be huge for you.”

  “Isn’t that the truth?” she replied. “Honestly, it could be big for both of us.”

  I squinted. “What are you talking about?”

  “Well, it looks like this dating site has worked for me. There’s no reason that it couldn’t do the same for you.”

  “Are you trying to push me to sign up for this site?”

  “Why wouldn’t you give it a go?”

  “At the moment, I’m not ready for that sort of thing.”

  “Melody, why do you keep stalling on me?”

  “I’m not stalling. I just have a lot going on. For instance, I have a big meeting with a client in a few minutes.”

  “All right. I’ll let you off the hook for now.”

  “I’m really excited for your second date, though. I expect to hear all of the details tomorrow.”

  “You will.”

  “Good. I wish you the best of luck,” I said. “Now, it’s time for me to head off to work.”

  Chapter Ten

  A few minutes later, Zack Wright sat down across from me in my office. He looked really nervous.

  “I have to say, I didn’t expect you to have an update for me this soon,” Zack said.

  “Honestly, neither did I.”

  “Did you just happen to get lucky? Or are you just incredible at your job?”

  “It just happened to be a very interesting night. But sometimes things just work out that way.”

  Zack began rubbing his hands together. “I knew that Kyle was hiding some dirt. My instincts are always right.”

  What an ironic thing for Zack to say. Especially given what I was about to tell him.

  “Are you ready to hear the news?” I asked.

  He nodded. “I sure am. What did you dig up on Kyle?”

  “Nothing.”

  Zack gave me a blank stare. “I don’t understand. When you called me in here, you told me that you had some crazy things to tell me.”

  “I do. They just don’t involve digging up dirt on Kyle.”

  “Then what do they involve?”

  “To start, Kyle and Brianna have broken up.”

  Zack’s eyes widened. “Are you serious?”

  I nodded.

  “Did you break them up?” he asked.

  I shook my head. “No. Why would you think that?”

  “I just figured that maybe you talked some sense into my daughter. Or that maybe you presented her with some details that couldn’t be ignored.”

  “Nope.”

  “Either way, it’s such great news that they aren’t together anymore. Whatever you did, I can’t thank you enough.”

  I put my hand up. “Before you get too far ahead of yourself, there’s something that I need to tell you.”

  “What is it?”

  I took a deep breath before replying. “Unfortunately, there’s no easy way to say this.”

  He shrugged. “What are you talking about?”

  “The circumstances surrounding their breakup are very sad. And also quite serious.”

  “You’re not making any sense.”

  “Kyle was concerned about your daughter’s drug problem, but she completely dismissed his concerns. Even after he gave her an ultimatum.”

  Zack’s eyebrows rose. “Wait a minute. Did you just say drug problem?”

  “Yes,” I replied. “I hate to be the one to tell you this, but your daughter has a cocaine problem.”

  “No. That can’t be true. I don’t know where you’re getting your information from, but—”

  I pulled up a photo on my phone and showed it to Zack. In the photo, Brianna was snorting a line of cocaine.

  When Zack looked at the photo, he went dead quiet for a number of seconds.

  “I’m very sorry,” I said. “I can’t imagine what you’re going through right now.”

  I knew that it was a lot of information to process, but as more seconds ticked by, the situation turned awkward.

  Finally, I couldn’t remain patient any longer. I broke the silence between us.

  “Mr. Wright, please say something,” I remarked.

  Zack gritted his teeth. “I’m going to kill him.”

  My nose scrunched. “Who?”

  “Kyle.”

  “Why him?”

  “Isn’t it obvious? That punk clearly turned my daughter into an addict. He got her hooked on drugs.”

  “Mr. Wright, I don’t mean to argue with you, but there’s no evidence of that.”

  “There has to be.”

  “Like I said, there’s no evidence to back that up. In fact, as hard as it might be for you to believe, not only did Kyle turn down drugs when he was offered, but he was actually trying to get Brianna to quit snorting coke.”

  He shook his head. “No, that can’t be right.”

  “Zack, I saw it with my own eyes. Kyle gave your daughter an ultimatum. He told her to choose between him and the drugs. Brianna chose the drugs. That’s the only reason they broke up.”

  Zack put his head in his hands. “This is a nightmare. An absolute disaster.”

  “My heart goes out to you. I know this is the last thing you wanted to hear. Or that you expected to hear. That said, it’s also the truth.”

  “I don’t understand. How could this have happened? Right under my nose. My daughter is a good kid. What was she thinking?”

  I certainly didn’t envy Zack. This was a lot of information to deal with. In addition, he didn’t see any of it coming. Naturally, he wanted to believe the truth about his daughter. Even though Brianna was in her twenties, Zack still referred to her as a kid. She was an adult, though. And she made her own decisions. Some of which were very questionable.

  I tried to soften the blow a little bit. “Drugs are very addictive. Sometimes, all it takes is a few hits for someone to get hooked. Your daughter probably just got in over her head. Maybe she wants to quit using, but she just doesn’t know how.”

  “Maybe.” He let out a groan. “What am I supposed to do now?”

  “If I were you, I would get your daughter some help. And fast. Before it’s too late.”

  “You’re right. I need to get her into rehab. She needs to kick this addiction. At all costs.”

  “I wish you the best of luck. I will pray for your daughter.”

  “Thank you. Right now, she can use all of the help that she can get.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Talk about a crazy end to a case. So much so that Zack wasn’t the only one who was in shock. Even though I had more time to process the information than Zack did, I was still pretty shaken by what had happened.

  Although wild twists were often part of the job, they were often very difficult to stomach. When Zack left my office, I leaned back in my chair and stared out the window.

  After that, it didn’t take long for my co-worker, Lisa, to enter the doorway to my office to check up on me.

  “Are you going to be all right?” Lisa asked.

  I nodded.

  Lisa wasn’t convinced. “You sure about that?”

  “You know, I thought I was prepared for anything, but this case floored me.”

  “It did take quite a turn.”

  “It’s not just that. That final development came out of nowhere. I feel so awful for Zack right now.”

  “I’m with you on that. I certainly wouldn’t want to be in his place.”

  “No. He’s got a real problem on his hands.”

  “And it’s one that he was completely unprepared for. I mean, he was so focused on his dislike for Kyle that it never occurred to him that his own daughter could be in serious trouble.”

  “To be fair, from the outside, Brianna seemed to be squeaky clean.”