Free The Competition by Marcia Clark Page A

of the bar door, pulled it open, and gestured for her to enter. “Your Highness.”
    “Your Highness?”
    “There’re plenty of other things I could call you.”
    Bailey and I took our usual spots at the end of the bar nearest the wall. It was a classic, well-appointed bar, mahogany with plush swivel stools and a mirror that was lit softly enough to prevent depressing news if I accidentally caught a glimpse of myself. Our spot at the end offered the most privacy. But that wasn’t a problem tonight. The bar was relatively empty. Just a few businessmen whose loosened ties and red faces told me they’d finished their business for the day at least three drinks ago.
    “I don’t see Drew,” I said. Drew Rayford is the head bartender and, more important, Bailey’s boyfriend.
    “No, he’s off tonight. We were supposed to have dinner, but…”
    “But a mass murder got in the way.”
    We exchanged a look and sank back in our chairs. I’d hoped Drew would be here tonight. It would’ve been good for both of us to see him. Cliché though it is, he became my confidant and buddy from the day I first moved into the hotel. And he’s plenty easy on the eyes, which is also helpful. Tall, with a muscled V-shaped torso and skin the color of mahogany, Drew had women falling into his lap when he wasn’t even trying. When he and Bailey got serious, I could practically hear the weeping from all corners of L.A. County. I probably would’ve been one of them myself if I hadn’t been such an emotional wreck when we first met. I had been staying with my mother, nursing her through her battle with breast cancer. But after she died, I couldn’t bear to be there anymore. I had a high-p rofile murder trial that was about to start, so I’d temporarily moved into the hotel because it was within walking distance of the courthouse. The murder victim was the Biltmore CEO’s wife, and she’d been killed in the parking garage during a robbery. Between the stress of that trial, my mother’s recent death, and the breakup with my long-term boyfriend, Daniel Rose, I wasn’t looking for love. Drew poured my drinks while I poured out my heart, and a deep, long-lasting friendship was born. As a side perk, after I’d won the trial, the CEO had made me an offer I couldn’t afford to refuse: a permanent residency at the hotel. I hadn’t planned to stay longer than a year—two at the most. But it’s been three years now and it still hasn’t gotten old. The truth is, it’s hard to give up a life with no laundry, no dishes, and room service.
    A young bartender who’d started a few months ago took our orders: Ketel One martinis straight up, very dry, very cold, olives on the side. Bailey asked for an extra tray of Crunchies, the only food we could get at that hour.
    “We need to nail down a list of who’s accounted for and who isn’t,” I said. “Have all the bodies in the hospital and the morgue been identified?”
    “Not quite. Not all the kids carried ID with them when they went to the pep rally. We’ve got officers on loan from the burglary desk working on it. A lot of kids ran home, but not all. The parents have been blowing up the phone lines at the Valley Division.”
    “It would help if we could round up all the students and take roll call—”
    “Like they’d be doing if they had a school to go to?”
    I sighed. “Yeah.” Fairmont High School would be out of commission for the next few weeks while every inch was combed for evidence. In the meantime the students had to be relocated, but finding the space for them in the overcrowded L.A. Unified School District was going to be a nightmare.
    “I hate to tell you this, but it’s even worse than you might’ve thought,” Bailey said. “The unis said there were a ton of kids who were ambulatory whose parents took them to hospitals and clinics all over the place. If they weren’t brought in by paramedics, they might not show up on any of our lists.”
    “But I heard the