Killing America's Sweetheart: A Natalie Miller Mystery Read Free Page A

taking Honey outside, I pretty much tossed and turned the rest of the night.
    I was just about to get up when I heard the sound of my phone ringing. I opened my eyes which were still blurry and put my arm out to the nightstand next to me feeling for my phone.
    “Hello?” I said with a hoarse voice.
    “Natalie? Are you awake?”
    Oh, I should have known, Mom. I glanced over at the alarm clock which read 7:01 AM.
    “Yeah . What’s going on?” I replied.
    “Did you see the news? No, wait you probab ly haven’t. Anyhow just put it on,” she said with urgency.
    I grabbed the remote which was lying on the vacant pillow next to me and turned on the TV.
    “Which channel?” I asked.
    “It doesn’t matter. It’s on all of them. I can’t believe this happened here. Treeville is just getting worse and worse,” she fretted.
    I found one station that wasn’t on a commercial break and finally saw the news my mother was talking about.
    “Just to recap, Hollywood actress Hannah Gold has been found dead, apparently the victim of a homicide. She was found early this morning by her boyfriend, fellow Oscar award winner Simon Bellamy at his Treeville home,” said the morning newscaster Sarah Alan.
    Oh shit.
    “Natalie? Are you there? Did you see it?” Mom asked.
    Oh, I saw it alright. The footage was from outside Simon’s giant estate on County Road 97 and it looked way too familiar, but I chalked that up to too many tabloid photos.
    “I see it. She was murdered?” I asked.
    “That’s what they’re saying. Not much more than that. I guess they’re questioning Simon Bellamy about it too, seeing as she was found on his property.”
    “Did they say where on the property they found her?” I asked as I watched the news footage . The TV showed dozens of police cars and a close up of the coroner’s van come on the screen. It appeared they were blocking off an area just near the garage, which was separate from the large five thousand square foot home. The camera man was really trying to get a good shot of a black range rover, but it was hard with the parameter the police had set up. That’s when the camera panned over to a tall, strikingly good looking detective with a grim look on his face.
    “Is that Zack?” mom asked, clearly watching the same channel.
    Shit.
    My one night stand from three years ago, which continued to haunt me.
    “Mom, I have to go.”
     
     
     
    Chapter Four
    There was no way I would be able to go back to sleep after finding out news like this. So, I jumped in the shower, blow dried and spritzed my hair, applied a little makeup, threw on a pair of jeans, a comfy slouchy sweater, and my trusty brown leather boots and headed out.
    It was chilly this time of the year. October was filled with cool mornings and evenings, but warm afternoons. Today’s morning was crisp, but there was no frost on the cars. To which I was grateful, as it made it easier for me to get on my way.
    I pulled onto R oad 97 and drove as far as I could before the barricade prevented me from moving further. Media vans were parked on either side of the old farm road. I had never seen so many news trucks in Treeville before. It wasn’t just local media; there were people from San Francisco and major outlets like CNN and FOX News. Well, small town Treeville was finally on the map, but for all the wrong reasons.
    I parked my car near a news truck from CBS and cautiously got out. I saw a familiar reporter from the local affiliate and moved over to ask a few questions.
    “Is there anything new to report?” I asked seasoned reporter Kyle Newsom.
    He sized me up quickly and looked at me skeptically.
    “What station are you from?” he asked quickly.
    “I’m not from a station, I just live near here and thought I’d drive down and take a look.”
    He gave me another once over and then looked at my car and nodded.
    “Not much more to report other than they found Hannah Gold in the driver’s side of her Range Rover.”
    I looked