Page 18 - Size Zero Preview

ABIGAIL MANGIN 19
would never murder anyone. Also, I’ll pay extra if he says it on TV to Anderson Cooper on CNN. But only to Anderson Cooper, not Wolf Blitzer. He’s an asshole, and he hates me because I always steal his parking spot on Madison.”
Forensics took down the skin coat carefully from the crane. Police swarmed the area, taking every piece of clothing from the Visage collection as evidence.
“Ma’am, we don’t do that here,” Abbot Joseph said. “Also, being Christian alone doesn’t preclude you from being a murderer.”
Margaux folded her hands in prayer.
Abbot Joseph spun toward the volunteer who manned the video chat. “Can we please move forward?”
The other monks sat slack-jawed, some averting their eyes from the sight of the skin coat.
“Just one question before you throw me back to hell,” Margaux said. “Why are priests called Father?”
Brother George leaned toward the camera with a furious red face. “Because it’s too suspicious to call them Daddy.” He leaned back. “There. Happy? You got your line in.”
The monks hid their faces, and Abbot Joseph grabbed Brother George’s arm. “You’re making your last weeks before solemn vows very difficult, aren’t you?”
Margaux turned the camera toward a woman in handcuffs. “Oh goddammit,” she said, fanning herself with a fashion show program. “They got Clara. That’s my niece, by the way. She’s my far, far removed niece. Clara Royds. So God can keep everyone straight in the prayers... If you’re gonna pray at all, or if you pray to send us to hell. Whichever, as long as there are frosted animal crackers wherever you send us.”
The police had dragged Clara Royds out in handcuffs. It must’ve been difficult for the officers. Not because she threw any punches, but because she hung from their arms like a limp rag- doll, refusing to walk.
Clara was highly altered with a face more sculpted than a pyramid. Her nose had been cut to a small strip of cartilage. Her forehead had received so much Botox that her skin glistened with a plastic glow. And her bright pink hair floofed like a powder puff.