LOVE ABOVE LAW

by Alvarez, Sandy

  "Dana just picked me up. Going to lunch and doing some shopping is on our list of things to do until our shift starts," she tells me over the sounds of music playing from the radio in the background.

  Needing to head back inside I tell her, "have fun and call me when you get to work. See you tonight, beautiful."

  I can hear the smile in her voice when she answers back.

  "Okay."

  22

  Leyna

  I step outside the apartment building the same moment Dana pulls up in her little blue Toyota. She asked me yesterday if I wanted to get together today and do some shopping and maybe grab lunch. Then we could ride into work together. I have not done much in the way of shopping since moving to Seattle, so I jumped at the chance. Plus, Dana and I have become good friends since I started working at Rumors.

  It turns out we have a lot in common. Dana is from a small town in Tennessee. When she was eighteen, she followed her high school boyfriend to Settle where he was to attend college. He came here on a baseball scholarship. Dana gave up on her chance at college to support her boyfriend. Only three months after school started, she caught him with another girl. Dana said she was too embarrassed to run back home. She knew she would never hear the end of the 'I told you so's' from her family.

  Even though our situations are different, we can relate to each other in the fact we both left behind the only home we ever knew and are both determined to find our place in a new city. Dana and I both know what it's like to pick up the pieces of a shattered life then deal with the task of how to put those pieces back together. For me, it was coming here to Seattle to find my purpose. Somehow, I don't think Dana has found hers yet. I sense she's still trying to find her way and I get the feeling she misses home; misses Tennessee and her family. You hear the longing in her voice when she talks about her family, but I have faith my friend will find her way in the end.

  I open the passenger door of her car and slide in. "Hey."

  "Hey, girl. Are you ready to do some shopping?" Dana chirps.

  "Oh my God, yes. You don't know how bad I needed a girl's day."

  Our first stop is the mall. Dana has the hookup with knowing what stores have the best sales, and like me, she's a bargain hunter. Lex is always giving me money. He doesn't like me having to pay for anything. Just this morning when he learned I was going to be spending the day with Dana, he handed over four one-hundred-dollar bills like it was nothing. I learned weeks ago not to put up a fight. Choose your battles they say. Only what Lex doesn't know is if he looked in the bottom of his sock drawer, he'd find a wad of cash; every single penny he's given me. I don't look forward to that conversation when he discovers it. It's not that I don't appreciate him wanting to take care of me, but I work hard, and I like being able to take care of myself too.

  After three hours of shopping Dana and I are about ready to call it a day and grab lunch when we pass by a lingerie store. A red lace bra and thong set with matching garters catches my eye, and I smile. With dirty thoughts of wearing this for Lex tonight, I turn to my friend. "Come on. Let's go in here. I see something I'd like to get." Dana gives me a knowing smirk and follows me inside the store. Snagging the negligee in a size ten off the rack, I head straight for the checkout. Sex with Lex is off the charts; there is no denying the connection we have. I thought the first time we made love was going to awkward, but I was wrong. I love my body and I am comfortable in my own skin. I'm also not shy when it comes to learning all the ways to pleasure my man. I believe my inexperience has been a major turn on for Lex. He takes great pride in knowing he's my first and in showing me all the ways we can explore each other. A shiver runs down my spine at the mere thought of wearing this for him tonight.

  After we leave the lingerie store, Dana and I decide to eat here at the mall. We're both in the mood for burgers and fries.

  "So, I heard you had a run in at the club with some woman?" Dana mentions once we've settled into our meal.

  Popping a fry into my mouth, I rest my elbows on the table. "Yeah. Lex's ex has been a nuisance. She's been calling him and trying to weasel her way back into his life. I can't fathom what she was thinking showing up at Rumors like that."

  Dana shakes her head in disbelief. "What did she think? That Lex was just going to suddenly take her back. That's seriously fucked up."

  "It is," I agree. "But I think I made myself clear that any further stunts weren't going to work."

  "Yeah, Dare did mention he was impressed with how you handled yourself. Too bad I hadn't been there to see it. I bet that shit was priceless." Dana becomes quiet for a moment before she adds. "I wish I would have had that kind of backbone when I caught my ex-cheating. Instead, I tucked tail like a coward and left without saying a word."

  My heart aches for my friend when I hear the pain of betrayal in her voice. "You are most definitely not a coward, Dana." I watch my friend as she chews on her bottom lip and her shoulders slump. "I went through a similar situation once."

  "You did?"

  "Yes. I had been dating a guy for several months when I found out he was married."

  "Oh my God, Leyna. What did you do?"

  "Nothing. I saw him with his wife and children. Instead of confronting him, I turned around and went home. Granted a few days later I got to punch him in the nose," I chuckle. "But even after I did that, I still slammed the door in his face and said nothing. Do you want to know why?" I ask her.

  "Why?"

  "Because he was not worth it. He was not worth one-second longer of my time or my breath. I refused to give a cheater the sick satisfaction of having two women fight over him. When you walked out on your ex without saying anything, you showed him he wasn't worth it. That you are better than him and the bitch he cheated on you with. In my opinion, it takes a lot more strength to walk away."

  Wiping a tear from her eye Dana lets my words sink in. "Thank you for saying that, Leyna."

  "I wouldn't say it unless it was the truth. You are a strong woman, Dana. You have to remember God has a plan for you. There is a man out there somewhere who will one day sweep you off your feet. I know what your ex did to you hurts; it hurts like hell. But he is not your forever. Your forever is out there; you just haven't found him yet."

  After mine and Dana's little heart to heart conversation, we finish our lunch in comfortable silence. I sense my words have helped her see her situation in a different light. I know when the day comes that Dana meets the right man, she'll look back and realize her ex-cheating was meant to be. Through trial and tribulation comes triumph. Take me for example. If not for the horrifying debacle with Santino, I would not have found the man I love; the man I know without a shadow of a doubt is the man I am meant to spend the rest of my life with. If I had to go back in time and relive my horrible experience with Santino all while knowing what I know now; I would do it all over again if it meant being with Lex.

  "What do you feel like doing next? We still have a couple of hours until we need to be at work." Dana asks as we make our way through the mall parking lot to her car. Dana opens her trunk, and we toss our bags inside. "How about a mani-pedi?" she asks.

  I'm about to answer her when I notice she has a startled look on her face. I go to look over my shoulder to see what has her spooked when suddenly my body is shoved against the side of Dana's car, and I hear the voice of a man I thought was dead; the same voice that haunts my dreams at night.

  "We meet again, Ms. Martinez." Hugo's pungent breath trickles across my face when he whispers into my ear. I start to struggle against his hold when he warns me. "You fight me, and I'll kill your friend." I notice the gun in his hand is pressed against Dana's stomach. With Dana standing mere inches from me, his weapon remains concealed, shielding everything from the people passing. I feel the fear radiating off my friend, and I try to think of a way to get her out of Hugo's clutches unharmed.

  "Look, let my friend go, and I'll come with you—I won't fight," I bargain.

  "Nice try, but that's not gonna happen
," Hugo says, and a sob escapes Dana's mouth.

  "You think I don't know your little friend is going to call the police the moment I take you? No, she comes too."

  "Please!" I plead once more.

  "Shut the fuck up," he grits, spittle flying from his mouth. "You see that car right there?" he gestures toward a silver, four-door car with tinted windows parked next to us. "You," Hugo nudges Dana with his gun, "toss your cell into the trunk of your car then get your ass in the back of mine." When Dana stalls, Hugo presses the gun to my ribs. "Move your ass or your friend's blood will be on your hands." The threat works, and Dana reaches into her back pocket, produces her cell, and tosses it into the trunk of her car. She climbs into the back seat of his car and Hugo slams the door behind her. He grabs hold of my arm and runs his hand over my backside. "Where is your phone?"

  "In my purse."

  Hugo snatches my purse off my shoulder and throws into the trunk of Dana's car along with the rest of our belongings before he shoves me forward. "Move."

  Opening the driver side door, he pushes me in. I climb over the armrest and onto the passenger seat. The first thing I do is look behind me at my friend. The look on her face guts me. It's because of me she is in danger. My first thought is maybe she can open the door and risk jumping out, but I quickly realize there is no handle on her door. I cut my eyes to the other door and see the same. I twist in my seat and feel the bile rise in my throat when I look at my door; it too is missing a handle. There are also no power switches. Fuck. Think, Leyna.

  "I came prepared, Leyna. Give it up."

  "Hugo, I'll do whatever you want, but please let my friend go. Drop her off on the side of the road if you have to. We'll be long gone before she has a chance to call anyone. Don't do this." I'm near hysterical at this point—my only thoughts at the moment are for Dana. My pleads go unanswered as Hugo tucks his gun away.

  Just as he is about to shut the car door, I seize the opportunity. I know the second he closes that door, there will be no escape. In one swift move, I twist in my seat, brace one hand on the console and one on the headrest. Bringing my knees up, I kick Hugo as hard as I can. My action catches him off guard, and my spiked boot nails him in his arm. Without letting up, I kick once again, this time a blow to his ribs.

  Dana screams from the back seat the same time Hugo pins my legs down, leans across the armrest and backhands me across my face, causing my head to snap back against the window behind me. The blow does the trick, knocking me into a daze. The sound of a door being slammed shut mixed with Dana's sobs brings me out of my fog. Throwing the car in reverse, Hugo peels out of the parking lot. "You're gonna pay for that little stunt, Leyna." Hugo's words are laced with evil as he continues to rake his beady eyes up and down my body. "The things I have planned for you," he licks his lips, and I shudder.

  Looking out the window, I try to catalog every detail of my surroundings. Even though I'm terrified, keeping my wits about me is crucial to us getting out of this mess. I send a silent prayer hoping somebody saw something. Surely Dana's screams along with my struggle with Hugo did not go unnoticed.

  Right now, our only hope is someone saw what happened, and they called the police. If not, there is still the fact that Dana and I are supposed to be at Rumors soon. Maybe us not showing will set off alarm bells. Either way, those are two factors working in our favor. If not, Lex will know something is wrong when he goes to pick me up from work, and I'm not there. Dread settles in my stomach because if option three is our only hope, it will be hours before anyone realizes we are missing.

  23

  Lex

  We've been sitting around the table in the conference room for a few hours now. With most of us missing lunch, Dean decided to order everyone food from the burger joint right down the block. So, as everyone continues to pour over all the new evidence we obtained this morning, we eat.

  "So, now we have the issue of flushing out this Hugo character," Dean states as he shovels fries into his mouth.

  "Surveillance has already been put in place at several locations Santino once used to run his operations. Either Hugo goes back to what he knows, or he starts fresh somewhere else. At this point it's hard to say." Kurt drums the tip of his pen on the surface of the table.

  Scratching the back of my head, I sit there mulling over all the facts. Would he risk staying in the states? All I know for sure is that Hugo is a loose cannon. He must have had all this figured out well before his boss's death. It's a possibility he had planned to take him out himself one day. I slump back in my chair. Or he was merely a greedy employee who saw an opportunity to replace the man he worked years for once he was dead. "Toss me one of the cheeseburgers," I call to Kai who is standing by the table in front of the window grabbing some of the fast food for himself to eat. Catching the burger, I unwrap it. Before I take a bite, Sara from the second floor enters the room.

  "Hi guys," her eyes quickly land on me, "Lex, this just arrived." Walking across the room, she hands me a white envelope and a manila folder.

  "Thanks, Sara," I casually smile at her. The smaller white business envelope happens to be from the Crime Lab. The burger in my hand gets placed on the table, and as soon as she closes the door, I open it first. "They found another person's DNA on the last homicide victim." My eyes land on the sealed folder I haven't opened yet.

  Passing the letter from forensics over to Kurt, I pick up the folder and flip it open. They got a match. Snapping my fingers, I motion for someone as I stare at the name and image of the man flagged by the federal data registry. "Someone hand me Hugo's file."

  Kai snatches it from the center of the table and hovers over my left shoulder as I hold the two images side by side.

  "Holy shit," Kai exclaims.

  "Hugo Diaz." He's much younger in the picture pulled from the system, but there is no denying it. Lifting my eyes, I tell Dean and Kurt. "Seems Hugo is also our killer, or at the least connected to the last homicide. Says here his DNA was found under the victim's fingernail." Dropping the papers on the table I give them a shove toward the others, and they take turns looking at them.

  Why? That's what I don't understand. Is he responsible for all the murders? If he is responsible for all four homicides, why would he do it?

  "Why would this guy be in Seattle killing women? Stealing money, trying to take over his dead boss's spot I get, but this?" Kurt pauses and puts his hands behind his head and leans back in his chair; the crease on his forehead deepens the more he ponders the new connection.

  I stretch across the table and gather all the files scattered in the middle of the table between us. Laying the images of our victims alongside their killer, I sit there in my seat staring down at them. Was he trying to kidnap them? Documents prove he helped his dead boss in the human trafficking business, but that doesn't seem to factor into this, so it doesn't add up. Santino was never in direct contact with his victims and Hugo here seemed to always be at Santino's side. Why risk involving himself in any abduction?

  Dragging my palms down my unshaven face, I blow out a frustrated breath.

  I sit like this at the table for a couple more hours until the sun has set, and the city lights become the backdrop outside the office windows. Dean left over an hour ago needing to get home to his family and Kurt followed suit thirty minutes later.

  I rub my tired eyes as I start to look back over all the evidence again. Something is not adding up. There must be some connection. Picking up the papers, I shuffle through the pages still taking in the similarities of all four woman.

  What is it about them?

  It's right there, but what is it.

  What is the common denominator possibly linking all of them to Hugo?

  "Hey, man. Go home. We can dive back into it in the morning," Kai hovers waiting for my response.

  Momentarily I catch a glimpse of my woman's face on the pages staring back at me and I blink a few times. Squeezing my eyes shut I open them again and focus. Why would he only be killing woman who look alik
e? Tan skin, brown hair, green eyes, curvy, and young.

  Suddenly Leyna's beautiful face comes to mind again.

  I drop the papers to the table but don't take my eyes off the victims. The more I stare at them the more they look like my woman. I feel my heart rate pick up. My mind flashes back to when Santino took Leyna and was holding her in his home. The home Hugo lived in as well. Could it be he's killing woman who look like Leyna? I playback the similarities again.

  My stomach clenches.

  Instinct tells me my observation isn't wrong. My gut says I'm right. I jackknife out of my seat with such force the chair slams into the wall behind me.

  "Lex? I know that look man. What's in that head of yours?" Kai looks from me to the papers spread out on the table.

  My mouth goes dry.

  Digging my phone from my pocket, I tap the screen calling Leyna's phone. It rings until her voicemail picks up and her sweet voice fills my ear. My eyes lift to the time on the wall. Leyna should be at work right now, so maybe she doesn't hear her phone. Swiping my screen, I pull up the number for Rumors—Dare's direct line. The whole time, Kai is trying to figure out my behavior.

  "Talk to me," Dare answers.

  "Dare, it's Lex. I can't reach Leyna. I need to speak with her," I tell him with urgency in my voice.

  "She's not here. She and Dana never showed up. They were on schedule to start a couple of hours ago. I haven't been able to reach either of them?"

  My heart sinks to the floor. My grip tightens around my phone.

  "Dammit, Lex. What the hell is going on?" Kai stresses.

  Hanging up on Dare, I turn to Kai. "She's not answering her phone. She and Dana never made it to work."

  "Okay, listen we'll make some calls. They could have broken down or something."

  "No, Kai," my voice rises. "Something's not right." I quickly make my way out of the conference room heading for the elevator with Kai on my heels. "The reason I kept feeling I'd seen those women before—the reason they all look so familiar to me is—" we step on the elevator riding it down to the garage. "They look like Leyna, Kai. Every one of them." I plant the seed in his brain to process. The moment the puzzle pieces click together his eyes land on mine and I nod. "He's after my woman." The elevator opens. Kai sprints across the parking lot following me to my car.