Craving Vengeance, a Nick Spinelli Mystery

by Valerie J. Clarizio

  Shannon rolled her eyes. “So what do you and Master Keith have planned for this Valentine’s Day?” Shannon asked trying to divert the conversation away from her and Spinelli. She still couldn’t believe they were a couple.

  Anna sat. “Oh, the usual, nice dinner at Samone’s, probably the old fogey early bird special. And then reruns of Seinfeld or the King of Queens.” Anna winked. “Maybe after a couple of reruns the little blue pill will have kicked in.”

  The women shared a laugh. Anna’s husband, Keith, was as nice as they came but quite a bit older than she was. Dinner out on a work night was a big event for him.

  “So what do you and Mr. Hottie have planned?”

  Shannon thought for a moment as she recalled the intense look in Spinelli’s eyes when he’d left her this morning. His words scrolled through her mind. I have a special Valentine's evening planned for us. She couldn’t wait to find out what he meant.

  “He’s taking me to dinner after I finish my singing valentine shift for the church fundraiser. Beyond that, I don’t know. He said he had something special planned for us.”

  Anna leaned forward in her chair. “My God, do you think he’s going to propose?”

  “No...it would be too soon. Wouldn’t it?”

  Anna’s smile stretched from ear to ear. “I see the way he looks at you. He eyes you up like you’re his favorite kind of candy, and if I didn’t know any better, your tone just a moment ago sounded as though you wouldn’t mind if he did.”

  Shannon’s breath hitched at the thought of Spinelli proposing. Adrenaline shot through her veins. Her head spun. Did she want him to propose to her? Was it too soon? Good God, she dove in head first on this one, so unlike her, but she just couldn’t seem to help herself. She looked across her desk to find Anna’s inquisitive eyes still fixed on her. “Jeez, Anna, I’ve never felt like this before. I can’t say I would be disappointed if he did.”

  “Well, time will tell,” Anna commented as she lifted herself from her chair. “I gotta get going. I’m meeting my sister for an early lunch.”

  “Okay, see ya later.”

  Shannon thought about Spinelli. She wondered if he was in the office, three stories below her, or if he was out in the field. She liked working in the same building as he did. It made it easy to pop in on him when she wanted to catch a glimpse of his magnificent, dark charcoal eyes, not to mention the gorgeous rest of him. But his eyes, those are what always caught her attention. Under the right conditions, they could melt her in an instant. Her breath quickened at the thought. Heat penetrated her body as raw need sifted through her. Good God, Shannon, get it together. He’s not even in the room.

  She fanned herself with a file folder before she flipped it open to study its contents. She needed to prepare for a custody hearing this afternoon. She dreaded going to the Clarkson hearing. Lamar and Chandra Clarkson, a couple of dope dealers, were seeking physical placement of their children, James, age six, and Katrina, age three. Their last court hearing was nearly two months ago, and the judge denied the Clarkson’s request for custody of their children when Lamar assaulted Shannon in the courtroom after her testimony. She hoped the judge would deny their request again. They weren’t going to change, and she was sure they were probably still dealing.

  Shannon closed the file, rose from her chair, and flung her wool coat over her shoulders. She planned to run up the block to Subway and grab a meatball sandwich for lunch. She stepped into the hall and nearly bumped into someone. He wrapped his arms around her, lifted her off her feet, and spun in a circle.

  “Shannon, I’m so happy to see you.”

  She was speechless. She hadn’t even seen his face, but she recognized his hold, his scent, and his voice. Shock and excitement rippled through her like an electrical current.

  He pulled his head back just a bit in order to find her lips with his. His kiss was rushed and firm at first but it didn’t take long to turn soft and moist. Without conscious thought, she responded to his lingering kiss. Then all at once, her mind took over, and she realized what she was doing. She pulled her lips from his and freed herself from his embrace.

  She stepped back and flung her hand over her mouth. Tears flooded her eyes.

  He inched toward her, and she stepped back.

  “Shannon, what’s wrong? Aren’t you happy to see your fiancé?” he asked as he handed her a fist full of roses.

  She stammered. She couldn’t seem to place her thoughts in order to speak even one syllable.

  “I wanted to surprise you on Valentine’s Day.” His smile widened. “I’m guessing I succeeded.”

  Shannon looked around him to find Anna standing just beyond him, her chin nearly on the floor. He’d rendered them both momentarily speechless which was highly unusual, especially for Anna.

  Anna closed her mouth and stepped forward. “Shannon, aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?”

  Shannon cleared her throat and gestured toward him as anxiety churned in her stomach. “This is Dr. Joshua Meyers. Joshua, this is my boss, Anna Fontaine.”

  Joshua extended his hand toward Anna. “Pleased to meet you, ma’am.” He shifted his gaze between them. “I’m Shannon’s fiancé. She seemed to leave out that little detail.”

  Anna shook his hand. “It’s nice to meet you, too,” she replied before she shifted her curious gaze to Shannon.

  Shannon fought the urge to immediately explain the circumstances to Anna. At this very instant, she just wanted to get Joshua out of sight. “Anna, would you mind if I took a little longer lunch today?”

  “Sure. No problem. Do what you need to do.”

  Anna spun on her heel and headed back into the office as though what she’d just seen had made her forget all about going out for lunch.

  Shannon glanced at Joshua. He was smiling, his bright blue eyes twinkling. He winked. “You missed me that much, babe, that you need a little naughty afternooner right off the bat?”

  Shannon perched her hands on her hips. “Somehow I don’t think we’re on the same page here. I think we need to talk. But not here.”

  She led Joshua down the back staircase and out the door to the parking lot. He reached toward her and wove his fingers between hers. She shook her hand loose.

  He shot her a sideways glance and dropped his hand to his side. “Shannon, baby, what’s the matter?” She refused to look at him. Apprehension squeezed her chest. She hoped nobody would see them together and tell Spinelli, but she was easily noticeable as she clenched a dozen long-stemmed, red roses in her hand.

  Her pace increased. She needed to get to her car and get him as far away from here as possible.

  She slid into the drivers’ seat and slammed the door as Joshua climbed into the passenger seat. Shannon cranked the engine and pulled into traffic.

  Joshua leaned toward her and nudged her shoulder. “Come on baby, what’s the matter?” he asked again.

  Shannon made an abrupt right-hand turn into a parking lot and halted on a dime in the far corner parking stall. Anger shot through her. Her lips quivered as she spoke. “What’s wrong with me? You just announced in front of God and everybody that I was your fiancé. I know this may be hard for you to believe, but I didn’t sit around waiting for your return for the past two years, just as I said I wouldn’t when I handed the engagement ring back to you as you boarded your plane to Nicaragua. I’m in a relationship now with someone I love. What if your little show gets back to him before I get a chance to tell him about you?”

  Joshua sat for a moment just gazing at her. The corners of his mouth began to lift upward. The smirk she’d grown to hate beamed radiantly. “I hear the words coming out of your mouth, but they’re quite contradictory to the ‘welcome home’ kiss we just shared.”

  Shannon ground her teeth together and inhaled deeply before she loosened her jaw enough to speak. “You’re wrong. That kiss meant nothing. I was caught off-guard.”

  * * * *

  Spinelli reached into his pocket and pulled out
the small black velvet box he’d picked up the day before. He popped it open and stared at the heart-shaped solitaire diamond that sparkled like newly fallen snow crystals. He snapped it shut and stuffed it back into his pocket. How could he have been such a fool? The stench of betrayal surrounded him.

  He glanced back out the window from the fourth floor stairwell to find Shannon climbing into the driver’s seat of her blue Chevy Impala. A strange man slid into the passenger seat. It was the same strange man he’d seen kissing her not five minutes ago in the hallway.

  Aren’t you happy to see your fiancé? The words echoed in Spinelli’s head. Fiancé? What the hell? He should have confronted Shannon on the spot, but that word, fiancé¸ unnerved him. He heard it and ran for the stairwell before he threw up in front of them both. He’d gone to Shannon’s office to see if she wanted to get some lunch with him, but that kiss and that word left him feeling like he might never eat again. How could he have been so stupid? How could he not have known she was engaged? And he called himself a detective!

  He leaned against the wall. He couldn’t seem to pull his gaze from them. He watched as they drove out of sight. His jaw clamped down so hard he thought his teeth might break. His ears hurt, and his vision blurred. Sweat slid down his back. What the hell just happened here? He thought Shannon was happy with him. She’d been with him every available moment for the past two months. Who was this guy, and where did he come from all of a sudden?

  He blew out a heavy sigh and shook his head. He should have known better. True love, true happiness? Who was he kidding? Those things didn’t exist for people like him. He’d learned that lesson long ago.

  Chapter Five

  Spinelli’s phone buzzed. He pulled it from his hip to find Walker’s face staring back at him. He tapped the screen. “Spinelli here.”

  “Are you about done with your lunch date?”

  Some lunch date. Little did Walker know, he hadn’t even had a chance to take Shannon to lunch because she was too busy feasting on someone else’s mouth. Spinelli shook the vision from his head.

  “Yeah, what’s up?”

  “You’re not going to believe this, but we’ve got another one.”

  “Another dead cupid?”

  “Yep, downtown at the Morgan Bank building.”

  Spinelli was already headed downstairs by the time he and Walker finished their conversation. He and Walker headed to the crime scene.

  They took the elevator up to the sixth floor of the bank building to find several uniformed officers securing the area. Nearly the entire sixth floor had been gutted and was under major reconstruction. At least twenty somber-looking construction workers milled about the site.

  The Police Sergeant stood off in the corner talking to a large man wearing jeans and a plaid flannel shirt. His white hardhat looked squeaky clean, and his boots looked new, probably the job Foreman. The Sergeant waved them over. He gestured toward the beefy construction guy. “This is the project supervisor, John Buhr. He found the vic when they returned from their lunch break.”

  Buhr’s head turned in the direction of the EMTs and the ME who’d just arrived. Spinelli could see a blurry rendition of them through the heavy sheet of plastic lining a small framed out room. Piles of sheetrock were stacked between where he stood and the room, preventing him from seeing anything below their shoulders. He and Walker headed in that direction with the sergeant and Buhr in tow.

  They stepped around the sheetrock and peeked through the opening in the plastic. There he laid, cupid number three, naked as a jaybird with the exception of his white transparent wings. They looked like they were made out of a wedding veil and molded with large pipe cleaners. Spinelli had seen better wings.

  The vic’s stiff body rested up against bags of plaster powder. His bow and quiver of arrows lay next to him on the floor. Dried puke crusted in a line from the corner of his mouth, over his chin, down his neck, and onto his chest.

  “Poisoned?” Spinelli asked Debra, the ME.

  “Yeah, if I had to guess. The distinct smell of almonds kind of gives it away. Maybe by the time I get back, I’ll have the pathologist’s report from Bethany for the first two cupids. I’ll go see her right away. This is turning out to be quite the Valentine’s Day.”

  Spinelli shifted his gaze to the floor. “You can say that again.” Visions of Shannon kissing the strange man played through his mind. This is what I get for letting my guard down. I knew there was no such thing as true love, and this just proved it. What in the hell was I thinking? Never again. He glanced at the dead cupid. And look at you lying there on the floor. What in the hell happened to you? A woman? Had to be.

  Buhr shuffled his feet, snapping Spinelli back into reality.

  Spinelli shifted his gaze to meet Buhr’s. “How and when did you find the victim?”

  Buhr’s eyes shifted from Spinelli to the victim and then back to Spinelli. He ran his hand over his large round face. “It was after lunch— about 1:00.” He pointed toward the opposite corner of the large gutted room. “We’d been working over there since we got here this morning. There was no need to come over here. Anyhow, we broke for lunch at noon. We ate at the diner across the street. When we got back, I came over here to get some supplies, and I found poor Chad just lying here. I thought it was a joke at first, but it didn’t take long to realize it wasn’t.”

  Did Buhr really just call the victim by his first name? “You know the victim?”

  “Yeah, it’s Chad Williams, the city building inspector. He’s been on the site several times already, and I’ve worked with him on other jobs.”

  “The building inspector,” Walker repeated.

  Buhr nodded.

  “Did you all leave for lunch?” Spinelli questioned.

  “Yeah. We don’t usually eat on the work site.”

  “Did you all eat together?”

  “All of us except for O’Neil and Crass,” Buhr said as he pointed in the direction of the crew.

  Spinelli couldn’t tell who he was pointing at, but he would surely find out which of the crew they were later. Then he and Walker would have a chat with them.

  “Why didn’t they go with you?”

  “I don’t know. They had some errands to run or something. They’re not required to eat with us,” Buhr said unable to hide the defensiveness in his tone.

  Spinelli glanced toward the construction workers. “We’ll need to talk with O’Neil and Crass. Which ones are they?”

  Rather than answer, Buhr yelled across the room, “O’Neil, Crass, you guys need to come over here.”

  Every construction worker’s head snapped in Buhr’s direction, and then slowly most heads turned toward just two of the workers. Spinelli would have been able to identify the two even if the others hadn’t zoned in on them. The second Buhr yelled their names the blood drained from their faces. O’Neil and Crass slowly walked toward him and Walker.

  “Buhr told us you didn’t eat lunch with the rest of the crew today. Is that correct?”

  They both nodded.

  “What did you do on your lunch break?”

  The shorter of the two men spoke for the both of them. “We buzzed through the Burger King drive-through and then went to the jewelry store to get Valentine’s Day gifts for our wives.”

  Spinelli thought about the ring in his pocket for Shannon. What would he do with it now? A crater the size of the Grand Canyon filled his chest. Damn it. Focus!

  “So, you both were together the entire time?” The two men nodded in unison.

  Spinelli and Walker finished questioning the men and headed back to the precinct.

  “Are you okay?” Walker asked as he wove their unmarked car through the heavy traffic.

  Spinelli sat in the passenger seat staring out the front window. “Yeah, why?”

  “You seem a bit distracted. And when those two guys talked about stopping by the jewelry store, your jaw knotted so tight I was sure I could hear your bones cracking.”

  “Well, we’ve
got three dead cupids on our hands, and it’s only 3:00.

  I guess you could say I might be a bit distracted.”

  “Nope, that’s not it,” Walker responded as he signaled and turned left.

  “What?”

  “Nice try but we both know murder doesn’t affect you like that,” Walker said as a chuckle escaped his lips, “and don’t forget, I’m a trained observer.”

  Spinelli sat silent.

  “So, how’s Shannon? What have you got planned for tonight?” Walker asked.

  Spinelli’s jaw clenched. “She’s fine, and I plan on catching a killer,” he spoke through gritted teeth.

  Walker parked in the back lot of the precinct.

  Chapter Six

  Spinelli flung his coat over the back of his desk chair and sauntered over to Marsh’s desk. He looked over his shoulder as he sifted through files on Tony Rosso’s laptop. Marsh pointed at the screen. “Look at this.”

  Walker stepped up behind Marsh as well. “What’s that?” he asked.

  “Rosso’s bank records. How is it that a bartender has over $20,000 in his checkbook and nearly $300,000 in his mutual fund, especially when he’s paying an arm and a leg for his fancy high-rise apartment on the waterfront?”

  “What is he into?” Spinelli asked.

  “That’s the million dollar question,” Marsh replied

  Spinelli’s phone buzzed. He yanked it from its holder. “Spinelli here.”

  “I’ve got the pathologist report from Bethany for your first two victims. Cause of death is cyanide poisoning. I can only guess, but I bet your third cupid’s report will come back the same.”

  “Hmm, cyanide. I wonder why cyanide.”

  “It’s highly toxic, almost always deadly, and works quickly, especially if ingested like it was.”

  “They ate it?”

  “Looks like it. I can’t say they knew they ate it, but they did.”

  “Interesting.”

  Spinelli disconnected the call and filled Walker and Marsh in on the details.

  The three of them eyed the pictures of the dead cupids hanging on the crime board. They noted the similarities. All of the victims were slightly over six feet tall weighing in at 190 to 200 pounds, and they all sported thick, dark brown hair. Spinelli wasn’t sure if any of this meant anything, but it was all they had to go on at the moment. Marsh had been unable to turn up any other commonalities between Mike Carter and Tony Rosso based upon their contact lists, financials, and computer records. Maybe something would turn up when he cross-referenced their information with that of Chad Williams, their third and hopefully last dead cupid.