Craving Vengeance, a Nick Spinelli Mystery

by Valerie J. Clarizio

  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her shoulders stiffen. Her lips pulled into a thin line.

  Evidently, he hadn’t kept the sharpness out of his tone as he’d planned.

  A few beats passed before she sucked in a breath and expelled it. “It was very sweet, what you did for those kids tonight.”

  He shrugged.

  She shifted in her seat. Her gaze fixed on him. His already hot cheeks were now flaming. Why can’t she ever just say her piece and leave it alone? All I did was bring them a gift. That’s it, nothing else. End of story.

  Her lips parted. “Whether you believe it or not, those kids adore you, especially Lesha. Your actions have impacted those kids’ lives more positively than anyone else has so far in their young lives.”

  What was she trying to do to him? He didn’t need this kind of pressure. He just wanted to help a few kids who’d been dealt a shitty hand.

  Chapter Eleven

  Spinelli parked Shannon’s car in the lot behind the building, next to his truck. She reached for her door handle, paused, and looked back at him. “Are you coming over tonight? I really need to talk to you, Nick.”

  He glanced at his watch. It was already after 8:30 p.m. So much for his Valentine’s Day plans. A hint of sadness passed through her eyes at his hesitation.

  “I can’t. We’re in the middle of something big here, and I really need you to come inside with me for a bit.”

  A look of fear trailed the curiosity that rushed through her eyes. She climbed out of the vehicle and kept pace at his side as they entered the precinct.

  Marsh looked up from behind a table full of laptops as they approached him. He gave Spinelli a once over and roared with laughter. “Walker described it to me but I gotta tell you he didn’t do it justice. Nice wings,” Marsh’s head bounced up and down like a bobblehead doll.

  Spinelli wanted nothing more than to smack the smirk off his face. Before he could say anything, Walker’s heels pounded against the wood floor in their direction. All eyes shifted to Walker.

  Shannon raised an eyebrow. “Brad, I thought you were going home to spend time with Jeana.”

  Walker shifted his gaze to the floor. He looked like a puppy who’d been scolded for chewing on his master’s shoes.

  Shannon shifted her gaze to Spinelli. “What’s going on here?”

  “We need to talk, but first I need to get the hell out of this ridiculous outfit,” Spinelli replied as he reached toward Walker for his clothes. He was glad Walker remembered to grab them from the backseat of their unmarked squad car.

  Spinelli returned from the restroom a moment later. He now wore his usual attire; a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved polo shirt. And most importantly, his shiny gold badge hung by a chain around his neck.

  Shannon had taken a seat at the table across from Marsh. They were making small talk. The table abutted to Spinelli’s desk. A red heart-shaped box of chocolates sat on the center of his desk. It wasn’t there when he had left earlier. He glanced at Marsh. “Where did that come from?”

  Marsh shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  Spinelli looked at Shannon. She shrugged as well. He could see the frustration in her eyes. He imagined she wanted to know what in the hell was going on.

  He returned his gaze to Marsh. “You didn’t see who put it there?”

  “No, it isn’t like I sat here and stared at your desk the entire time you were gone.”

  Spinelli thought about tearing into the chocolates. He hadn’t eaten all day, and he was starving.

  “Nick, it’s getting late, and I’d like to go home soon. What is it you wanted to talk to me about?” Shannon asked, annoyance oozing through her words.

  Walker and Marsh busied themselves. No moral support from them.

  Spinelli plucked a photo of Dr. Joshua Meyers from a manila folder on his desk and held it up for Shannon to see. “Do you know this man?” Shannon leaned forward and glanced at the picture. She shifted her gaze to meet his. Her eyes watered, and she nodded. Spinelli wondered if her eyes watered because she’d been busted, or because she knew what had happened to Meyers today.

  Spinelli lowered his shaky hand. His nerves were shot. “When was the last time you saw him?”

  Shannon chewed on her bottom lip for a moment. She released it and blew out a sigh. “This afternoon. I last saw him this afternoon.”

  “What time?”

  “I dropped him off at his hotel shortly before 2:00.” Her confused gaze stayed on him.

  He feared the answer to the next question, but he had to ask it anyhow. He knew she’d tell the truth. She was simply incapable of lying. “How do you know him?”

  She shifted her gaze to the floor. “We were once engaged,” she replied in a whisper. “But until today, I hadn’t seen him for a couple of years.”

  Spinelli leaned forward. “Did you ever think to tell me you’re engaged?”

  “I’m not engaged now. I said I was once engaged,” Shannon snapped back as she met his gaze again.

  “That’s not exactly how he put it.”

  Shannon shot him a frown. “What do you mean? When did you talk to Joshua?”

  “I didn’t talk to him. I heard him say it to you in the hall.” Her green-eyed gaze widened.

  Spinelli leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “I believe the words I heard were ‘Aren’t you happy to see your fiancé?’”

  “You heard that?”

  Spinelli cocked his head to the side. “Yeah, do you want me to repeat what I saw right before I heard that, too?”

  She lowered her gaze then looked up at him through her long lashes. “It’s not what it looked like, and I tried to talk to you about it when I came down here earlier this afternoon but you blew me off and didn’t give me a chance.”

  “What’s to explain? Everything seemed pretty clear when his tongue was in your mouth.”

  Spinelli sprang to his feet and stepped back. He didn’t like the intensity of the surge of jealousy flowing through his veins. He didn’t like the fact that she could wind him up like this. A couple of months ago, his life was a lot less complicated. If only he could turn back the hands of time.

  Shannon rose to her feet as well. “I can’t believe you’d think I’d...” She glanced about the precinct. “Do we have to talk about this here?”

  Her gaze shifted to the crime board to Spinelli’s immediate left. She squinted. Her eyes went wide, and what little color she had in her pale cheeks disappeared. She was whiter than the toga he’d been wearing earlier.

  Spinelli realized what she’d seen. Pictures of the dead cupids were on the board. Her gaze was fixed on Joshua. She gasped. Her lips quivered, and tears rolled down her cheeks. Spinelli quickly stepped around the desk and pulled her to him. He couldn’t help himself. He hated it when she cried. He knew her knees were weak. He supported her in his arms where she always seemed to fit perfectly. After a moment, he urged her to sit.

  Shannon sat quietly, staring forward as if trying to gather her thoughts. She swiped her hands across her moist cheeks.

  Walker appeared and handed her a box of tissues and a bottle of water. Marsh stood at his side. Spinelli sat at his desk.

  Shannon looked up at Walker. “What happened to Joshua?”

  Walker pulled up a chair. “We received a call today at about 4:00 p.m. regarding the deceased. He checked in at the Hyatt and ordered room service. A hotel employee found him when she delivered his order. We have reason to believe he was poisoned.”

  Shannon threw her hand over her mouth. Her gaze stayed fixed on Walker. “Shannon, we know Dr. Meyers was upstairs with you at about 1:00 and that you left together. Where did you go when you left here?”

  She shifted her gaze to Spinelli and lowered her hand. “I took him to the Hyatt. He had taken a cab directly here from the airport. He thought he’d just stay with me, but I told him he couldn’t because...because I was seeing someone, so I dropped him off at the Hyatt.”

  “So y
ou went right from here to the Hyatt and didn’t stop anywhere else?” Walker asked drawing Shannon’s gaze back to him.

  Shannon shook her head.

  “Where else did you stop?” Walker asked.

  “I pulled into the parking lot up the street to talk to him for a minute.”

  Walker cocked a brow.

  Shannon continued, “He made me so furious when he announced in front of everyone upstairs that we were engaged, I just needed to get him the hell out of here. I also wanted to take a minute to make him understand that we were through. Evidently, he didn’t fully understand that when I gave the engagement ring back to him two years ago.”

  “So you talked for a couple of minutes and then took him to the Hyatt?”

  Shannon nodded. “What time was that?”

  “We left here shortly after 1:00. I talked with him for five, maybe ten minutes before I drove him to the hotel.”

  Walker glanced at Spinelli then shifted his eyes back to Shannon. “Did you go up to his room?”

  She looked at Spinelli and held his gaze for what seemed like an eternity. His thudding heart and pounding pulse was all he could hear. Both faded the longer he stared into her gaze, though he still wasn’t sure he wanted to hear her answer. The ring in his pocket weighed down his twitching leg. The silence was excruciating. Would she just answer already!

  She ripped her gaze from Spinelli’s and returned it to Walker. “No, I didn’t go to his room. We talked in the car for a bit, and then I left.”

  “Was he acting strange at all?”

  Shannon thought for a moment. “No. He was a little upset, but he didn’t act strange.”

  “Why was he upset?”

  She looked at Spinelli. “I would imagine he didn’t like that I declined his offer to go to his room and that I reiterated the fact that I’m seeing someone else.”

  Walker nodded. “Where did you go after you dropped him off?”

  “I stopped at Subway to pick up a sandwich, and then I came back to work.”

  “So you say you ended it and dropped him off at the hotel, and he was upset with you. Yet he agreed to work with you on the fundraiser tonight,” Spinelli cut in.

  Walker stepped back.

  “He’s an adult. He was doing what was best for the church,” Shannon snapped back. Her condescending tone shamed him.

  “I don’t get it. Why would he want to help you with your church’s fundraiser?”

  “He went to my church. That’s how I met him. In fact, the reason I haven’t seen him for the past couple of years is because he was on a church mission trip in Nicaragua.”

  Spinelli caught Walker’s sideways glance and snicker.

  He felt like such an ass. The perfect Dr. Joshua Meyers was on a church mission trip. Reality check. He was jealous of a dead guy, and he knew if he didn’t shut his mouth right here and now he’d be minus the woman he loved as well. But still, why did she kiss the wholesome doctor the way she did this afternoon?

  “Nick, I don’t want to discuss this now. Not here,” Shannon said as her gaze drifted back to the crime board. He didn’t really want to either, ever. He hated this type of confrontation in public or private.

  Shannon squinted at the board again. “So, this is what Uncle Bernie was talking about?”

  “Yes.”

  “How many cupids were murdered today?”

  “Four so far.”

  “Four?”

  “Yep.”

  Shannon leaned forward. Her mouth fell open. “Is that Mike...” her voice trailed off.

  Spinelli, Walker, and Marsh fixed their gazes on her.

  “You know Mike Carter?” Spinelli questioned.

  Shannon’s gaze shifted between the detectives. Several beats passed. “Shannon, did you know Mr. Carter?” Walker asked in a tone a bit more controlled than the one Spinelli used seconds earlier.

  She nodded.

  “How did you know him?” Walker followed up.

  She shifted her teary eyes to Spinelli. “We dated in high school,” she whispered.

  Spinelli looked at Walker and Marsh, “What in the hell?”

  Walker stepped toward the crime board and pulled a photo of Tony Rosso, a clothed photo, not the one of him sprawled out on his boss’ desk naked but for his wings. He held the photo up for Shannon to see. “Do you know who this is?” he asked.

  Shannon nodded. “Tony Rosso.”

  “How did you know Mr. Rosso?” Walker asked.

  This time she kept her gaze fixed on Walker. “My Uncle Bernie owns a bar downtown. Tony used to bartend for him. My uncle set us up, and we went out a few times.”

  Walker pulled another photo from the folder. “Do you know who this is?” he asked as he held the photo of the third cupid for her to see.

  Tears rolled down her cheeks. She closed her eyes and sucked in a breath.

  “Shannon?”

  Her eyes fluttered open. “It’s Chad Williams.”

  “Did you go out with him as well?” Walker asked.

  She nodded and used the back of her hand to swipe the moisture from her cheeks.

  Spinelli stood in disbelief.

  Walker cleared his throat. “Let’s take a step back here. In what order did you go out with these men?”

  Shannon twisted off the top of the bottle of water Walker had given her earlier. She drank nearly half the bottle in one shot. She sucked in a deep breath and held it for a moment as if pausing to get her thoughts in order. She set the bottle on Spinelli’s desk and expelled a breath. “I dated Mike Carter during the second half of my senior year in high school. I started dating Joshua in my senior year of college; he was already in medical school. We dated for a couple of years and got engaged. It seemed like the next step.” She glanced at Spinelli. “Right before he left for Nicaragua, I broke it off, but he obviously didn’t take me seriously.”

  Shannon paused, closed her eyes, and sucked in a weighty breath. She opened her eyes and continued. “After a while of not dating, everyone seems to want to set you up. Uncle Bernie set me up with Tony Rosso a few months after Joshua left. We only went out three or four times. Tony was nice enough but not my type. A few months or so after that a friend of mine set me up with Chad Williams. We only went out twice. I guess I wasn’t his type.”

  “Were there any others?” Walker asked.

  Shannon shifted her gaze to Spinelli then back to Walker. “Just Nick.”

  All eyes shifted to Spinelli.

  “How ya feeling there, pal?” Marsh teased. He had no couth at times.

  “Not funny! You’re such an asshole!”

  Silence filled the room. They all shifted their gazes back and forth.

  Adrenaline rushed through Spinelli’s veins. Was someone going to try to kill him today? Could he have been poisoned? Reality punched him in the gut, knocking the wind right out of him. Sweat beaded on his temples. His sweaty hands hadn’t stopped shaking since he entered the precinct with Shannon. Was it just nerves or something more? His pulse pounded in his ears. Would this be the last time he’d hear his own pulse or the sweet sound of Shannon’s soft feminine voice singing in his ears? He inhaled. The aroma of bitter coffee and stale pastries wafted through his nostrils but was quickly replaced by the pleasant refreshing scent of a fresh spring morning; Shannon’s tantalizing scent. Would this be the last time he’d smell the confines of the precinct or her glorious heavenly scent? Would he ever get the opportunity to taste her sweet flavor again or feel her soft milky white skin under his fingertips? Confusion filled every cell in his body.

  “Nick,” Shannon whispered as she rose to her feet and stepped toward him.

  He zoned in on her big green eyes. She looked concerned. He lifted his hand and stepped back. The hint of hurt that darkened her eyes pierced his heart.

  He knew he needed to pull it together or else. He didn’t want to think of the ‘or else,’ but it consumed his mind anyway.

  Chapter Twelve

  Spinelli and Walker ques
tioned Shannon over and over about who would possibly want to set her up. It didn’t look good for her. In fact, if she hadn’t spent the night at Spinelli’s, she would have looked guilty as sin.

  Bethany and Debra provided no news about the murders. All they’d confirmed thus far was that all four men had been poisoned with cyanide.

  Spinelli’s stomach growled reminding him and everyone else in a half-mile radius he hadn’t eaten all day. He eyed the chocolates on his desk. No time now.

  He looked over Marsh’s shoulder as he sifted through the financial records of today’s victims.

  Walker was busy Googling cyanide. “I doubt you’ve been poisoned, Spinelli. It says here cyanide induces fatality in seconds following ingestion, especially on an empty stomach. On a full stomach, it could take up to four hours. Good thing you haven’t eaten all day. You never know what could be in your food.”

  Spinelli rolled his eyes. “Yeah, good thing. Where in the hell does someone get cyanide anyhow?”

  Walker looked back at his computer screen. “It says here that after ingestion, certain chemicals can be changed by the body into cyanide. Products like old artificial nail polish remover or some chemicals found in old solvents and plastics manufacturing solutions contain such, but supposedly they’ve been removed from the market.” Walker shook his head. “Who are we kidding? They probably got it right off of eBay in ready form.”

  “Is there anything there about quantity needed to ensure fatality?” Spinelli asked.

  Walker nodded. “Yeah, but I don’t know...well...it’s hard to tell. I’m looking at some pathologist’s blog, and he’s got a bunch of mumbo jumbo on there about grams and milligrams and different kinds of cyanide. The only thing I can tell for sure is that if ingested, you’d better have your affairs in order.”

  “I think I may have found something here,” Marsh interrupted as he pointed to some paperwork lying on his desk.

  Spinelli leaned over his shoulder to get a better look. “What is it?”

  “I had the IT Department print out Chad Williams’ Internet records for the past week and there isn’t much activity except for him logging onto the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services website. But on a couple of occasions, he logged onto backpage dot com.”