Luca heard Stephen choke up on his own words.
“It’s okay. I got a lot out of your speech last night… your speech and all the others. The vigil was powerful.”
“Well, that’s very nice of you to say,” he said. After a pause, Stephen finally spoke again. “Well, if you won’t let me buy you dinner, at least let me buy you lunch today. My treat and my choice of place this time, okay? I was at Hamburger Mary’s until after four a.m., then down at the bar dealing with police at dawn, and I just finished a meeting with some insurance people. It’s not even nine a.m. and I’m already exhausted. I’m going home to shower and change and get a little nap but I’d like to see a friendly face. Can I pick you up for lunch?”
Luca’s heart flip-flopped. Corey was right. Stephen would be good for him but he just couldn’t fall for another man. He knew he’d be Kane’s as long as he was good to him.
“That’s such a nice thing for you to say, Stephen. I really want to see you too. I’m here with Sebastian alone until 12:30 when Marilyn and Chris come in, so will you come after that?”
“Of course, Luca. I can’t wait to see you.”
“Okay, bye. See you then.” Luca hung up his phone and glanced over at Sebastian who was putting out the Rolex’s, entirely absorbed in the task at hand. He wished that all he had to worry about were two adorable wieners.
｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆
Kane looked up from the FBI file on Martin Carlow when Kelly sat down at her desk across from him. She shoved her gun in her desk drawer and opened her mouth to greet him when her landline rang. She reached out and picked it up.
“Murphy.”
She glanced down at the receiver and then back at Kane as she listened.
“Yes. No problem. Delancey and I are both here. We’ll see you shortly.” She hung up.
“Who was that?” Kane asked.
She smiled. “And a good morning to you, partner.”
Kane smirked. “Morning. Who was that?” he repeated.
“That was your partner at the ATF, Dev. She, Evans, and Wolfe are on their way over. They’ve just completed the bomb reconstruction and want to share the findings with us since they’re sure that it ties into the Irish mob, out of Boston and Martin Carlow.”
“Seriously?” Kane asked, crossing his arms and leaning back in his desk chair. “That was quick but I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that it ties in with Carlow. We saw his face on the surveillance tapes so we suspected as much.”
“I know, right? I mean you should know since you’re ATF, but I had no idea they could complete a bomb reconstruction so fast. How do you think they were able to tie the bomb to the mob so quickly?”
“It shouldn’t take more than a couple hours to reassemble if you know what you’re looking at and if enough pieces were recovered. I have no doubt the ATF has been working on recovery of fragments and reconstruction all night long. The ATF has to get out in front of a bomber like this so that they can figure out what the motive was. Of course it helps to identify the bomber if his signature is in the ATF’s database. You know it’s the most extensive database of its kind in the world, right?”
“I suppose I should know that.”
“What kind of bombers are there? I mean someone must have held a grudge against the owner or gay people,” Kelly said. “What other motive could there be?”
“Personal cause bombers are just what you’d think. Usually those types of bombers are motivated by an underlying emotional conflict. The other types of bombers are categorized as psychologically disorganized, simple criminal bombers which would include someone throwing a Molotov cocktail for instance—and group cause bombers—something like an ecoterrorist organization who uses bombs to send a message. I think in this case, if Carlow and Ruiz are the bombers, they might have simply set off a bomb in order to cover the actual murder of Freddy Lombardi—a simple criminal act using a bomb.”
“I get it now. So, if that’s the case, we have the motive,” Kelly said.
“Possibly. This is the thing, though…” Kane began. “I’ve been wracking my brain trying to figure out why Carlow showed his face the way he did in public. I mean, surely if he’s the kind of master criminal and munitions specialist that we know he is, he had to know that his image would be caught on tape. There are cameras everywhere. I just got a call from Cassidy Ryan. There’s yet a third camera from on top of the building at 24 Hour Fitness next door to Marty’s that picked up his face coming and going to the bar. I mean what the fuck? It’s like he’s taunting us, daring us to arrest him.”
“Yeah, I thought about that too,” Kelly said. “The question I keep asking myself is why would he do that? I’m no profiler or anything of the sort, but isn’t he acting like a terrorist who wants everyone to know it’s him?”
Kane nodded. “Maybe we should get a profiler from the FBI in here to give us the rundown of his personality.”
“That’s a good idea. I’ll call Snow when we’re done with the ATF.”
“Aww, now see, that’s the kind of thing that hurts my feelin’s, darlin’,” Jarrett said, walking up behind Kelly’s chair. She jumped and Kane couldn’t help but laugh as Jarrett and Thayne came around the desk smiling at her. Dev walked over to Kane and shook his hand. She was holding a file folder with several pages.
“Hey, partner,” Kane said, shaking her hand. “Guys.”
“What’s cookin’, oh long lost Delancey,” Jarrett drawled.
Kane shook the two men’s hands. “I just saw you two yesterday.”
“Ignore my husband. He’s a pain in the ass,” Thayne Wolfe said, shaking his hand.
“Hey!” Jarrett said.
Kelly and Kane chuckled.
“You have something to show us?” Kane asked.
“Do you have somewhere more private than this bull pen?” Dev asked, glancing around.
“Sure. We can go into the lieutenant’s office. He’s a good friend of your old boss, Lloyd Stanger, and even if he wasn’t, he’s on vacation,” Kelly replied, smiling.
“No conference room?” Jarrett asked, looking around.
“It’s the LAPD, not a federal building, my man,” Kane said, slapping Jarrett on the back. “The city cops’ budget is painfully sad. This will work for us. Let’s go.” Kane turned and walked away, headed for Lieutenant James’s office.
Once they’d gathered inside, Jarrett took off the backpack which was slung over his shoulder and unzipped it, pulling out two pipe bombs that had been reconstructed. Kane reached out and took one while Jarrett handed the other one to Kelly.
“The bomb techs finished reassembling these two pipe bombs. One had been placed in the back room where the firefighters found Freddy Lombardi’s body. The other had been placed under the bar nearest the front door,” Jarrett said.
Kane turned the pipe bomb over in his hands, examining it and looking for special markings. He saw none. He looked up at Jarrett.
“I understand the placement of one bomb next to Lombardi’s body. Obviously, they wanted to have it destroy his corpse after he was shot but the other one…” Kane nodded to the bomb Kelly was looking closely at. “If a second device was placed at the front door, did they intend on trapping whoever was in the bar by exploding the entrance so no one could escape the ensuing fire?”
“That’s what we think,” Dev said. “We’ve asked Lincoln and Mac to talk to the FBI’s behavioral analysis unit so that they can profile the other patrons of the bar. Four died and several more were hurt in the bombing and fire resulting from it. That includes Freddy Lombardi.”
Kane nodded at his partner and held up the pipe bomb, turning to look at Jarrett. “What kind of shrapnel was used, if any?”
Jarrett reached into his jacket pocket and withdrew a sealed evidence bag, holding it up. “That’s what was interesting to us. He used the typical ball bearings and roofing nails, but in addition to that, the bomber added needles.”
Kane frowned deeply and shook his head, looking
at the bag Jarrett handed him. The ball bearings and nails in it were very small; even a small pipe bomb would hold a huge amount of them. What surprised him was the addition of needles. They would do a lot of damage to the human body—even causing blindness or deafness, depending on where the patrons of the bar were standing when it was detonated. It was a very deadly bomb. The needles were a particular signature unique to this bomber. Foreign terrorists didn’t generally use needles in their bombs. Kane had seen nothing like this since starting at the ATF.
“He wanted to kill more people than he did. He wanted to cause a huge amount of damage. There would be no reason to place two bombs like this to cover up one murder at the back of the bar. The bomber was going for a higher body count. It’s really a miracle anyone escaped that bar alive,” Kane said.
“You’re right. That’s the conclusion we also came to,” Thayne said.
“Do you guys know where other bombs like this one have been used?” Kelly asked.
Jarrett and Thayne exchanged a serious glance before turning back to Kane and Kelly.
“Well, I suppose you know pipe bombs are a favorite with Islamic terrorists, right?” Jarrett asked.
“Right,” Kane replied. “But that’s not what we have here.”
Jarrett, Thayne, and Dev all shook their heads.
“No,” Dev said. “We don’t suspect Islamic terrorists are at work here.” She sighed. “Pipe bombs are easy enough to make if you know what you’re doing but it’s the shrapnel that is the signature.” She pointed to the bag of shrapnel.
“Did you find other pipe bombings with that combination of shrapnel used anywhere in the US?” Kane asked.
Jarrett nodded. “Yeah and you’re not going to like it.” His friend was frowning.
“Boston?” Kane asked.
His colleagues from the ATF all nodded. “Bingo,” Jarrett said. “This combination of shrapnel is used by the Irish mob. We found at least twelve bombings in the last ten years where this signature was used, all on the East Coast.”
“Fuck me,” Kane said, glancing at Kelly. “Well, it looks like we’ve got our tie-in to Martin Carlow but how the hell does he know Slade Ruiz?”
｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆
True to his word, Stephen arrived at 12:30 to pick Luca up for lunch. Luca was walking out of his office at the back of the store when he noticed Stephen walk up to the counter where Sebastian was polishing a pair of earrings. At the moment, there were no other customers in the store. Marilyn and Chris had just clocked in and were lingering in the back room, pulling out overstock that Luca asked them to put out on the sales floor. He watched as Stephen’s face split in a wide grin at something Sebastian said. When he started laughing, Luca smiled. He walked over to Stephen and his boss turned to him, reaching out and pulling Luca into a hug. Luca hugged him back.
The easy camaraderie between them was something Luca didn’t experience with very many gay men. All too often the gay men who ended up in his orbit had other things on their mind. When he’d first met Stephen Auerbach, the man had been with his boy toy and even then, had the audacity to ask Luca out. If the man hadn’t been his boss, Luca would probably have knocked him on his ass. He’d never liked guys—even incredibly rich, good-looking guys—who were always on the prowl for their next lay. That’s exactly the way his boss had behaved the first time they’d met and it put Luca off for quite a while. Once they’d cleared the air, Luca realized he genuinely liked his boss. In fact, the more he got to know him, the more he liked him.
“Are you ready to go?” Stephen asked, smiling as he let Luca go and stepped back.
“I am.” Luca turned to Sebastian. “We’re gonna grab a bite but I’ll be back in about an hour.”
“An hour an hour and a half, Sebastian,” Stephen said. “Would you like us to bring you something?”
Sebastian blinked rapidly as his mouth opened. No sound came out.
“We’ll bring you something back then,” Luca said.
“Oh… ah, no. I brought a sandwich,” Sebastian blurted out. “But I will take a raincheck.” He smiled and nodded his head.
“Better still, let me take you to dinner on Saturday,” Stephen said, staring right at Sebastian.
Luca nearly swallowed his tongue.
“That… is a great idea,” Luca said, smiling broadly at Sebastian as he opened his eyes as wide as they would go before crossing them. If Sebastian didn’t get the hint from that, he was just hopeless. Luca watched as he thinned his lips and bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing.
“I-I… okay, fine,” Sebastian drawled, blushing profusely as he turned back to Stephen. “That would be lovely.”
Luca wondered how long it had been since Sebastian had a real date but he was happy as they turned and walked out of the store. The thought of Stephen taking Seb out on a date on Stephen’s budget warmed Luca’s heart. He adored both men and he hadn’t even had to do anything to facilitate the date. He was a happy camper as Stephen’s driver opened the door of yet another luxury Bentley. Stephen slid into the back seat beside him and Luca smiled at him, wondering just how many of the cars Stephen actually had.
Chapter Ten
Kane called Luca around five as he was headed out of the Brentwood police station. He was more than a little happy that the day was finally coming to an end. After Thayne, Jarrett, and Dev left the office that morning, he’d called and left a message for Marshall Brady. Personally, he wanted to get more information on the young man before they dove into the case but it would have to wait since it seemed Brady was out for the day. Kane left a message for the marshal to call him back when he returned to the office.
He and Kelly had discussed how to proceed with Freddy Lombardi’s murder investigation. Technically, because Marty’s was located within the city of West Hollywood, the Hollywood police station should be investigating. Because the ATF was the lead investigative agency involved in any case where explosives were used, Kane’s SAC, Sarah Connor, had made it clear to the LAPD that the investigation would be funneled through Brentwood with Cassidy Ryan and Mike Williams as the lead detectives. The reason for that decision was twofold.
Since Kane was still undercover at the LAPD, she couldn’t very well request that he and Kelly be assigned to the case, but since the ATF had worked several past cases with veteran detectives Ryan and Williams, her decision wasn’t questioned. That way, Kane and Kelly would also be kept in the loop. The two detectives knew Kane’s identity as an ATF agent and she trusted them. The former Hollywood station chief, LAPD Captain Gil Issa, was currently serving a life sentence in jail on charges of terrorism and murder and that was the second reason SAC Connor gave the police chief for her choice of Ryan and Williams. She made it clear that she’d decide who the ATF would be working with.
“Hello, sexy,” Kane greeted as Luca answered the phone.
“Hello, Special Agent Delancey,” Luca replied. Just the sound of Luca’s voice made Kane relax as he got into the Charger. “Are you done with work?”
“I am. Where are you?” Kane loved the smile he could hear in Luca’s voice. He’d missed him so much. It was always the little things that made Luca happy. How on earth had he ever believed he could live without him?
“I just walked through my front door. Are we still on for dinner tonight?” Luca asked.
“Dinner sounds great. I’m headed home to shower and then I was thinking I would swing by and pick you up so we can go out.”
“You’re going to drive all the way back to the Valley just to change clothes and then all the way back here… in traffic?” Luca asked.
“I have to feed Dorothy and Toto and I want to get out of this suit.”
“Hmm,” Luca hesitated. “I have an appointment with my tasseographer tonight. Maybe we should do this another time,” he said.
“First of all, I’ve had a craptastic day and the only thing that kept me going as I waded through all of it was thinking about seeing you. Secondly, if you think
I want to miss out on meeting Mr. Pornpornporniekornporn, you’re crazy.”
Luca laughed. “His name is Pimporn Vajiralongkorn and you are crazy, Kane.”
Kane grinned into the phone. “Yeah okay, whatever, but I wouldn’t miss out watching you get your leaves read for anything in the world right now.”
“Fine. Hurry up and go home and change and throw some food at those mongrels and get over here and pick me up.”
Kane chuckled. “I’ll be there as soon as I can. If I take the canyon, I’ll probably make it home and back to you in an hour.”
“Okay. We’ll have to go see him first, then have dinner. Now, hang up the phone and hurry!”
The phone disconnected and Kane couldn’t help but grin his ass off as he flipped on the radio, cranking up the oldies.
｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆
Kane arrived at Luca’s building in less than an hour. He’d changed out of his suit and into something more casual. As he stepped out of the Charger in front of Luca’s apartment, he was dressed in loose-fitting black jeans, a soft olive T-shirt, his favorite black leather bomber jacket, and Doc Martens. He had no idea what someone wore to a tasseographer but at least with Luca, nothing was ever boring.
He was crazy about the man.
Luca answered the door dressed much like he was with the exception that the jeans he wore were skinny, hugging his legs, and a bright cherry-red. As much as Kane admired the way his body looked in the jeans, he wondered where in the world he got them. The black T-shirt Luca wore clung to every tight muscle on his smaller body. Kane had to ball his hands into fists to keep from reaching out and touching Luca’s chest. To finish his look, he’d wrapped a soft black scarf around his slender neck; the lack of color brought out the gray-blue of his gorgeous eyes.
Luca had applied some of that dark kohl liner around his eyes, making them appear an even paler shade of gray. His spiky hair had some kind of product worked into it and the long bangs flopped over his forehead, making him look even younger than his twenty-two years. Kane was convinced that every time he looked at Luca, he got more gorgeous. It left him breathless as he stood outside the door of the apartment and just stared at him. When Luca smiled and sent him a sexy up and down perusal, hesitating on his groin for a few seconds, Kane felt a jolt of lightning crash into him. He was smitten.
Play With Me Page 13
