by Debbie Zello
He disappeared again for two months. Briah graduated with honors and found a job with a small manufacturing company as their office manager. Things were good and she was happy.
One of the buyers for the company asked her out to dinner. They were having a very pleasant evening, sipping wine and talking about work and life. She had never told anyone about Connor or his drug usage. She figured that was his cross to bear.
Just as they were leaving the restaurant, Briah saw him sitting alone at a booth near the door. She froze as the look on his face pierced through her. It was pure loathing. She just put her head down, and walked out.
Princess had an incredibly distinct cry. It sounded very much like a baby. Two days after the restaurant incident, Princess didn’t come home. Briah went to bed and after midnight, she heard Princess’s cry. Briah searched the house and looked outside but couldn’t find her.
Then it was every night for a week, at all different times. With her windows open to let in the cool June air, she figured out the cry was definitely coming from outside.
Briah turned off all the lights and closed her shades just as she did every night. She stood near her door waiting to hear Princess’s cry and then she was going out the door to catch that damn cat. Once she caught her, she would never go out again. Someone was going to be getting some sleep and that someone was Briah.
She was sitting on the floor, her legs having given out around two in the morning. Then she heard her crying. Briah opened her door quietly and snuck out turning to the left from where she believed the noise was coming.
As she rounded the corner, she saw what she thought was a figure crouching on the ground. She took a step closer and her foot slid on some gravel. The noise alerted the figure and it took off running. She heard something clatter to the ground. She didn’t chase after the shape. She was armed with a flash light and nothing more.
Briah turned it on to look around for her cat and the object that the person had dropped. She found a small digital voice recorder in the grass. She took it back to her apartment.
She turned on a light so she could have a better look at the recorder. She pressed the play button and out came Princess’s cry. Over and over the cat cried. Briah began weeping. That dark person, somehow, had recorded her cat’s cry, but why?
The next morning her question was answered. She opened her door to leave and Princess was on her step. She retrieved a towel from the bathroom and wrapped her up in it. She took her to the vet, who confirmed for Briah that the cat’s neck had been forcibly broken. It couldn’t have been an accident.
With the vet’s report and the recorder, she went back to the police. Again, she was told that without proof, there was nothing they could do, besides talk to him again. Briah stared at the detective with incredulity. “You mean he has to actually hurt me or threaten me in front of someone before you can do anything to him? He just killed my cat.”
“You have proof that he killed your cat? A confession or a witness, maybe? Without that, what we have is your supposition. I believe you, that it is most likely him doing all of this. That and two bucks will get you a coffee,” the detective said.
Briah got up and walked out. On her way past the main desk, a female officer stopped her, saying, “I know he sounds like a jerk. But he’s right. You can’t get a restraining order based on what you believe he’s doing. We can’t arrest him on that either. Besides, a restraining order isn’t going to stop him.
“If he killed your cat, he is sending you a clear message. You are next. Get out, leave, while you can. Don’t tell anyone where you are going and only your family once you get there. Leave your phone behind and get a new one when you stop. Don’t assume that one of your friends isn’t one of his too.
“Caution your family that they can’t tell anyone where you are, no one, do you understand? I hope you take my advice, and I wish you luck.”
Chapter Four
The wake and funeral were lovely and well attended. Several people spoke about Dan, his hobbies, and the charities he supported. As Briah placed a flower on his coffin just before he was lowered to his permanent sleep, she felt she knew him so much better. It was so sad to her that it took his passing before she really knew much of anything about him. That would be her fate as well. People she knew only had small snips of the real her. Not one person knew it all.
Briah would be twenty-seven on her next birthday. She hadn’t been with a man in over three years. She was in her prime and should at least have a man in her life who could take care of her physical needs. Her life was full of should haves, would haves, and could haves.
It had been over a week since Dan’s death. Briah had begun looking for a new job on the internet. She was only a month into her new lease so she needed to stay within fifty miles of Denver or pay a hefty fee for breaking it. With the help of the victim’s fund and what she had in savings, she would be okay for a few months. She could go back to teaching skiing.
At the end of the second week, her phone rang. “Hello,” she said after looking at the caller ID. It was Detective Baldwin calling.
“Hi, Briah. It’s Aiden Baldwin calling. How are you?”
“Good, Aiden, you?”
“I’m good, thanks. I have good news. At least, I hope it is.”
“I hope so too, I could use some right about now.”
“One of our secretaries is leaving on Friday. She is taking a leave for three months to have a baby. We usually call an agency to fill our temporary positions. It actually costs more than if we find our own subs. If you’re not working yet and you want it, it’s yours.”
“I want it. Thank you,” she said almost giddy. Three months is better than no months.
“Will you be able to come in on Friday so Dina can show you around?”
“I’ll be there for…when does she come in?”
“It’s eight to five with an hour for lunch. Some of the other women skip lunch or only take a half an hour, so depending on what you do it may vary.”
“I’ll be there, thank you again,” she said hanging up. She danced around her living room. Maybe things would turn around for her.
What Aiden hadn’t told Briah about was the phone call he had received earlier that morning. The woman identified herself as Mrs. S. She said she was married to the man who had killed Dan Post. She told Aiden she was having an affair with Dan and her husband found out about it.
When Aiden asked her why it had taken her so long to come forward, she said her husband was watching her too closely to risk it. Today she had a hair appointment and she was calling from the salon.
Thinking quickly on his feet, which was one of Aiden’s many talents, he asked her what she looked like. When she described herself, she sounded very similar to one of the female officers he knew. “Do you go grocery shopping?”
“Yes, but I’m pretty sure he has someone follow me there,” she said.
“That’s fine. When do you go next? What store do you go to?”
“I go to Safeway on Thursdays around ten in the morning, why?”
“I have a plan. You go shopping just as you always do. Make out a detailed list first. Walk into the store wearing jeans and a black hoodie with the hood up. Grab your cart and head to the back of the store.
“You’re going to pretend that you’re going to the bathroom. I’ll have a policewoman there dressed as you are. You will trade places with her. She’ll take your list and do your shopping and you’ll be with me in the storeroom talking.
“Make sure you have a long list. We will need an hour or more to talk. When she finishes your shopping, she’ll leave the groceries with the checkout clerk and walk back to the bathroom again. You’ll switch and be on your way.”
“It sounds too easy. What if he finds out?” she asked, concerned.
“The simplest plans work the best. If it’s too complicated, there is more that can go wrong. But you’re married to him. You tell me what he will do if he figures it out,” Aiden asked directly.
“Then this is completely up to you. The most I can offer is protection. If you want to come in, we’ll protect you, but then you can never go back. Do you have kids?”
“Yes.”
“I can’t tell you what to do, but you called me, so something told you to do that,” he said reasoning with her.
“My conscience and the fact that I loved Dan. I was going to leave my husband and we were going to run. Get as far as we could and disappear forever. I’ll see you on Thursday.”
Thursday morning, Aiden, Pete and their team were assembled and waiting for Mrs. S. to show up. Corrine waited in the bathroom for her performance to begin. The men were assembled in the back storage room. Aiden changed the plan slightly in that he had a van waiting right outside the back door. It looked like a delivery van and would go unnoticed by anyone. Without windows, it would serve as a quiet and secure place to talk. Plus, the whole conversation could be easily recorded for trial.
Pete drummed his nails on the desk he was sitting at. Aiden shot him a ‘keep that up and I’m going to kill you’ look. Pete smiled and ceased his drumming. Aiden alternated between adjusting his tie and twisting his cufflinks as the minutes passed.
At nine-fifty-five, Aiden walked out to the hallway by the ladies’ room to wait for her. Pete went to open the van door and watch for anyone to pass by. Aiden looked at his watch and then he looked up to see a woman wearing jeans and a black hoodie walking towards him. “Mrs. S, I presume?”
“Yes, that’s me. Detective Baldwin?”
“Yes, ma’am. Thank you for coming. Let’s get this show started,” he said as he opened the door to the bathroom. She walked through and exchanged pleasantries with Corrine. Standing so close together, it was eerie how much they looked alike. It was quickly apparent that Aiden was very good at the cloak and dagger stuff.
With Corrine taking her purse and list, Mrs. S. followed Aiden out the back door and into the van. “We are going to video this and do a separate voice recording if that is all right with you,” he stated. “This is my partner Detective Pete Standard.”
“Yes, that’s fine. I figured you would need to record what I say,” she acquiesced, taking her hoodie off and getting comfortable. She nodded at Pete, acknowledging his presence. “I don’t relish what I am about to do. I’ve screwed up so much of my life already. Now I’m just adding to that tally.”
“You’re doing the right thing. I don’t pass judgment on consenting adults. What your husband did was in a completely different category. You don’t murder someone because they fell in love with someone else,” Aiden explained.
“In my world, you do. It’s perfectly acceptable to murder someone for a great many reasons. I know of several murders that have been done for far less offences than cheating on your husband,” she continued.
“We’ll get to those at another meeting. Right now, I’d like to talk about Dan, if you don’t mind.”
“That’s fine. He was a good man. We met at a local fundraiser for cancer research. He was a good-looking man, not model perfect but definitely swoon-worthy. I was attracted to him like a moth to a flame.
“We began seeing each other a few weeks later. Our relationship became physical. He touched me and I don’t mean just sexually. He knew me, he saw me. I’d never had that before.
“Even with my husband standing before him with a gun in his hand, he protected me. He said we had broken up; we hadn’t. He told him he didn’t know we were married, he did know,” she said, pausing to wipe a tear that had traveled down her cheek.
“How did your husband find out?” Pete asked her.
“He overheard a conversation we were having at an art gallery opening. Dan and I always tried to attend these things together. If we were in public, I had a reason to be there. We could sneak off unnoticed and meet in a bathroom or office. They were stolen moments that I lived for.
“I didn’t know my husband would be there. He heard me telling Dan that I loved him. If he had heard anything else, I might have been able to talk my way out of it. But I love you is extremely damning. I knew I was caught, still I never believed he would kill Dan. He didn’t say a word, just went out the next morning. When he came back, he played a tape. I heard the whole thing.”
“He recorded the murder?”
“He did.”
“Do you still have it?”
“I don’t know if he does or not. I wasn’t thinking about evidence at the time,” she said leaning forward and holding her head in her hands. “He had just killed the love of my life. I was trying to figure out how I could kill him. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that in my family. What he did was acceptable, me killing him is not.”
“I need to know who you are and more about your family,” Aiden said.
“I think you know already. You just want me to say the words. Fine. My husband’s family has been involved with the Denver mob since the early nineteen-hundreds. His grandfather was the consigliore for the family. His father one of the capo’s. He serves as the under boss. He’s David Slater,” she almost whispered his name.
“You are Jeanette Slater?” Aiden said pointedly. He needed to hear her verbally acknowledge who she was.
“Yes, sadly, that is who I am.” He stared at her and nodded. He was sitting next to the wife of one of the most powerful men in all of Colorado. His word was law in the mob. If he wanted you dead, you died. Knowing that he had killed Dan himself, spoke volumes of his hatred of the man. This kill was personal.
“Okay, Mrs. Slater. He told you that he had killed your lover. He played the tape of the murder. Then what?”
“He gave me the lecture that it was entirely my fault. As if I didn’t already know that. Dan would still be alive if it were not for my involvement with him. He said he was going to let me live, because of our children. My one warning was, if I so much as looked in the direction of another man, I would die.
“I no longer care if I live or die. My world ended when he killed Dan. I live now in an empty shell, going through the motions of life.
“Don’t get me wrong, I love my two kids. That love is different. They will grow up and leave me for their own lives. They’ll be like him, some sort of boss in the family. There is very little I can do to prevent that.
“There have been rumors that there was a witness. David said he was sure there wasn’t any. He had men outside watching as he went in. He said there wasn’t anyone else in the office. Still, the rumors persist. Was there anyone that saw?”
“No, no one. You’re all we have, to link him with the crime. If you hadn’t come forward, we would have nothing,” Aiden lied with conviction. That was another one of his many talents.
Aiden could lie to you so convincingly that you would swear he was telling the truth. That particular talent was quite useful in circumstances such as this. He could not let the wife of the second in command of the Denver mob know that there was indeed a witness to this murder. As it was, Briah was in tremendous danger already. Now, her life wasn’t worth two cents after this conversation.
“That’s too bad. It would be more convincing if there was someone.”
“Undoubtedly. Sadly, that is not the case. So, what do we do with you?”
“I don’t know. What do you suggest?”
“You have two choices. One, you stay right where you are. We meet every Thursday in the same way as we did today. You update us and bring us anything new you have learned. I have a pin that looks like something you might wear on a jacket as a decorative thing. It’s similar to one of the alerts people have for when they need help. If you need us quickly, push the button. It gives us your location and we come running.
“Two, we take you right now, into protective custody. We’ll hide you. You testify in court in a year or so, and then you go into hiding somewhere else. Change your name and live a completely different life from what you have now. Once you testify, that is what will happen anyway. The difference being whether you
go now or later.”
“For now, I want to stay where I am.”
Chapter Five
Briah began her new job with the same exuberance that she had for everything she did. Her smile was infectious. Her eyes danced with mirth. Her skills spoke for themselves. Ordinarily, the established employees would be standoffish with the new girl. That wasn’t possible with Briah.
Naturally, Aiden knew she was in the building. He had set her up with the job. This was different. They worked on two different floors, yet he could feel her there. It was going to be a long three months for him. His body leaned to her and his mind was preoccupied with thoughts of her.
There was only one way he would get through this. He had to put her behind a wall in his head and keep her there. With his eyes closed, he drew his fingers in a small circle over his desk. He imagined touching her. Then he opened his eyes and slammed down the wall on his thoughts, though he still had a self-satisfied grin on his lips when Pete walked in.
“Somebody had a good night. Care to share?” Pete asked.
“I didn’t do anything special last night. You know everything special happens in here,” he said wiggling his eyebrows.
“Yeah, right! Have you been drinking?”
“Stone sober, my friend,” he said smiling. He stretched his neck and went back to his computer screen.
He was doing research on the Denver crime family’s history. Being in the homicide division, he had limited knowledge of what went on inside the family. He wanted to broaden his familiarity with the inner workings of the business.
They were deep into much of the political and business ends of the city. Their ties to the community ran wide and bottomless. It was amazing that they could be involved with countless charities and religious organizations while running the drugs, alcohol, gambling, and prostitution.
It was laughable, thinking of the old adage that they were white, Catholic and Italian when he was reading names that ended with -stein and -berg. It appeared their horizons had been broadened.
