Roulette

by C. D. Bradley

  “You stupid bitch!” Jake yelled at her, “Look what you did to my three-hundred-dollar shirt you clumsy c—”

  The older gentleman silenced him with a wave of his hand. His eyes bore into Olivia. “Grace? he asked quietly. “Is that you?”

  Olivia froze and immediately broke into a sweat. How did he know Grace? The little hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Suddenly the similarities in Gwen and Grace’s deaths were all too coincidental. Her heart pounded as she tried to figure out what to say.

  “It’s been a long time,” she said coolly. Years of hiding her panic attacks had prepared her to keep the storm on the inside.

  He stood, never taking his eyes off her. His face paled as he walked around the table. Before she realized what was happening he took her in his arms and hugged her. Olivia stiffened. Hugs from strangers were on her all time no thank you list along with things like pickled eggs and root canals.

  “Still not a hugger are you, love?” He smiled and kissed her on the cheek. “Thank heavens you have other talents,” he said and winked. “What brings you to Norfolk? Where have you been? You graduated and fell off the face of the earth.”

  “Almost like I died,” she answered deadpan. Keep your cool, Olivia.

  “Always dark and twisty. That’s what I love about you. So what brings you to our little neck of the woods? You looking for work?” A sinister smile spread across his face revealing perfect teeth.

  She turned to the girls. “Lambda Sigma Delta?” she asked dryly.

  “You know it,” they chimed in brainwashed unison.

  “Is there any other?” the man asked and leaned in to whisper, “Of course you were always my favorite drug.”

  What the fuck had Grace been involved in? There was no way she was one of this guy’s whores or a fucking drug mule. No fucking way. Goddamn it, Grace! The man slid his arm around her waist and turned to the group. Before he could say anything. A strong set of arms pulled her away from him. Olivia stepped back startled as Dominic stepped between them.

  “Darling, it’s time to go,” he interjected with a voice that could move mountains, staring the man down.

  Olivia stood opened mouthed for a second. Where the hell had he come from? Quickly she regained her composure. “Sorry, my dear, I was just catching up with an old friend. Until next time,” she said rubbing her hand across the older man’s shoulder and tipped her head the way she had seen Grace do a thousand times. Dominic possessively placed his hand on the small of her back as they walked out of the restaurant.

  “Wait what about Piper?” She glanced over at their table but Piper was nowhere to be seen. “Dominic, what the hell is going on?”

  “She’s waiting in the parking lot,” he said quietly. “She texted me with your phone that you were in trouble?” His voice was dark and angry.

  “Okay, first of all,” she said when they reached the street, “I have known you for three days. I don’t need you to run around saving me. And second how the hell did you get here so fast? Did you follow us from the hotel?”

  “I was taking a walk to find a place to eat. I am an FBI agent and your partner for this investigation. It’s my job to protect you.” He was still talking in hushed tones so that only she could hear him. Piper was standing just outside the building almost in the shadows.

  “Piper, why did you leave and why did you call him?” Olivia stood arms crossed, still angry for being escorted out of the restaurant like a child. A chill ran over her. The night air was starting to cool down.

  “Don’t be mad. That guy started yelling at you and I panicked. Your phone was on the table. When I picked it up the top number was Dominic, I just hit send.” Piper stood wide-eyed. “Who was that, Liv? Do you know him?”

  “That was the main suspect in our case,” Olivia said quietly. “Let’s get out of here.” The trio started down the street. Once they crossed to the pier she spoke up again. I was trying so hard to listen to their conversation and accidentally bumped into him spilling our drinks. I was just heading back to the table to message Detective Shaver.

  “We need to get you girls back to the hotel. Where is your car?” He turned to Olivia.

  “Back at the hotel,” Olivia answered sarcastically, flustered that she may have just put the case at risk.

  They walked swiftly down the boardwalk toward the Marriott. Dominic scanned the area to see if they were being followed. Satisfied that they were secure, he led the girls inside and straight to the elevators. “Piper, head back to your room and don’t open the door. Olivia, you are coming with me.”

  “Oh no. I’m staying with Piper,” Olivia fired back. She linked her arm with Piper’s.

  “She will be fine in her room. We need to discuss everything that happened and what you heard with Detective Shaver. Since this is an open investigation we can’t do that in front of your friend. You know the rules, Olivia.” His voice was grave. She wondered how much he had heard.

  Olivia did know the rules and the parallels with Grace’s death were mounting. She feared that they would take her off the case if her sister was one of the victims. On the other hand if there was any chance to bring justice for her sister she had to take it. Olivia needed to know more about what Grace had been up to. How did that man know Grace? First Olivia needed to find out for sure who he was. “You’re right. We need to get to the bottom of all this.”

  “Woah! What? Did you just say I was right? How many of those drinks did you have?” he joked as the elevator reached Piper’s floor and they dropped her at her room.

  “Stay in and stay safe. Call me if you need anything,” Olivia said and gave Piper a hug.

  “I have missed you so much,” Piper said. “Life is definitely an adventure with you. It’s like living one of my books for real. Go get ’em, Liv. I’m rooting for you,” Piper said as she hugged her back. “My flight is at the butt crack of dawn, but I already have a car arranged to pick me up. Let’s stay in touch, okay. Maybe you could come see me next time.”

  They told her goodbye and Olivia followed Dominic back to his room. It was the mirror image of the room they had spent the previous night in. Olivia couldn’t believe how much had happened in twenty-four hours. As soon as he closed the door he pulled her to him.

  He kissed her hard. She knew she should be appalled but she welcomed his touch like life-saving water in the desert. In the midst of all the turmoil his touch felt right. “What happened in there tonight?” He kissed her again. “Why didn’t you just call it in? Damn it, Olivia, you are a lawyer not a cop.” He held her to him as if he was afraid to let go.

  “I was just trying to hear what they were saying. I thought I could help. Shit, I know I messed up.” Olivia tried to back away.

  “I just want you to be okay. I need you to be okay.” His voice was tight and raspy. One massive arm was around her waist the other hand clasped the back of her hair. He showed no signs of letting her go now or ever. He leaned in to kiss her again and Olivia’s cell phone sprang to life. It danced across the dresser waiting to be acknowledged.

  “I have to get that,” she told him and tried again to put distance between them. He hesitated for a moment and then let her go with a heavy sigh. Olivia grabbed her phone. “Olivia Hastings, may I help you?

  “This is Detective Shaver. What the hell were you and bug boy doing in the middle of my stakeout?” Came the stern voice on the other end of the phone. This could not be good. Shaver sounded pissed.

  “I was eating dinner with my friend at Saltine and I saw Jake Ramirez meeting with a man that I think is the owner of the airline to Vegas,” Olivia reported.

  She heard the detective laughing though the phone. “Nice work, Nancy Drew. We have a tail on Ramirez and they saw your little scene. Leave the police work to the big boys, okay. If we need to throw drinks at anyone we’ll call you.”

  Olivia gritted her teeth. She hated being treated like a little girl. She understood that she was a prosecutor and not a detective but she was invested in this
case. “Copy that,” she growled into the phone, and hung up. She turned to Dominic. “They already had a tail on Ramirez. Now I am probably the laughing stock of the force.”

  Dominic stifled a laugh and pulled her to him. “Sounds like it’s time to call it a night. Will you stay?” he said standing too close for her to think clearly.

  “I can’t, I have to work on a motion for the morning. This isn’t my only case,” she mumbled into his chest and inhaled him.

  “I don’t want to let you go, but I do still have specimens that I need to work on tonight.” As he spoke his left hand trailed down her back. “Olivia, when this case is over . . .”

  “We’ll both be going our separate ways,” she finished for him. “Whatever craziness went on between us in the last twenty-four hours was reckless.”

  Dominic took her hands as though they were a delicate Fabergé egg and brought them up to his lips. He kissed them gently and looked her in the eyes. “When I look at you I forget all the rules. I want every piece of you no limits, no holding back. I couldn’t give two fucks about the consequences. I would risk it all for one more taste of those lips.” He tilted her chin up and parted her lips with his tongue. “You might not see it yet, baby, but I’m not going anywhere.” His lips brushed hers as he spoke.

  Olivia felt her knees go weak. “We . . . We have to go.” She summoned the will power of Zeus to leave and not jump in that bed.

  “This conversation is not over,” Dominic informed her in a tone that didn’t leave room for question. He held the door and they headed back out into the night.

  THEY REACHED THE parking lot and Dominic insisted on walking her to her car. “I will be fine,” she argued. “I’m just going home to get some work done.”

  “That’s great. I’m just going to make sure you make it safely. That guy at the restaurant was not playing around and I’m not taking any chances.” His voice was as firm as the grip he had with his arm around her waist.

  They have valet parking. I’ll just wait here while they bring it around,” she countered.

  “I’ll wait with you then.” He showed no signs of letting her go even as she handed her ticket to the valet.

  They stood together in the darkness under the canopy and waited. Dominic looked down at her and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Do you have any idea how exquisitely beautiful you are?”

  “Laying this on a little thick, aren’t you?” she asked raising her eyebrow. “We both know this little fling is over when the—”

  “Ma’am.” The valet came running back up without her car. “I’m afraid we have a problem.”

  “What do you mean? Where’s my car?” Olivia asked, alarm raising her voice a full octave. Olivia didn’t have any close family, she didn’t even have a cat. What she did have was a spotless midnight blue Audi.

  “Ma’am, calm down. Your tires are flat. We can call a tow truck for you if you would like,” he offered.

  “Wait, you’re saying more than one tire is flat?” Dominic asked his tone darkened. “Olivia, that sounds intentional. We need to call the police and file a report.”

  “Or I ran over something on our little trip to the swamp.” She couldn’t believe that anyone would deliberately try to destroy her car.

  They called a tow truck and followed the attendant to her poor car. The Audi reminded her of a seventy-year-old boob tattoo all sad and deflated. All four tires were completely flat.

  “Unless you were driving in a parking lot full of razor blades I would say someone slashed your tires.” Dominic was seething. “Do you have cameras for this lot?” he demanded. “We are going to need to see the tapes.”

  “I’m sorry, sir, this part of the lot doesn’t have cameras.” The attendant took a step back.

  “We better call this in.” Olivia shook her head. She had never been the victim of vandalism before. She wondered if it had to do with a case or if it was random. Dominic waited with her while until the police and the tow truck arrived.

  “Let me take you home,” he offered when she had finished the paperwork.

  “On that?” she said motioning to his bike. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding. I can just call a taxi or fucking Uber.” Olivia pulled out her cell to make the call. Dominic put his hand over hers and pushed the phone down.

  “Trust me, Olivia,” he said low and pulled her close. “For once just let go of all that pain you hold inside and trust me.”

  Olivia had never been on a motorcycle. Until that moment she had no desire to ever be on one. But now, as she stood next to this chiseled mystery all she wanted was to pull back another layer and see what lie beneath. “Okay,” she whispered barely able to believe the words as she said them.

  The grin that spread across his face would have lit up Manhattan. “Come,” he said before she had a chance to change her mind and he secured her purse and keys in the small compartment on the back. Carefully he fitted his helmet on her head and secured it. He climbed onto the bike and started the engine. The roar caused Olivia to jump. He backed out of the space and then held his hand out for her to take.

  Olivia hesitated she should go back inside and call a cab or stay with Piper but the look in his eyes was more than she could resist. She trembled as she reached out and took his hand. Her head spun with fear and excitement. He helped her climb on behind him and they were off.

  They rode through town but instead of going to her apartment he turned toward the coast. The moon shone on the Atlantic and sparkled like a million diamonds on the waves. The cool breeze off the ocean was magnified by the speed of the bike and Olivia felt like she was flying. She held tightly to his back and closed her eyes. In that moment the world was perfect.

  OLIVIA WOKE WITH a start. She was a little disoriented at first by the blaring sound that jarred her from sleep. What the hell was that? It was still too dark to be her alarm. After a few foggy moments she realized it was her phone.

  “Olivia Hastings here,” she mumbled into the phone.

  “Olivia, this is Detective Shaver. They found another body that may be linked to our case. Dr. Mattis requested you and bug boy to come to the scene. We need to meet at her office first for debriefing.”

  “I’ll call agent Kain and be right there.” Olivia hung up. She was wide awake now and glanced at the clock. 6:12 a.m. Nothing like getting the day started early. One of the beautiful things about living so close to her office was that Olivia could easily get up at seven and still be to work by eight. Of course her low maintenance morning routine didn’t hurt either.

  She called Dominic but got his voicemail so she left a message to meet her at the coroner’s office. She dressed quickly and grabbed her bag. She tried Dominic again and still went straight to voicemail so she left to go to the debriefing.

  As she pulled into the parking lot of the morgue, Olivia immediately knew something was wrong. Two uniformed officers, Detective Shaver, Mr. Davis, and Dr. Mattis were waiting. She looked around but there was no sign of Dominic’s bike.

  “Another body was discovered but we need to wear protective gear to go to the scene. Two officers have already been taken to the hospital. Olivia, have you ever trained on wearing a hazmat suit or using a respirator? If not, honey, you need to stay at the staging area,” Dr. Mattis instructed.

  Everyone else seemed to be completely comfortable with what was about to happen. Olivia was not about to sit and wait. She looked from Dr. Mattis to Detective Shaver. “I am experienced with a respirator, I am a certified scuba diver,” she said, slightly exaggerating the truth. It had been a very long time since she had even seen one. In college Grace, Piper and Olivia had gotten certified during their summer on the beach. Surely it was like riding a bike once she got it on everything would come back to her.

  “Where is bug boy . . .” Detective Shaver started to ask and Dr. Mattis shot him a glaring look. “Er . . . Ugh . . . I mean Special Agent Kain.”

  “I called him twice on the way here,” Olivia remarked but I haven’t
heard from him.

  “Well where is he staying? He is definitely going to need to see this first hand,” Dr. Mattis questioned. “Try him again.”

  Olivia dialed again. Where was he? She left another message and then tried the front desk. They rang his room. Still no answer. “Last night he said he was coming here to process some more of the samples. That’s the last time I saw him,” she told them and tried not to be worried. Maybe he just went for some breakfast and left his phone in the room.

  Just then Detective Shaver got a call. He was pacing back and forth as he talked. His eyebrows knitted into a worried row. “One of the officers from the scene reported that the victim was on the surveillance footage from the Saltine last night. That’s why they alerted me. The officer was one of my guys on that detail.”

  Olivia’s heart stopped. “Man or woman?” she asked. A deep chill set over her skin.

  “They didn’t say,” Shaver answered his eyes wide. He took his phone back out and called his team at the hospital back. Every second that passed felt like a fear drenched hour. Olivia took out her cell. She started to call Dominic again but stopped. Piper! She hadn’t heard from her since last night either. Her fingers felt like lead balloons as she tried to dial. God, Piper had to be okay. Olivia knew she should have stayed with her until she was on that plane. The phone rang and rang. Please, God let her be safely on that plane.

  They loaded their equipment and multiple cameras. Olivia rode with Detective Shaver and Dr. Mattis who filled her in on the way. The body was spotted in a large agricultural field about twenty minutes away. The problem was, that it was spotted by a plane that was dumping pesticide over the field. The first two officers who responded began having respiratory difficulty as soon as they reached the body. They left the scene immediately but were already in significant distress by the time they made it back to their cruiser. They had been rushed to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital and were in critical condition at this point.