by Amber Kell
“According to the people at Ted’s Gun Range, she shows up every Saturday morning for shooting.” Fine gave Kai an apologetic smile as if he hated to break the news to him.
“That doesn’t make her a killer,” Jonathan pointed out, concerned over Kai’s sudden pallor. “A lot of people enjoy going to the gun range or own weapons for their own protection. It doesn’t make them killers.”
Fine continued as though Jonathan hadn’t spoken. “I think there’s a good chance the bullet that broke your window was fired by your sister.”
Kai trembled. Worried his lover was going to pass out, Jonathan walked over to Kai’s chair and placed a hand on the back of Kai’s neck.
“Easy, love.” Jonathan rubbed Kai’s skin in slow, soothing motions. How could she do that to Kai? He took such good care of her. “We’ll get you through this. I’m sure the detective has people looking for your sister.”
“Actually, we don’t.” Fine cleared his throat.
“What?” Kai narrowed his eyes at the detective. “If you’re so certain she’s guilty, why hasn’t she been arrested or something? If what you’ve told me is true, she’s trying to kill me.”
Jonathan silently agreed. If the detective truly thought that Jeni had arranged to try to kill Kai, Jonathan would’ve thought the detective would have her thrown in jail.
“At this point all I have is a theory. We can’t arrest someone just because I think she’s dangerous. I got a search warrant for her house, but they didn’t find anything. She didn’t even have any weapons there. Wherever she’s hiding her guns, it isn’t at her house.”
“Maybe because she doesn’t own any,” Kai insisted.
Fine shrugged. “At this point I don’t have strong enough proof, at least not enough to convince a judge to give me a search warrant for her business.”
“So Kai is a sitting duck then.” Jonathan didn’t try to hide his disapproval. If they really thought Kai’s life was in danger, they should take stronger actions.
Fine rallied quickly, but his eyes gave away his dislike of Jonathan’s words. “We’re doing what we can. I suggest, Mr Stromwell, that you keep Mr Stevens close. He might be the only thing stopping her from killing you. From what I’ve seen, she doesn’t want any witnesses because she needs your money,” the detective concluded.
Jonathan didn’t know what to say to Kai. The detective certainly had a lot of unfounded accusations and only circumstantial facts. He squeezed Kai’s shoulder. “Hey, we’ll get through this. I won’t let her near you until I’m sure she’s innocent.”
Kai didn’t speak. He sat staring blindly.
“Look at me,” Jonathan demanded.
Kai shook his head.
“Now.” Jonathan’s hard voice didn’t invite denial.
He glanced up.
“This isn’t your fault. Nothing you did caused this,” Jonathan insisted.
Kai took a long slow breath. “She’s always come to me if she had problems. Why wouldn’t she come to me? I guess I’m not as good a brother as I always thought.”
“It’s not you,” Jonathan assured him. “I’m not completely positive she’s the one trying to kill you either.”
Jonathan’s gut didn’t agree with the detective’s conclusion. He couldn’t help thinking they were missing something. Fine’s facts appeared circumstantial to Jonathan and certainly not enough to summarily decide Jeni’s guilt without additional evidence.
Kai set his chin on the heel of his hand, propping his elbow on the table. “If it isn’t Jeni who’s trying to kill me, then who is?”
“I don’t know, babe”—Jonathan wrapped an arm around Kai’s shoulders and squeezed him tight—“but I won’t leave you alone until we find out what really happened.”
The sound of someone clearing his throat snapped them back to reality. Kai separated himself from Jonathan then faced the detective. “I hope you’re wrong about this, Detective.”
“Me too,” Fine stated. “But if I’m wrong then you’ve got someone else stalking you. If the boyfriend’s been dead for over a week, he’s not your attempted murderer.”
“They don’t send you often to give out bad news, do they?” Kai asked.
Fine shook his head. “I’m not good with people. I do better with facts.”
“I, for one, appreciate you looking at the facts and telling me the truth. I don’t think there is any way to sugar-coat ‘your sister wants you dead’, so I appreciate you just telling me straight out,” Kai stated.
The detective’s expression went from cautious to pleased, as if no one had ever taken the time to compliment him before. Maybe they hadn’t. Most people probably didn’t thank the bearer of bad news, no matter how gracefully conveyed.
“I’d best be going.” If he hadn’t been watching the detective carefully, Jonathan wouldn’t have seen it—the long, admiring glance Detective Fine gave Kai.
Jonathan stepped between them so he broke that line of vision. He held out his hand. “Thank you for your help, Detective. Please keep us informed.”
“I’ll keep an eye on him,” Jonathan vowed.
“You do that, Mr Stevens. Let me know if there is anything else your people come up with. We’ve worked together before and they do good work. Give Patrick and Sin my regards,” Detective Fine said, heading for the door.
“Goodbye, Detective. Let me know if you get any other leads.” Jonathan could see Kai didn’t believe in his sister’s guilt. It would likely require an entire worldview shift for him to think that Jeni had plotted his death in order to get money.
They watched the detective leave. Jonathan gripped his shoulder. “We’ll keep an eye out for him.”
“Thanks,” Kai said. “I don’t know what I would do without you. Jeni is the last person I would suspect of trying to kill me.”
Jonathan continued, “Now, I’m not saying your sister is guilty of anything, but just to be safe we should get your locks rekeyed and get her security pass to the building pulled. Now that she’s back in her own home, she doesn’t really need it.”
After they’d enhanced her security system and assigned her a bodyguard, she’d returned to her place, because, as she’d said, ‘All my shit is there’.
After a long pause, Kai nodded.
“Consider it done.” Jonathan pulled out his phone and began making calls. After he had finished, Kai stood and approached him.
“Remember, we’re not completely certain it is her,” Kai cautioned. He straightened his tie and stared down at his shoes. He didn’t meet Jonathan’s eyes. Jonathan knew Kai clung to the hope that his sister didn’t want him dead.
“You should be all set when you return home later,” Jonathan assured him.
“Thanks.” Kai’s smile lacked its usual vibrancy. The tinges of sadness yanked at Jonathan’s heart.
“Anytime. I…” Jonathan cleared his throat. “Anytime. I know how hard it was to hear that about your sister.”
“I don’t believe it,” Kai said. “Maybe it’s sheer stubbornness on my part, but I can’t believe she would try to kill me. Not to mention, why would she go from a pacifist to a person who was willing to kill me for money?”
Jonathan put his hands on Kai’s shoulders. “Maybe Detective Fine is wrong. I can ask Patrick to investigate deeper if you’d like.”
Kai nodded. “Yes, please. I really want to be sure. Cops look for people to be guilty. If he can fit the facts to match the case he’s trying to build, he might not look deeper.”
“Then we’ll double-check everything Fine concluded. Patrick is really discreet. He can look into stuff and discover if he comes to the same answer the detective did.”
“Do you think he’s wrong?” Kai asked.
It hurt to see the hope in Kai’s eyes. Jonathan didn’t want to crush his lover’s spirit.
“I don’t know. I barely know your sister. What you’ve told me of your childhood doesn’t have me jumping to the conclusion she’s a secret psycho,” Jonathan said.
&
nbsp; Kai laughed at Jonathan’s phrasing. “Thanks. I didn’t think so either. I’d appreciate it if you’d ask your boss. I’d be happy to pay him for his time.”
“I’ll tell him,” Jonathan promised. He hoped the update by the police would buy him some more time off. He didn’t want Sin and Patrick thinking he was taking advantage of their generosity in order to spend his days with his lover.
“Good. I can take these contracts with me. Let’s get out of here. Can I go to your place while they are taking care of mine? Or are you tired of me by now?”
Jonathan wrapped his arms around Kai and gave him a quick kiss. He didn’t want them to be caught smooching in Kai’s office. “I’m always happy to have you with me.”
“Good. I’m always happy to be with you.” The sincerity in his lover’s eyes made Jonathan smile.
Chapter Six
They left the building and Kai climbed into Jonathan’s vehicle to go home. Luckily they’d arrived together so they didn’t have an extra car to deal with. Kai noticed Jonathan’s eyes on the mirrors as he swerved in and out of traffic.
“Is someone following us?” Kai asked. Nerves swirled through his stomach.
“Maybe. A white Volvo has been behind us for the past five minutes. Since we’re on the freeway, it could just be we’re travelling the same way.” Jonathan didn’t sound concerned. His voice, warm and steady, kept Kai from a complete panic attack.
“Keep an eye on it for me,” Jonathan muttered as he switched lanes.
Kai kept his gaze glued to the mirror. When Jonathan moved, the Volvo scooted across traffic to follow him. Jonathan changed lanes again. So did the Volvo.
“I think it’s following us. They change lanes whenever we do,” Kai muttered.
“I’m going to take the next exit,” Jonathan said. “I doubt they’re going to fire at us in the middle of the freeway. This isn’t an action movie.”
“But what if they try to shoot us when we get to a quieter spot?” Kai didn’t want to end up killed on a dead-end street.
“Do you trust me?” Jonathan asked.
Kai gripped the armrest until his fingers turned white. “Yes. I trust you.”
“Good.” Jonathan swerved unexpectedly off the freeway. A car honked behind them, the sound, loud and brash, mingling with the screech of tyres.
The white car exited the freeway too.
“Yep, they are definitely following,” Kai confirmed. No way would they slide across two lanes to stay behind Jonathan if they weren’t stalking them.
Kai tried to make out the driver, but the sun’s reflection prevented him from seeing whether it was a man or a woman driving.
Jonathan pressed a button on his console.
“Hey, Jonathan, what can I do for you?” a friendly female voice said over the loudspeaker.
“Hey, Susan, I’ve got a tail following me down Striker Street. I’m heading to Vine,” Jonathan replied.
“Gotcha, I’ve got two cars ten minutes out. I’ve locked onto your GPS. Expect company soon,” she said.
“Great. Thank you.” Jonathan pressed the button again to break the connection.
Some of Kai’s tension dissipated. Not that he hadn’t trusted Jonathan, but it was nice to know help was on the way.
“I do believe in you, Jon. I know you’ll get us out of this.” Kai needed his lover to know he had Kai’s confidence.
“I will,” Jonathan replied.
One way or another they would escape their stalker. Kai prayed it wouldn’t turn out to be his sister.
After what felt like an endless race through narrow alleys and questionable parts of town, Jonathan drove into a warehouse and pulled the vehicle to a sliding stop.
“What’s going on? Why are you stopping?” Kai asked.
“I’m waiting.”
After a few minutes, during which Kai reminded himself three times that he trusted Jonathan, two black SUVs slid smoothly into the warehouse. They parked on either side of Jonathan. No one got out.
“Who are these people?” Kai glanced back and forth, but he couldn’t make out the drivers what with the dimly lit building and the tinted glass windows.
“Co-workers,” Jonathan replied.
The white Volvo pealed into the warehouse with a screech of tyres. Spotting the trio of vehicles, the driver tried to reverse, but an SUV drove in behind the car and blocked its exit.
All the SUV doors opened and streams of men in black gear slid out with military precision. In seconds they’d surrounded the car, weapons drawn.
Kai bit his bottom lip as he took in the scene. “They won’t just shoot, will they?” Anxiety trembled along his words.
“No, not if they can help it. But if she comes out shooting, they will kill her.” Jonathan didn’t leave any doubt in his words.
Kai couldn’t breathe as he watched the armed men approach the car.
He recognised Sin, who reached for the door handle while Patrick protected him with a pistol. Sin yanked open the door then pulled out the driver.
Kai’s mouth dropped open. “That’s not Jeni.”
“No, it’s not,” Jonathan agreed.
A tall thin man with stringy brown hair struggled in Sin’s grip. Patrick grabbed the man’s other arm. Together they stuffed him inside the closest SUV. Kai watched as they removed a few black cases from the trunk.
“Looks like we might have caught our shooter,” Jonathan mused.
“What do we do now?” Kai asked.
“We follow and find out what the hell is going on. I think there’s a lot more happening here than we know.” Jonathan frowned at the scene.
“Do you think Jeni has another boyfriend?” Kai asked.
“I suppose it’s possible. Let’s not guess. We’ll wait until we have a chance to talk to the suspect,” Jonathan said.
“What do we suspect him of, bad driving?”
“We need to find out what he was doing following us and who paid him.”
“I wonder if it was Jeni.” Kai could almost feel his heart breaking
* * * *
The guy, thin and defiant, sat at the conference table refusing to talk. Sin, Patrick, Kai and Jonathan watched him through their one-way mirror.
“He won’t say anything,” Sin said. “I thought about beating it out of him, but Patrick said I couldn’t.”
Jonathan eyed his boss in astonishment. “I thought Callum had mellowed you?”
Sin raised an eyebrow. “He did. I didn’t stab the fucker.”
“That is an improvement,” Jonathan agreed.
“I thought so.”
Jonathan laughed over Sin’s smug smile.
“Can I go talk to him?” Kai asked. He stepped close to the window to stare at the prisoner.
Jonathan turned back to Patrick. “Is he secure?”
“Yep. He can’t hurt anyone. Go ahead and let him try. We don’t want to ruin Sin’s new perfect record of not killing,” Patrick said.
Sin snorted and settled back in his chair.
“Come on. I’ll take you in.” He didn’t care if the guy was prevented from hurting anyone by handcuffs, he didn’t trust anyone alone in a room with Kai.
Kai quietly followed. “It can’t be my sister. How would she know how to hire a hit man?”
Jonathan squeezed Kai’s shoulder in sympathy. “We’ll figure it out.”
“I hope so.” Despair bled through his words.
Jonathan opened the door for Kai.
Kai walked through as if he had no hesitation in talking to a potential killer.
The suspect didn’t bother looking up when they entered. Kai sat in the chair opposite him. “Who hired you to follow me?” he asked.
Kai’s quiet, calm manner surprised Jonathan. This was probably how he ran board meetings and got stubborn people to do what he wanted. Jonathan hoped he never had to face Kai in business-mode. He was fucking scary.
The suspect shrugged. “I made the connection online. Some chick wanted her brother killed. She�
��d give me ten thousand dollars if I whacked him.”
Jonathan frowned. The guy’s words sounded rehearsed, as though someone told him to say that exact phrasing. “Did you get a name?”
“No. No names.”
Jonathan wrapped a hand around the guy’s throat. Leaning down, he whispered in his ear. “If you try to hurt him again, I will hunt you down and put a bullet through your head. There is nowhere you can hide from me. Do we understand each other? We found the rifle in your trunk and we’re keeping it. If I find out you shot at Kai again, I’ll return your bullets the hard way. Understand?”
The man’s throat moved convulsively beneath Jonathan’s hand. He nodded as quickly as Jonathan’s tight hold allowed.
“Good. Now I’m going to go talk to my bosses. I’ll be right back.” Jonathan nodded for Kai to follow him. He was more than a little surprised when he did.
As soon as the door closed behind them, Kai started with the questions.
“What do we do now?”
Jonathan didn’t answer until he had led Kai back to Sin and Patrick. “Let him go?”
Sin nodded. “I’ll have Gary follow him.”
“Do you think he’s experienced enough?” Gary had only worked there a few weeks and Jonathan didn’t know him all that well.
“He’ll be fine,” Patrick interjected. “He used to work as a detective for the San Diego police department. I’m pretty sure he can follow one guy who’s not that professional.”
“Okay.” Something niggled at the back of Jonathan’s mind. “I just keep thinking this guy is the bait and we just took it.”
“I agree,” Sin said. “This entire thing is strange. I mean, if we were taking everything at face value we’d be hunting down Jeni, but it’s all almost too perfect.”
“Set-up,” Jonathan snapped. “That’s what’s wrong. It smacks of a set-up.”
Sin and Patrick nodded. No surprise showed on their faces, as if they’d reached the same conclusion a while ago and were waiting for the slow guy to catch up. Which was probably why they owned the company and Jonathan was just now figuring things out.
“Who would do that?” Kai asked.
