Chapter 30
Chelsea and Dean were in the cemetery, standing before her parents’ headstones. It had been a hard uphill battle for the past six weeks, but now everything was finally resolved and they were both free.
It became public knowledge that Parker was the dirty cop in the department and he was found dead in the cemetery. It was presumed that he had gone to meet one of his comrade-in-arms and got himself killed. Quincy’s story did not hold up due to DNA evidence directly linking him to the murder of Ashlee Thompson. He was scheduled to go on trial soon for the murder.
The report of De Leon being dead long ago did not change, and it was rumored that Galvez was still at large, hiding somewhere in the vast Arizona desert. Only Chelsea, Dean and Pierce knew the full story, including that of Dean formerly being a spy for De Leon.
“Are you ready to go now?”
Looking over at Dean, she nodded. Today, they were not at the cemetery just for her parents. It was also for Ashlee Thompson’s funeral. She was being laid to rest, along with her unborn child. Austin was being buried beside them as well. At least there would be closure.
Stepping away from her parents’ graves, she wondered if they could sense her presence. She wanted to tell them that their deaths had been avenged. Justice was done and they could now rest in peace. As they walked toward the site where Ashlee, Austin and the baby were being buried, she held on to Dean’s hand and intertwined her fingers with his. Having him close gave her a nice warm feeling. She hoped it would always be like this.
The people were gathering for the funeral, and among them were Emma and Pierce. He was in a wheel chair. They went over to share greetings all around.
“So how are you two doing?” At least Pierce was smiling.
“Couldn’t be better,” Dean told him.
“Good. So have either of you made a decision about your future?”
Chelsea hesitated. Making a decision about her future was not going to be easy, especially since she had a secret that no one, other than Cara, knew about. She didn’t know how to tell anyone because she had never imagined herself in this situation.
Finally she said, “I think I am going to resign. There has to be something else out there for me.”
“I feel the same way,” Dean added.
Things were not the same among them after the case came to an end. Dean no longer felt comfortable working with Pierce, since he knew so much about him. He was thinking of going into the automotive field. Pierce still worked as a cop, but now had a regular desk job which left him more time to spend at home with Emma and the girls. Emma was happy about this. Chelsea had lost her passion for Homicide and wanted to work in child protective services.
“I wish you both the best of luck,” Pierce said. Then turning to Dean he asked, “Would you mind if I spoke to Chelsea in private?”
“Not at all,” Dean replied.
After he left, Pierce said, “First of all, I want to offer my congratulations. Cara cannot keep a secret. I hope it’s a boy. And secondly, you are completely in the clear. No one is ever going to find out what happened six weeks ago. You are safe and so is Dean. Feel free to tell him.”
“Thank you.”
“You’ve got what you wanted,” he said. “Or at least I hope so. There is one other thing. Your uncle is being released on Monday. I pulled a few strings and hopefully you can set him on the right track.”
“I’ll try, but remember, people can change, but only if they really want to.”
“Dean proved that,” he said, motioning towards him. “You’ve turned him into something I am sure he never thought he could be.”
“I am proud of him.”
“Good,” Pierce said, smiling.
Chelsea left feeling that a door in her life was closing, though she did not mind. She would miss working with Pierce, but she looked forward to her new job. She knew they would stay friends, as bonds forged in adversity were never easily broken.
During the funeral service, Chelsea could not help wondering what would happen if people did not take it upon themselves to murder others. To take someone’s life because he threatened to expose your wrong doing was absurd. It would be much easier, or so she thought, to just do what is right. But maybe she was no better, because she had pulled the trigger and by doing so, committed a crime against humanity. She imagined she would live with this uncertainty and unease about her actions forever. It was a part of the price she would pay for stepping outside the boundaries of the established justice system.
After the service, Chelsea saw Alexis, Ashlee’s mother, approaching as she was talking with Dean and Pierce. The effect of her daughter’s death was obvious. Her skin was pale, her face drawn and she looked extremely fragile overall.
She stopped beside Chelsea, “You found the man who killed my daughter and I will be forever grateful, but no one will tell me why my daughter had to die.”
The three of them looked from one to the other. It was Chelsea who spoke.
“Your daughter died because she unwittingly crossed the path of a dangerous man. She never knew it though, and she paid for it with her life.”
“I want him dead.”
“The trial will start soon and we’ll make sure that he pays for the life of your daughter and for others like her.” She pointed at the caskets lying before them.
“I know there will always be bad people in this world and good people who suffer. Thank you for what you have done for me and for everyone else too.”
The three of them watched as tears began to stream down her cheeks, and Chelsea understood, as she remembered the loss of her parents. Mrs. Thompson was now all alone because she had lost her husband, her only daughter, and her future grandchild. It was hard to lose one loved one, much less three. She was badly in need of some sort of consolation.
Chelsea looked at Dean and Pierce, and they seemed to sense what she wanted to do. She began walking to catch up with Mrs. Thompson.
“Alexis,” she said.
The older woman turned around, her eyes were puffy and she had pink splotches on her face.
“I know how hard it is to have everything you love taken away from you. It comes without warning and it’s heartbreaking. You go through every day wondering what you did to deserve this suffering, when the truth is, you did nothing.”
“That is very touching and nice, but nothing you say now is going to change the past.”
“I know. I know it won’t, but I want you to know that you are not alone. My mother and father were brutally murdered when I was a child. So I know and understand the pain and shock of loss. I just want you to know that if you ever needed someone to talk to, well, you can call me anytime.”
A grateful Mrs. Thompson looked at her in a different way and gratefully took the card she offered.
“Thank you,” she said, as she embraced her.
Chelsea stood watching Mrs. Thompson disappear into the crowd. She felt happy when Dean came and wrapped his arms around her. She hoped that one day, Mrs. Thompson’s wounds would heal, even as her own now could begin to.
She was learning that life sometimes took you through some very dark places, but if you keep the doors of hope open to the possibility for happiness, you just may find it.
Book 4: Abduction
Summary
Olivia Shapiro’s case is just the elixir that Private Detective David Orlando needs to turn his business around and get beyond the steady stream of cheating spouses. Olivia’s husband James is a missing person. The key objective is finding him, but that may turn out to be more difficult that it would seem.
Attempting to find out the truth when there are only secrets is a difficult and dangerous task for PI David Orlando. Working alone this time, attempting to solve an abduction mystery, that is growing more mysterious by the day, he sets out to find the missing person and clear the names of those wrongly accused.
Meanwhile, Emily Valentini is off on her own atte
mpting to solve her godson’s abduction, and emotions are running rampant… for more reasons than one.
Will David and Emily succeed in finding the missing persons, and solve the abduction mysteries? Are they willing to pay the price for their decisions? Who can they really trust?
Prologue
April 2nd, 2014
Everything around Olivia had grown disconcerting and she could not shake off a feeling of paranoia that seemed to follow her every step during this journey she called life. She leaned back in her chair, blinked back a tear and looked at her oak dining room table. The special touches for this evening had taken her several hours to prepare. She concentrated on the two candles in the center, watching as the flames flickered, wondering if one of them would go out. She heard the grandfather clock chime, and one of the candles finally did go out.
Tears were stinging her eyes as she longingly looked at the door again. She was becoming disconsolate, wanting to know what had become of her husband. Even on the most chaotic of days he had never forgotten their anniversary. He had always found a way to surprise her, a way to make her feel special and as if she was a normal woman, deserving of a man as amazing as him.
She took a deep breath and leaned forward. There was this nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach that told her something was wrong. She wanted to know if something had happened or if she was just used to something going wrong. She finally relented and took out her phone to look at the screen. She was hoping to see a missed call that she had not heard for some reason, but there was nothing there. No missed calls, no e-mails, nothing. She couldn’t help but feel sick as she allowed her mind to wander through ‘worst case’ scenarios explaining why he could be late. Finally, she shook her head, ridding it of those awful thoughts and deciding to make the call she had been dreading. Raising the phone to her ear, she held her breath and waited for his voice on the other end to rid her of this uneasiness.
One ring, two rings and she was directed to his voicemail. ’You have reached James Shapiro. Leave me a message and I’ll get back to you as quickly as I can.’
The tears she had been fighting back finally fell from her eyes and were now streaming down her face. She disconnected the line and looked upward to the ceiling, as if it could give her an answer. She knew there was only one other person she could turn to for guidance. Determined, she looked through her contacts and happened upon the name she was seeking. Marissa—her only source of help.
Hesitating for a moment, she finally dialed the phone number and waited. She began fidgeting, waiting for a voice to answer, listened as it continued to ring. After the third ring she heard Marissa’s voice, “Hughes,” she said, breathless. Marissa sounded as though she was outside; there were murmurs around her along with sounds of passing cars. Olivia was desperately trying to say something, but her words were trapped behind her lips.
“Hello?” Marissa said, after there had been no response for a time.
“Mar, it’s me, Olivia. Are you busy?”
“Seriously, you think I have the social capacity to be busy on a Sunday?”
Despite the circumstances, Olivia smiled softly. “Maybe something has changed in the past six months.” Olivia couldn’t help but think about how Marissa had been while they were growing up. She had been a social butterfly and was constantly on the move. Of course a lot had changed since they were younger.
“Nope, I am still single and drowning at work. What’s wrong? I mean tonight is your anniversary right? Why aren’t you with James?”
The line was silent and Marissa spoke. “Oh my goodness, is James not with you? Did he seriously forget about you?”
“That’s the thing, Mar, I don’t think he forgot. I feel like something is wrong.”
“You know what? I’m heading to your place. You should not be alone right now.”
There were no words to say to her and she disconnected the line. For her entire life there had only been a few people she trusted. Now only two of them were left—James and Marissa. She trusted them with everything and they were the only ones who knew the real her—the woman she had been before she was Olivia Shapiro.
###
Marissa was looking at her phone and had a gut-wrenching feeling. She always knew this phone call would come someday and now that it had, she was not sure how to proceed. There was only one thing she knew she would be able to do and that was to be there for Olivia. She hailed a taxi and slid into the backseat.
“Where to?” asked the cabbie. He was bundled up and she could barely make out his face, but he sounded significantly older.
“Jamestown and Hemmingway, please,” she said, as she buckled the seatbelt behind her back. If there was one thing she had learned these past few years, it was not to buckle yourself into a car. Sure, people said it was for safety, but she knew that was not necessarily true.
The taxi pulled away from the curb and merged into traffic, heading for the part of town she was familiar with. Marissa was not too thrilled that it took James to be overdue for Olivia to actually call her. She did not want to admit it, but she had been wanting to talk to Olivia and spend time with her. Instead, she was being shunned—she was invisible. The same way she always had been the past few years. But being transparent was not always a bad thing.
###
Olivia was anxiously waiting by the window. Her fingers were playing with the locket she’d had in her possession since she was fifteen. That was the last year she’d had a normal life. She thought that by hanging onto this piece of jewelry, life would somehow return to normal someday; but nothing would ever be normal again. She knew that, and yet she still clung to it. Finally, she saw someone pulling up the driveway and a bit of light revealed that it was Marissa. She was coming up the front stairs.
Approaching the door, she flung it open and quickly ushered Marissa in from the cold. It had only taken her twenty minutes, and yet she appeared flustered. Her cheeks and nose were red and Olivia knew it was most likely due to the heavy wind outside. They still had not adjusted to this city. Olivia doubted she would ever be able to do so, but this place was better than where they had started.
Embracing her tightly, she could not help but feel as if some of the weight had been lifted from her shoulders. They took a step back from one another, and Marissa looked around thoughtfully. Marissa had been here a few times before, but they had done some remodeling, so it no longer looked as shabby as it had before.
“He has not tried to call you, then?”
“No, and when I tried to call him it just went to his voicemail. This brings back such memories,” she whispered. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t even know where to start. Maybe I’m just overreacting.”
“Olivia, you and I both know that feeling. A feeling of certainty when you just know something is wrong. We’ve been through it enough times together. I know you don’t want to believe this is the same. We know what happened and we took precautions. We were both very careful people.”
“What should we do? I mean, who can we trust?”
“Right now we should wait until James either shows up or he doesn’t. If he doesn’t, we know what we need to do, but if he does, we know everything is going to be just fine. You are strong, Olivia, and we know what we are doing. It’s not as if we haven’t done this before.”
Looking into Marissa’s sea-green eyes, it was hard to believe she was three years younger, and yet she always remained more composed. She had always had a good head on her shoulders and Olivia knew Marissa was right. They had seen a lot through the years and now they would have to proceed with caution. There was no way this was related to what had happened before — something Olivia had to keep telling herself.
Chapter 1
December 13th, 2013
David Orlando was pacing around his office and felt content, yet not really. If anyone actually knew him they would be able to tell he was anxious. He had been working extremely hard over the past year and everything was running s
moothly. That was the thing everyone wanted from their business—for it to be lucrative, and his definitely was. He was far more successful than he had expected to be. Yet he was still frustrated and wasn’t too sure how to handle ‘this.’ Hell, he didn’t even know who he could turn to in order to talk about it! Everything around him appeared perfect, but it was all just a façade. Everyone viewed him as successful, but that was only if you looked at his bank account. Money does not define success though, as he was realizing quickly.
He finally forced himself to stop pacing. Standing in front of his large office windows he could see out over the rest of downtown. Being on the fourteenth floor of the Lowdown Building had its benefits. He felt as if he was on top of the world. From where he stood he could see the neighboring buildings, but they definitely were not as large as this one. In the distance he could make out the glistening lake and see the boats in their slips at the dock. The sun was shining brightly through an overcast sky. Despite the fact that it all appeared so inviting, he knew the brisk chill in the air most likely remained.
Shoving his hands in his pockets, he didn’t know what else to do with them. Whenever he was irritable he wanted to run around and act crazy; he wanted to distract himself and get this feeling of pent-up energy out of his system. Eighteen months ago he had been optimistic. He saw a bright future, but everything seemed to be going downhill. A majority of the cases he had been working on as of late were prosaic compared to what he had anticipated and he did not see a change on the horizon.
Taking a seat in his desk chair, he saw the landline telephone sitting on his desk. People called him a Luddite because he did not like technology; but with the knowledge he had, he was not willing to have all of his information open to the public. Even if he was supposedly protected with these various systems, anyone was able to get in through a backdoor. That was how he was able to do his job as well as he had. Everyone had a way of leaving something behind, something traceable, and that was how they got caught in the act. People were not as careful as they thought they were.
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