No Escape

by Heather Lowell

  “Oh, I don’t know. I thought Kelly was remarkably composed—for a fifteen-year-old rape victim,” Tessa said.

  Jerry froze with a dripping sponge in one hand, but didn’t look at anyone. “So you know.” His tone said he knew it was over.

  “That Kelly is a minor? Yeah.” Luke kept sharp hazel eyes pinned on Jerry’s back. His own back was feeling twitchy, and the hairs at the nape of his neck were beginning to stand on end. Without a sound, he reached under his jacket and pulled his gun, coughing once to cover the sound of the weapon leaving its holster.

  Tessa’s eyes widened and she took another few steps backward until she was standing in the doorway that led to the rest of the house. With the look on Luke’s face, the last thing she wanted to do was stand between him and the other man.

  “Last chance—get the fuck out of my house, or a lying little bitch like Kelly is going to be the least of your problems.” Jerry fished around in the water-filled sink for a moment, then he whipped around with an eight-inch-long chef’s knife in his dripping right hand. He went still as he realized that Luke had a gun pointed directly at his head. His eyes then skittered over to Tessa, as if waiting to see what she would do.

  “How do you want to play it, Jer?” Luke’s voice was even. He didn’t want to shoot the man, because they needed him to testify against the others. But at the moment, Tessa was Luke’s main concern. Nothing was more important than her safety. While Luke stood between her and Jerry, he’d learned a long time ago never to underestimate an opponent. He’d seen men charge into a loaded gun and do plenty of damage before they finally went down.

  “You won’t shoot—you need me,” Jerry breathed as he tightened his grip on the knife.

  “I need to breathe more,” Luke shot back. “And I’m not going to go for some flesh wound on your arm, asshole. Once a cop, always a cop. When I draw this gun, it means I’m prepared to kill someone. You want to be that person today?” Luke asked.

  Tessa held her breath as Jerry studied the room. He finally seemed to realize that Luke would pull the trigger and drop him without a second thought, so he threw down the knife. He put his hands up in the air and mentally began to curse Ricky Hedges.

  “Kick it over here, Jerry. Gently.” Luke didn’t move a muscle, nor did he relax the hold on his gun.

  There was absolute silence as Jerry balanced on one foot and gingerly kicked the knife forward about six feet. When he looked back at Luke, there was no change in his stance, no softening of his guard.

  “Can you pick up the knife without getting between the gun and the asshole, Swiss?” Luke asked the question but didn’t look in her direction.

  “Yes.” Her voice was a lot steadier than her hands as she crouched down and came forward to grab the knife. The ticking of the clock and Jerry’s labored breaths were the only sounds she could hear above the pounding of her own heart.

  Carefully staying out of Luke’s line of sight, she crept backward with the sudsy knife in her left hand, using her right hand on the floor to keep from wobbling in her awkward pose. As Tessa reached the back of the kitchen and stood up again, she considered putting the weapon down on a bookcase. With a brief glance at Luke, she decided against it until Jerry was completely under control.

  Though as she watched beads of sweat roll down his face, she figured Jerry was pretty much hers. Lucky freaking me, she thought as she blew hair away from her face.

  “Lace your hands behind your head, fucko. Then get down on your knees,” Luke instructed Jerry.

  Luke watched Jerry the way he would a rattlesnake as the other man complied.

  “My lawyer is going to hear about this,” Jerry muttered.

  “Facedown on the floor,” Luke said. “And he’s not going to hear about it from us. I tried to do this the nice way, even offered you a carrot. But some people only understand the stick.” He sighed with mock regret.

  Tessa spoke from her position in the doorway. “I was even willing to offer you an exclusive deal. Now you’ll have to wait until Sledge gets here, and we’ll see who gives me the best information. That person will get the sweet offer.”

  “While we’re waiting, why don’t you look in the carport and utility room to see if Jerry has any duct tape. That should hold him while we talk,” Luke said.

  Without a word, Tessa walked through the living room and headed to the laundry area, where she began opening cabinets. When that didn’t yield any tape or rope, she decided to go out the door leading to a side yard to see if Jerry had some kind of utility shed, since she already knew there wasn’t a garage on the property.

  “Why did you call Sledge and ask him to come over?” Luke asked Jerry, as they listened to Tessa rummage through cabinets. “What was it that you couldn’t say on the phone?”

  Jerry was silent as he lay facedown on the floor.

  “We really need to work on your concept of rewards for good behavior, Jer. You help us out now, things go easier on you in the future when we bust the whole damn operation.”

  “She’s gone,” Jerry muttered. “I called Sledge to let him know that Kelly is gone.”

  “What do you mean by ‘gone’?” Luke asked softly.

  “I don’t know where she is. Last time I saw her she was leaving Club Red with Ricky’s assistant, and she was in big trouble. That was two days ago. I heard she got caught trying to pass a letter to one of the strippers in the club. Apparently it was a message for your girlfriend there. Ricky blew a fucking gasket,” Jerry said.

  Luke heard a door slam and the sound of Tessa’s footsteps rushing back.

  “Here’s the duct tape, and some rope I found,” she said breathlessly.

  Luke didn’t want her anywhere near Jerry, so he carefully handed his gun over to Tessa and took the rope himself. “Keep the gun pointed at Jerry’s head. There’s no hammer to cock, so it’s—”

  “A double action, I know,” Tessa said, sounding confident. She handled the gun with ease, though it had been years since she’d fired one. At Luke’s surprised look, she gave him a wry look. “Paul used to run the FBI—do you think he’d let me grow up without a ton of firearms training?”

  Shaking his head and smiling, Luke bent over Jerry. Prudently keeping away from the other man’s head—where Tessa held the gun with unwavering attention—he quickly taped his hands behind his back and hog-tied him with the rope.

  “Is he secure?” Tessa asked.

  “I’m getting there,” Luke grumbled, giving the knots a sharp tug to make sure they would hold.

  “Hurry, I have to show you something.”

  Luke glanced up at her serious tone and saw that Tessa was upset. Her eyes were dark and stormy, and he could see that she was clenching her jaw, but her hands were steady as she held the gun.

  “What is it, baby?” Luke walked up to her and took the gun away, shoving it in his holster as he studied her face.

  “Follow me.” She led the way through the small and shabbily furnished living room. She preceded him through the laundry room and out into a paved side yard that would normally be used to park a camper or motor home.

  Instead of a recreational vehicle, there was a large car covered with a tarp. Tessa led Luke around to the far side, where she’d pulled the tarp back to expose a crushed right front end with grille damage and a shattered headlight. Scrapes and deep gouges scored the sides of the dark blue vehicle.

  Without a word, Luke flipped the tarp back more to reveal a gaping space where the windshield should have been on the Chevy Caprice.

  “This is the car that killed Ed,” he said. “Do you think Jerry was driving?”

  Tessa shook her head. “I don’t think he has the guts. But he knows who did it. This changes everything.”

  Chapter 38

  Los Angeles, California

  Monday afternoon, March 15

  After placing an urgent phone call to Veronica asking her to join them within the quarter hour, Luke and Tessa went together to question Jerry Kravitz in earnest.
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br />   “Jerry, Jerry. What have you been up to in the last few days?” Luke began, as they returned to the kitchen.

  “Can you sit him up straight?” Tessa asked. “I’d like to see his face while we talk.”

  With a lot of grunting and assistance from Luke, Jerry was able to get back onto his knees, then sit on his heels and face Tessa with his arms tied behind his back. Luke pulled a chair over for Tessa, then turned one backward and took a seat himself.

  “That’s a big blue Chevy you’ve got in the side yard,” Luke said, once everyone was seated.

  Jerry shrugged and refused to meet their eyes.

  “Who does it belong to?” Luke pressed. “I didn’t see a license plate.”

  Jerry lifted angry brown eyes to them. “Who cares about that heap? It belongs to someone at the club who’s going out of town. I’m watching it for him on account of Ricky asked me to.”

  Luke laughed with real humor and leaned forward so his face was only a few feet away from the other man’s. “You’re not too fucking bright, are you, Jer?”

  Brown eyes flicked nervously between Luke and Tessa as Jerry at last began to pick up on the vibes in the room. “Why do you say that?”

  “Because Ricky is setting you up for the hit-and-run murder of a veteran police officer. And the attempted murder of an officer of the court,” Tessa said quietly.

  Jerry laughed nervously while his eyes continued darting back and forth. “What the fuck? You’re crazy.”

  “No, and since I was the one who survived the encounter with that Chevy, I can identify it with absolute certainty as the vehicle responsible for Detective Ed Flynn’s death and my injuries.” Tessa waved her cast at him to underscore the point. “That lines you up for accessory after the fact, at the very least. At worst, you go down for murder one.”

  Jerry met her eyes with an expression of dawning horror. “Someone killed a cop and tried to kill you?”

  “Give the man a cigar,” Luke drawled.

  “Holy shit. I don’t know nothing about any cop being run down. I swear, I just agreed to watch a car belonging to a buddy who’s going out of town. You can’t pin the rest of that on me.” Jerry’s pale face took on a green tinge as he finally began to understand what was going on.

  And how easily he had been set up.

  “I don’t know about that,” Luke said. “Every law enforcement agency in California is looking for that car right now, knowing it will lead to a cop-killer. If they can’t find the guy who did the driving, or the guy who set the hit up, they’ll be happy to take a sacrificial lamb instead.”

  “And from where I’m sitting, you’re looking downright wooly,” Tessa finished. “Ricky screwed you over good, didn’t he?”

  “Can we still talk about deals?” Jerry asked. “I’ve got a lot of information that would help you, but you got to give me immunity. And I want protection from the rest of the players at Club Red.”

  “Tell me why I should deal with you when we’re holding all the cards,” Tessa said.

  Jerry moistened his lips. “Because I can give you the name of the guy who gave me that car, and testify as to how he was doing this big hush-hush job for Ricky a couple days ago. Saturday afternoon. Would that be when this cop was killed?”

  Gotcha.

  Tessa kept her face calm, even though her heart was pounding. “It might be.”

  “So you give me immunity, I serve up this guy and Ricky on a platter.”

  “You have to understand a couple of things first, Jerry. I’m not the only one looking at Club Red right now.”

  His eyes darted between Luke and Tessa in a way she was beginning to find slightly creepy. “You talking about the cops?” Jerry asked.

  “No. As we speak there’s a multiagency task force headed by the FBI that’s getting ready to take Club Red apart brick by brick to see what kind of cockroaches come scuttling out,” Luke said.

  “So I can’t make you any promises on immunity from federal charges,” Tessa explained. “And I’ve got my own bone to pick with you about Kelly. There won’t be any dealing on charges related to her.”

  “Maybe I ain’t too bright, but even I can figure out that you wouldn’t be here if you had everything you needed. I can help you, but you don’t get nothing for free,” Jerry insisted.

  “If you turn on Ricky and the driver of the Chevy, I can guarantee you immunity from charges related to the death of Detective Flynn,” Tessa said. “But you’ve got to give me something really beefy if you want me to go to bat for you with the Feds. If the information is good enough, then we can try to get the federal charges reduced. But you’ll have to serve up a lot of other people, enough so it’s worthwhile for the FBI to go easy on you on the racketeering and gambling activities.”

  Jerry started visibly. “How’d you know about that?”

  “Like I said, Jer. Law enforcement has been watching your organization for a long time,” Luke said. “Enough to know that you and Ricky are in bed with the Ianellis.”

  “Don’t ask me to rat them out,” Jerry pleaded. “They’ll kill me. Papa Ianelli wants to be taken seriously in the Southwestern US and there’s no fucking way I’ll be his example.”

  “You’ll do it. And be happy about it,” Tessa said over the sound of knocking at the front door. “Or you’ll be looking at so much time in a federal lockup that death by Ianellis will begin to look pretty attractive.”

  Luke got up to open the door, surprised to see Ronnie standing there smiling brightly at Sledge Aiken. They’d obviously arrived at the same time, and she wanted to make sure that Sledge had no idea she was a cop and that his life was just about to get very interesting.

  “I can’t believe I ran into you like this,” Ronnie cooed to Sledge as she followed him into the house.

  Sledge came to a halt as he saw Luke standing in the entryway to the living room. He’d clearly been expecting to see Jerry and had no idea who the big man standing in front of him was.

  Ronnie ignored Sledge’s surprise and shoved the door shut, locking it with a flourish. “My husband is a big fan of yours, Mr. Aiken. Even though I tell him that your arm sucks on the long passes, and you run like a girl instead of holding your ground and picking out a receiver half the time.”

  “Huh? What?” Sledge’s head whipped around to Ronnie. “Who the hell are you two? And where’s Jerry?”

  “He’s kind of tied up at the moment,” Luke said with a smile. “Why don’t you join us in the kitchen and we can see who gets to make the deal of a lifetime with the District Attorney’s Office.”

  “I’m outta here, man.” Sledge turned to leave, then came to another abrupt halt as Ronnie smiled and flashed her badge at him.

  “Believe me, you’re going to want to hear what we have to say, Aiken. And don’t worry about your lawyer. This conversation will be off the record, so you’ve got nothing to lose. Except a reduced sentence on state and local charges,” Luke said.

  He stepped aside and let Sledge and Ronnie pass him and head toward the kitchen. He used the pretext of greeting Ronnie with a hug and a kiss to whisper a warning in her ear. “Just go along with whatever Tessa says and don’t show any emotion, okay?”

  She nodded and went into the kitchen, stopping short when she saw Jerry trussed on the floor and Tessa sitting casually in a chair writing something on a yellow legal tablet. She looked better than the last time Ronnie had seen her—the scrapes on her face were healing, the bruises fading, and she no longer looked like she was on the verge of falling apart.

  In fact, she looked pretty damned pleased with herself, something that Sledge picked up on right away.

  “What have you done now, you prick?” he asked Jerry. “Did you set me up?”

  “No!” Jerry protested. “But somehow they know everything. About Kelly, and what’s happening at Club Red, and—”

  “Shut up, you stupid shit. My lawyer told me they don’t have anything unless someone talks. We’ll all be fine if we just keep our mouths shut.”


  “I’m not keeping quiet while Ricky sets me up for killing a cop,” Jerry insisted. He nodded frantically as Sledge looked at him in shock. “That’s right. He went too far, and now he’s trying to stick it on me. I got news for you, pal of mine, I’m not going down alone.”

  Tessa looked up from her pad of paper. “What he’s saying, Sledge, is that you can kiss your endorsement contracts and your future political career good-bye. That’s a given. The question you have to face now is how much time you’re going to do, and how much of your personal fortune will be waiting for you when you get out of prison.”

  “But I didn’t do anything,” Sledge said. “Just went on a date that Jerry set up for me and Kelly. He said she was hot for me but kinda shy, he’s the one who—”

  Jerry interrupted with a howl of protest, insisting that Sledge had been fully involved with setting Kelly up and many other criminal activities besides.

  Both Sledge and Jerry turned to Tessa and began shouting to be heard, each eager to cut the best deal in exchange for talking about the entire Club Red operation.

  Ronnie leaned against the doorway next to Luke. “Don’t you just love it when the bad guys realize that they’ve been screwed by their confreres and can’t wait to return the favor?”

  Luke watched Tessa trying to referee and take notes at the same time. “Yeah. It’s great when the dam bursts.”

  “One confession at a time, please,” Tessa said with a wry look at Ronnie and Luke. “But I’ll be happy to reward the person with the best information. Right now, that means telling me where Kelly is.”

  Sledge shrugged. “I haven’t seen her since that night I talked to you…” He trailed off at Tessa’s fierce look. “Since a couple of weeks ago. I had nothing to do with her disappearance.”

  “Then how did you know she was missing?” Tessa asked.

  Jerry leaned forward eagerly. “I told you, I saw her yesterday getting into a car with Otis. That’s Ricky’s bodyguard, and the guy who towed the Chevy over here a couple nights ago.”