by Andrew Hess
“I guess a night on the town is out of the question.”
James smiled. “How about I whip up something special for us tonight, we can have a nice romantic dinner, and some time for just the two of us.”
“Let’s talk about it later. I promised Rodney that we would meet with him and Mia.”
“So invite them over. We’ll make it a big family dinner.”
I thought after leaving home, my days of having big family dinners was over. Apparently my definition of the word family changed over the last few years. It’s grown beyond the standard mother, father, and sibling roles I was used to. Friends, partners, and even my boss feel like family to me. It feels ironic that I should include James in that category.
Watching him work in the kitchen, preparing food to feed the people I care about just to make me happy, put a smile on my face.
“Hey, Ryan,” Rodney’s voice said as he snapped his fingers in front of my face.
“Sorry, what were you saying?”
“I was saying my attorney thinks the simulations you provided should be enough to exonerate me.”
“That’s great, Rodney. Has he spoken to the D.A. about it?”
“They’re supposed to have a meeting tomorrow afternoon. He’s hopeful they’ll agree to drop the charges and we can avoid going to trial.”
“That just means we’re on the right track, and we’re one step closer to solving this case.”
“You got any new leads?”
“One, but James and I have to do some more research before we make a move on him.” I turned to watch James plating the masterpiece he was creating.
“So how are you and Detective Hot Stuff doing?”
My happiness couldn’t be contained. “Surprisingly well so far. I just wish this case was over so we could start having a normal life.”
“Ali, there’s no such thing as a normal life when you’re a cop. There’ll always be some case that’ll consume you.”
Part of me knew he was right, but another part of me relied on that glimmer of hope that one day we could put the life of a cop behind us and be just James and Ali.
“One day,” I mumbled.
“Trust me; retirement can’t come fast enough.”
“You like being away from all this?”
“I’m not gonna lie. I miss it, but spending time with my family has meant more to me than the badge.”
“Don’t tell me you’re quitting the force.”
“Nah, nothing like that. But I’m not gonna work myself to death either. I’ll probably take the early retirement option when they eventually offer it to me.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. My partner was getting ready to hang it up the first chance the department gave him. “What about you?”
“As much as I want a normal life away from all the craziness, I think it’ll be a while before I decide to call it quits.”
“What if you and Detective Hot Stuff have a kid?”
“Whoa, slow it down, buddy. We just started dating. Kids are nowhere on my radar right now.”
“What if he wants them?”
“Then he’s got a long time to wait. I’m not ready, and don’t think I will be any time soon.” I took a long sip of my beer, nearly to the point of chugging it. “But if and when I do decide to have a kid, then yes, I think I would think twice about my career.”
Rodney’s big kid-like grin put me at ease as I finished my bottle. He took my empty and brought it to the kitchen. He whispered something to James, who had a surprised and cunning look to him as he stared at me.
Later that night, after everyone went home, James placed his hands on my waist as I melted into his chiseled chest. “It was nice to have them over tonight,” James said as he mouth lowered to my ear. His hot breath sent a shiver throughout my body. “But I couldn’t wait for them to leave so I could have you all to myself again.”
It was easy to tell what was on his mind. “Really?” I asked with surprise. “Why’s that?”
He scooped me into his arms as he planted an aggressive kiss on my lips. “I think we should take this into the bedroom before your sister walks in on us.”
“That’s probably a good idea,” Amanda said as she entered the kitchen and pulled out a bottle of water from the fridge.
I buried my face in James’ chest, hoping the embarrassment displayed by my rosy red cheeks would disappear quickly.
“Night, Amanda,” James said as he carried me down the hall to my room. He opened the door and gently placed me on the bed.
With the door closed and locked, James stripped off his shirt slowly. It was agonizing to watch him. I leaned forward to grab at the bulge in his pants. His fingers wrapped around my wrists and pulled them away.
“Not tonight,” he said seductively. “I want tonight to be a night you’ll always remember. I want you to remember tonight as the night we made a baby.”
“What?” I snapped. “What do you mean; make a baby?”
“Rodney told me-”
“Rodney? Rodney told you that I…” My anger hit a boiling point as I screamed,” Rodney, I’m going to kill you.” I reached for my phone, ready to call and tear him a new one. As I scrolled to his name, I saw James trying to hold back a cackle of laughter. “You think this is funny?” I stared at him a little more. “You were in on it?”
“Sorry, he came up with the idea after your little conversation. I couldn’t resist after I saw you staring at us.”
“You’re lucky I don’t kick you in the balls right now.”
“I’m sorry,” he replied as his hands quickly covered the bulge in his pants. “But it did make me wonder.”
“Oh hell no. Not now, and definitely not in the next five or ten years. Kids are the furthest thing in my mind.”
“As much as I would love to wife you up and have a kid with you, I had something else in mind.”
“Like what?”
“I was thinking we revisit the idea of moving in together.”
“I just moved all my stuff back in here.”
“I could always move in here. Maybe after we find this guy that’s been after you, I can move in here and let Amanda take care of my house.”
“You wanna give her your house?”
“No, but she could rent it from me. She’ll have her freedom and the responsibility of taking care of a home. Then we’ll all have our privacy and no one has to worry about walking in on anyone else.”
“I don’t know.”
“I vote yes,” Amanda shouted from the spare bedroom.
“Do I get a vote in this,” I replied.
“Nope,” Amanda yelled which brought made James laugh.
“Of course you do,” he whispered.
“How about we discuss this once the threats die down. I wanna make sure we’re out of danger before making any hasty decisions.”
The fear of being too comfortable was weighing on me, making me wonder if the so called Puppet Master was waiting for just the right moment to come after us.
Chapter 34-Ali
The vibrations of our phones against the nightstands woke me early the next morning. Hearing it coming from both cells, worried me. It meant something happened, something big.
I picked up mine first. There were four missed calls. Two from the station and two from Esposito. I feared what he would say. Was there another murder? Was it someone we knew? When I turned to James, he had the same ghastly look on his face,
I called Esposito back and barely let him greet me before I snapped at him. “What happened?”
“Nothing yet. A.D.A. Reed called me and told me to have you and Thornton meet her in my office immediately. So I suggest you get your asses down here.”
“Yes, sir; on our way.”
James flung the comforter back as he got out of bed. “What is it; a homicide, an arson, or a gang war?”
I glared at him while pulling on my pants. “No, nothing like that, at least not that I know of.”
“Well it better be something
like that for him to wake us both up this early. My shift doesn’t start for another two hours.”
“All he said was A.D.A. Reed called and told him to have us meet her in his office A.S.A.P.”
“Great, I get to start off my day off with that ray of sunshine.”
“Cut the crap, James. We both know you were the one that made a horrible first impression on her, and she’s not the type of person that will easily let something like that slide.”
“Yeah, but__”
“But nothing. She’s been doing everything to help us with this case. So like it or not, you’re stuck with her. I just hope she has a lead for us.”
“God, I hope so. I can’t wait to put this whole thing behind us and move forward with our lives.” He brushed his hand over my cheek while pushing a few strands of hair away. “I meant what I said last night. Once this is done, I want us to get serious.”
“I promise, once this is over, we can talk more. Right now, we need to get going before Esposito pops a blood vessel.”
When we entered the station, there was a stillness in the air. There were few officers at their desks which didn’t calm my nerves. I would rather have them cracking jokes or milking the clock so they could get more overtime. Seeing how serious they were, made me uneasy.
I rapped my knuckles against the Lieutenant’s door. “You wanted to see us?”
His head pulled away from the pile of paperwork on his desk. His bushy mustache rose as the corners of his mouth turn upwards. He motioned for us to enter as he pushed the papers aside.
“Come in and have a seat.”
“What’s this all about?” James asked.
“I don’t really quite know. Ms. Reed asked if she could borrow a few officers, told me to bring you two down here, and said she would be back in a couple of hours.”
“So we’re supposed to sit here and wait until she decides to show up? That’s a bit rude to rush us down here, if she wasn’t planning on getting back for a while.”
For once I had to agree with James. We were woken up, called-in early, and rushed down to the station for nothing. I was fuming and demanded an explanation. Lucky for us, we didn’t have to wait long for one.
The station doors slammed against the walls as two men in suits entered. One was shouting loudly grabbing everyone’s attention as he approached the office doors.
“This is harassment,” the man screamed. “This is absurd; you’re arresting me for no reason.”
“No one said you were arrested,” one of the officers said. “I told you we were bringing you in for questioning. That’s why we picked up your lawyer too.”
I turned to see Mr. Lewis walking side-by-side with a white haired main in a navy blue and black striped business suit.
I couldn’t believe my eyes. Lewis was in the station with his lawyer. “Someone mind telling me why you brought him down here?” I asked.
“I was following up on your lead, Detective Ryan.” The cold, nonchalant voice of Ms. Reed came from behind the officers. She appeared at their sides as she directed them to take Mr. Lewis and Mr. Langston to one of the rooms. She stopped in front of Esposito’s door and smiled at us. “I decided to check into Mr. Lewis a bit more after our conversation yesterday. Apparently, he was named beneficiary to Matthew’s life insurance policy. That alone was enough proof to get the warrants we needed. I arranged for two uniforms to bring him in for questioning so that way neither of you could be brought up on harassment charges.”
James rubbed the back of his neck, knowing he would be forced to admit I was right. “Thanks,” he mumbled. I jabbed his side with my elbow. “Look, I know we got off to a rough start. I just wanted to apologize for being an idiot when we met.”
She raised an eyebrow, giving him a look of uncertainty while considering his apology. “I really don’t have time for this. We have three homicides and an arson someone needs to account for, and a suspect in custody waiting to be interrogated.” She stared at me as if I was supposed to keep him in line. She turned and looked into James’ eyes. “I appreciate and accept your apology. Now, can we get down to business and see what Mr. Lewis knows?”
The three of us entered the interrogation room. James stood off to the side against the wall. Ms. Reed took the lead as we sat across from Mr. Langston and his client.
“Thank you both for coming down here,” she began.
“Thank us,” Mr. Lewis snapped. “It wasn’t like I had much of a choice. Your officers unjustly handcuffed me and dragged me down to the station.” He turned to his attorney. “I want you to start a lawsuit against this department for harassment.”
Ms. Reed folded her hands neatly in front of her, maintaining her composure. “Correct me if I’m wrong Mr. Lewis, but I believe before today you were visited only by Detectives Ryan and Thornton only once. Is that correct?”
Mr. Lewis was red in the face as he glared back at the Assistant District Attorney. “I’ve been harassed by your people too much to count.”
“And when was the first time you met these two detectives?”
“I don’t know; a few days ago, I think.”
“A few days ago, or yesterday?” The scowl on his face indicated the real answer. “You see, Detective Ryan didn’t know about you or your business until yesterday morning.”
Mr. Lewis leaned to his side, whispering in his attorney’s ear. Mr. Langston nodded and smirked. “My client would have no knowledge of when Detective Ryan knew about Mr. Lewis or his business.”
“We could easily solve the issue of when these Detectives first arrived at Mr. Lewis’ office by checking the security cameras.” I watched as she waited for a response. “No, then let’s not waste any more of your time like you have with these fine detectives. Now you can either tell us what we want to know, or we can make a public display that you and your company is under investigation.”
Lewis banged his fist on the table. “This is outrageous. Harassing me wasn’t bad enough, now you want to threaten me?”
I watched Ms. Reed’s eyes become more serious than I had ever seen. “Believe me; this is no threat, it’s a warning.” She reached into her bag and pulled out a folder, squaring up with Mr. Langston. Her cold stare never wavered. “I’m going to let you in on a little secret. We have under good authority that someone helped the Campus Killer, Nick DeFalco, and Dr. Claire Cain commit the murders of ten people. There have been three other deaths since Dr. Cain’s arrest that seem to be connected. Your client is deeply connected to one of the victims and greatly benefits from his death.”
“I didn’t do anything to him,” Mr. Lewis snapped.
“Ms. Reed, if you had anything on my client, you would have torn my client’s office apart, he would already be in jail, and we wouldn’t be having this conversation. So please, spare us the fishing expedition. We both know you’re bluffing.” He motioned to Mr. Lewis to get up, but Ms. Reed had other plans.
“If I were bluffing, would I have these?” She opened the folder and displayed several warrants including the search of Mr. Lewis’ office and home. “Now we have tried to do this the easy way. We’ve given your client a couple of opportunities to tell us what he knows and hand over any evidence that could point us in the direction of another suspect. But if you continue to refuse, then we’ll just have to let the public know that Mr. Lewis is the prime suspect in this case.”
“You fucking bitch,” Mr. Lewis snapped. He jumped up from his chair and lunged at Ms. Reed. James and I stepped in to restrain him as his attorney stepped around the table.
“I apologize for my client’s outburst. Please allow me to speak with him privately so I can help sort this out.”
“You have five minutes to talk some sense into him. If he’s not willing to cooperate after that, we will use these warrants.” Ms. Reed walked to the door and signaled for us to follow.
I waited until the door closed before speaking. “You really think they’re gonna cooperate after that?”
“Just wait for it,” sh
e replied while counting down. She held up her hand for us to see. “Five…four…three…two...one.”
The knock on the door indicated they were ready. I opened it to find Mr. Langston standing there. “Okay, what do you want to know?”
I grabbed a folder filled with pictures in hopes Mr. Lewis could identify one of the killers, a victim, or anyone else. I returned moments later taking a seat at the table.
“I’d like to begin with your relationship with Matthew Alvarado,” I began. “How long have you known him?”
“He’s been a friend of mine since college. After we graduated, he decided he wanted to help more people. He told me about his self-help company idea, and I decided to invest in his dream.”
“Did you ever argue or fight?” James asked.
“Of course we did. Friends fight all the time, but we always got passed whatever caused the argument.”
“Tell me about the insurance policy you took out on him not long before he was murdered.”
“It was Matthew’s idea to take one out on each other. He said with all the craziness going on with people getting murdered, it would be best if we made sure the other person was well taken care of.”
It was starting to sound like Matthew knew something we all didn’t, which made me wonder how much he really knew. “Did you have any other partners or silent partners?” I asked.
“No other partner, but we did have a few regulars who did presentations and joined us on stage.”
“We will need a list of names and their pictures immediately.”
Langston nodded as his client continued. “There were three regulars and a couple of guys that didn’t come around often. But yes, I can get you their information.”
Whatever the attorney said, must have flipped a switch for Mr. Lewis. He was much calmer and more reasonable to speak to, which also made him cooperative.
There was one more chance I was willing to take. Opening up the folder, I took out photos of the victims and the two people that were connected to those homicides. “Mr. Lewis, would you please look through the pictures and let me know if you see anyone familiar in them.”
