by Chris Taylor
“Tell him I’m busy, Jennifer. He’ll need to make another appointment.”
“All right, sir.”
Hanging up the phone, Alexei pushed away from his desk and began to pace his office. His gut was filled with dread and an increasing sense of foreboding. He needed to get home and ascertain that Dimitri was all right. He needed to be there when the police arrived.
A commotion outside his door caught his attention. Straining to hear through the sound of his blood rushing through his ears, he heard Rodriguez yelling. Great. Just what he needed. A scene outside his office. Picking up his jacket and keys, with a sigh of resignation, he opened the door and headed out. Rodriguez spied him the moment he appeared in the hallway and came striding toward him.
“Alexei! There you are! I tried to tell that woman you wanted to see me.”
From the corner of his eye, Alexei saw Jennifer push away from her chair and hurry in his direction. He held up his hand to ward Rodriguez off.
“I’m sorry, Rodriguez. You shouldn’t have come here. I’m busy. Right now, I have a family emergency to attend to. If you don’t mind—”
“I’m your family, too, Alexei! You can’t keep shutting me out! I love you! I’d do anything for you! Don’t you understand? I love you, Alexei! And I know you love me, too!”
Alexei froze. Jennifer’s face filled with shock and horror. Rodriguez stared from one to the other, tears running down his face. With nowhere to turn and nothing to say, Alexei pushed past both of them without another word and escaped into the elevator, his face burning with humiliation.
* * *
Shelby tapped her finger impatiently against the glass window of the cab and wished for the tenth time that Dimitri would answer his phone. She’d even tried her mother’s number, but it too went unanswered. She had no way of knowing if her mother were home or if Dimitri had even arrived. There was nothing for it but to go over there herself and pray she could prevent a catastrophe.
She clung to the hope her mother had been lying when she’d bragged to Shelby’s father about killing those men. It didn’t make an iota of sense and Shelby couldn’t imagine her mother doing such a thing—not in her wildest dreams. No, her daddy must be mistaken, or else her momma had said it to seek attention. Why she’d use something so horrible and gruesome to make her point, Shelby didn’t know.
Her phone buzzed, indicating a new text message. As the sound registered in her mind, she frantically scrambled through her handbag and pulled it out. She stared at the screen.
Samuel.
Her pulse leaped. In all the panic of the past little while, Samuel and their fight had skipped her mind. It seemed like a lifetime had passed since she’d texted him. Had it only been a few hours?
She read the text message and her heart melted.
I remember someone telling me once that if u truly love someone, u can forgive them anything. I love u more than I thought possible, Shelby. Let’s talk.
She blinked back a sudden rush of tears. Too bad she was on her way to her parents’ house to deal with God knows what. All she wanted to do was head straight for Samuel’s place, clear up their misunderstanding and make things right again. He still loved her! She was flooded with relief and joy. She hurriedly typed a reply.
I love u 2. Would love 2 talk right now, but I’m on my way over 2 my parents’ place in Bondi. A slight family emergency. I might b an hour or 2. R u home?
A few minutes later, she received a reply.
Yes. Is there anything I can do? Do u want me 2 come over?
She pondered the question. She had no idea what she’d find when she got there. It could be nothing, or she could walk in upon a shocked and devastated mother who could possibly turn violent and a brother who didn’t know where to turn. Dimi definitely wouldn’t be prepared for their mother to go off the deep end. Shelby had encouraged him to talk to the woman, to tell her he was gay. If there were even the slightest truth to her being involved in the hate crimes dogging their neighborhood, Dimi could be in real trouble.
Should she get Samuel involved in something that had the potential to turn so ugly? Would he stick around if her mother turned out to be a killer? Would she still want him if he didn’t? Blowing her breath out between her lips in indecision, she finally sent off a reply.
Thx. That would b good.
After texting him the address details, she tossed her phone back into her handbag and counted the minutes until the cab arrived.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Dimitri stared at his mother and awaited her reaction. This wasn’t going at all well. Silently, he cursed Shelby for insisting his parents were in the mood to accept his sexuality. His mother had remained silent and stony-faced ever since he’d told her.
“Mom, say something. Please. I’m gay. It’s not a death sentence.”
“It’s against the bible, Dimitri; against the teachings of Jesus; against everything you were ever taught. Why, Dimitri? Why?”
Her cry of anguish pierced his heart. He never meant for it to be like this. He never meant to hurt anyone. Hell, it had been easier living a lie, keeping the truth to himself. He should never have listened to Shelby.
“I’m sorry, Mom. I shouldn’t have told you. I didn’t mean to upset you. I thought you might understand. Given that Dad…”
Heat suffused his cheeks. His mother’s gaze narrowed menacingly. He looked away.
“What about Dad?” she growled.
Dimitri stared at her in surprise and felt even more embarrassed. She wasn’t going to make things easy. The sound of his phone ringing momentarily distracted him, but he ignored it and cleared his throat.
“Shelby told me about it…about Dad…and his den.”
Anger blazed in his mother’s eyes. He took a step backward. Even with the wide kitchen counter between them, he suddenly felt unsafe. He’d never seen that expression on her face before—so wild and fierce and angry. Shelby hadn’t once indicated his mother detested his father’s homosexuality. In fact, he’d gotten the distinct impression that she’d come to accept it over the years. She’d stuck by him, after all. That had to mean something. But from the look of fury on her face, she was anything but accepting.
“Shelby told you all about it, did she?” his mother said in a weird, sarcastic, sing-song voice.
He shrugged in confusion, at a loss to explain his mother’s odd reaction. It was like she’d been taken over by some evil spirit, someone who looked like his mother, but behaved like a stranger.
“Yes, Mom. She did. And I thought you were okay about it. It’s the reason I finally found the courage to tell you I’m gay. I thought you’d understand.” His phone rang again and he swore under his breath. He didn’t have time to deal with phone calls.
His mother’s face swelled up with anger, turning her cheeks crimson. With a hand on either side of the chopping board, she leaned over the counter.
“You thought I’d be okay with it, that I’d understand. Ha!” she scoffed mirthlessly. Without warning, she leaned even closer, until her face was inches away. He could hear the breath whistling between her teeth.
“Your father’s a homosexual, an abomination against God and you thought I’d be okay with my oldest child telling me he’s gay?”
This was a mistake. He should never have entertained the idea that his parents would understand. He cursed Shelby silently. Wait until he caught up with her… All of a sudden, he wanted to get away from there and try and forget the past humiliating moments, but his mother’s narrowed gaze held him in place. Her breath sounded harsh in the stillness. She bared her teeth at him and he tensed in shock. It was like being close to a feral animal. One wrong move, and he’d be ripped to shreds.
Which was plain ridiculous. This was his mother, the woman who loved him and who he loved in return. She might be a little unhappy about his revelation, but he was sure she wouldn’t do him harm. His gaze slid to the large butcher’s knife that lay within reach on the chopping board. A pile of salad vegetables
had been diced and sliced and sat in a bowl next to it. She must have been in the middle of preparing lunch before he stopped by.
The knowledge reassured him and he eased out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Preparing lunch was such a normal, everyday thing for her to do. She wasn’t a raving lunatic who could turn on him at any minute. She was his mother and she’d just suffered an enormous shock. He could understand her going off the deep end for a bit. He’d done such a good job of concealing his secret, even his mother had been caught off guard. She just needed some time to get used to it. That’s all it was.
“I’m sorry, Momma,” he said.
He hadn’t called her that in years, but it was a term he’d used as a child and he hoped it would remind her of the young boy he’d been and in some respects, still was. He loved her and needed her approval. Who wanted to be at odds with their family, and least of all, their mother? Certainly not him.
“Sorry? You’re sorry?” she screamed. “How can you be sorry? If you were sorry, you would have married a nice Greek girl years ago, like I told you. You’d have three of four children and be living the dream, living the way God intended. I wouldn’t have to go through the agony of knowing my son’s headed straight for the fires of hell. It’s bad enough knowing that’s where your father’s going. But he made his choices many years ago and I had nothing to do with that. He was that way inclined from the beginning, only, he hid it from me even longer than you.”
She pulled at her hair and stared at him beseechingly, anguish and pain in her eyes. “Why did you have to tell me, Dimitri? Why couldn’t you be more like him? I don’t understand it. Now I have to get rid of you, too.”
Dimitri regarded her in confusion, certain he’d misheard. “What are you talking about, Momma?”
Instead of replying, his mother took hold of the knife. Rounding the kitchen counter, she slowly advanced upon him. He backed away until he came up hard against the wall and still she came at him. His phone started ringing again and all of a sudden, he was desperate to answer it, but his mother’s eyes gleamed with a light that seemed so evil, he stood rooted to the spot. He shivered in fear.
“What are you doing, Momma? Please, put the knife down.”
“It’s too late for that, Dimitri. You should never have opened your mouth. I was quite happy not knowing you share your father’s disgusting predilection. But you had to go and spoil it and now I have to remove you from my life and from the lives of everyone else you might contaminate. For years, I’ve put up with this filth from your father, allowing it in my home, but not anymore and especially not from you.”
She made a sudden move toward him and the knife flashed in her hands. The air whizzed past his face as she stabbed at him.
“Fuck! Mom! What the hell do you think you’re doing? Stop it!”
He dodged a second attempt and debated his chances of taking the knife from her. She was as tall as him, maybe taller and weighed almost as much. Her rage had given her extra strength. When she came at him a third time and the blade only narrowly missed, his fear morphed into terror. He was going to be stabbed to death by his mother and there was nothing he could do about it.
* * *
Shelby tossed the driver a handful of bills and jumped out of the cab. Half-running up the driveway, she paused to catch her breath. The house was quiet and peaceful, like it always was. The pansies and petunias in the front garden were in full bloom, scenting the air with their sweet perfume. The midday sun was high in the sky and shone warmly on her face. If she didn’t feel so taut inside, she’d take a moment to appreciate the perfect day.
Dimitri’s Audi was parked outside the door of the double garage. Her heart skipped a beat. He was here. She could only assume her mother was, too, seeing as both garage doors were closed. It was her mother’s usual practice to leave her side open if she went out. She looked around for her father’s car, but it was nowhere in sight. Either he’d also parked in the garage, or she’d beaten him there.
Shelby wondered if Dimitri had received her messages and if he’d kept his mouth closed. In quiet desperation, she prayed that she’d walk in and find a scene no more contentious than her brother arguing with her mother over the secret herbs and spices that needed to go into the sausage, or some other such nonsense.
Easing open the front door, she held her breath. All was quiet. And then she heard a scream that raised the hairs on her arms and made everything inside her go cold.
* * *
Samuel took his foot off the accelerator and crawled forward, checking the house number of the address Shelby had given him over the phone. One mansion after another filled his vision. Bondi was an affluent suburb and there was some serious money invested on this street. He’d known her father was a prominent lawyer, but he had no idea she came from this kind of wealth. Still, untold riches didn’t necessarily guarantee happiness. Just ask Paul Munro or Helen Gianopoulos.
The thought sobered him. He couldn’t imagine discovering his father was gay and had been that way pretty much his entire life. He wondered how Shelby had been able to take the news so calmly. Okay, maybe not calmly, but she seemed to have accepted it a whole lot easier than he would have. He admired her for that.
He spied a shiny, black Audi R8 in the driveway and parked his Aston Martin behind it. The car couldn’t belong to Shelby. He’d never seen her in a car like that. He assumed she’d taken public transport, like she usually did.
He’d teased her about it after he discovered she owned a BMW Roadster, but she only laughed and said it was so difficult to get parking around Bondi Beach, that it was easier to leave her car at home.
He wondered who owned the Audi. No doubt it was one of the members of her family. She’d told him she was dealing with a family emergency and despite the negative connotations, he looked forward to meeting them. An emergency probably wasn’t the best of circumstances to meet his future wife’s family, but then again, Shelby wouldn’t have told him to meet her here if the emergency were truly something she couldn’t handle. He couldn’t imagine her wanting him to meet her family for the first time under less-than-pleasant conditions.
Filled with curiosity, he set the park brake, switched off the ignition, unclipped his seatbelt and then climbed out of the car. With casual strides, he made his way up the wide cobblestone path that led to the front door.
* * *
Alexei’s gut clenched once again on the nerves that hadn’t let up since Shelby had left his office. His promised phone call to the police was the least of his problems. Rodriguez had proclaimed his love to the world and by now, everyone at Harton & Wentworth would know about it. He’d never be able to show his face back there again.
He fought against the overwhelming devastation that filled him at the thought. For so long, his life had been perfect. Now, everything was falling apart. Every mile brought him closer to his home and the debacle he might or might not find. His charmed life would be laid bare for all to see, including the police. The tension and apprehension in his gut increased.
Had he done the right thing? What if his wife was innocent? He’d have made a spectacle of himself and his family for nothing. He only hoped the detective he’d spoken to would be discreet and question his wife with as little fanfare as possible. He clung to the possibility that she’d made the whole thing up and had somehow fabricated the evidence. That kept him moving forward.
Turning onto his street, he automatically turned his head to look at the view. The Pacific Ocean was spread out before him, sparkling blue, dancing in the sunshine. The beach was dotted with swimmers and further out, surfers bobbed up and down on the waves. It was a perfect spring day. He wondered how long it would stay that way.
Slowing his Mercedes S-Class coupe, he pulled into his driveway. Dimitri’s Audi was parked in front of the garage, blocking the door. He still couldn’t believe his oldest son was gay. All the times he’d pressured the boy to find a nice girl and settle down and he’d been forcing him in the same
direction Alexei’s life had taken. And look how that had worked out? He made a sound of despair in the back of his throat and switched off the ignition, forcing the thoughts from his mind.
Another vehicle was parked behind Dimitri’s Audi. Alexei frowned. The silver Aston was unfamiliar. Shelby hadn’t said anything about buying a new car. He wondered who owned it.
Taking a moment to gather himself, he stared down at his hands where they rested on the steering wheel. There was still no sign of the police, and for that he was grateful. It would give him time to speak with Helen and determine to the best of his ability whether she was really a cold-blooded killer or if she’d played him for a fool. He could almost hear her disbelieving laughter as he informed her he’d called the police. Given a choice, he preferred that the joke was on him. The alternative was simply unthinkable.
* * *
Jared glanced at his partner and raised a single eyebrow in silent query.
“Talk about ostentatious,” Detective Oliver Stacks remarked, giving voice to Jared’s thoughts.
Jared looked out the window of the unmarked squad car and did a quick calculation in his head of the net worth of the owners who resided behind the impressive walls of the grand manors that lined the street. Apparently Alexei Gianopoulos also lived here. It was obvious his criminal law business was thriving.
The wide, cobblestone driveway ended at two double garage doors. Several hundred thousand dollars’ worth of vehicles were parked outside. Jared pulled the squad car in behind a Mercedes. He could see their reflection in the other car’s shiny, champagne-gold exterior.
“I wouldn’t mind being their car dealer,” Oliver murmured.
Jared silently agreed. Throwing off his seatbelt, he collected his jacket off the back seat. Stepping out of the car, he slid his jacket on and then turned back to his partner.
