The Stranger Next Door

by Chastity Bush

“Do you know who tried to attack me? Who killed Melanie?”

  Scrubbing a hand over his face, he relented. “Yes, on both counts.”

  Her stomach rolled with wave after wave of nausea. How could this be happening?

  “The old man your kidnappers referred to was my old boss. Melanie’s father, Ritchie Bottenelli.”

  “Melanie’s father?” she asked with dismay. “I thought you said he was dead.”

  “I was told he died, but now, I just don’t know. I think he may still be around, maybe in hiding. He’s the one who’s after you, but for what, I don’t know.”

  “You think he killed his own daughter?” How could anyone kill their own child?

  “Melanie’s father was a ruthless, selfish man. A heartless killer. If her father needs money, he’ll get it any way he can. If Melanie had something he needed and refused to give it to him, or got in his way and he had even the slightest fear she would double cross him or rat him out to the authorities, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill her. He always had suspicions that she wasn’t his biological child—the timing wasn’t quite right—and Melanie and her mother were a lot alike in the fact that they liked men, a lot of men. He always kept Melanie at a distance because of it. That would certainly aid in his ability to kill her.”

  If what Roman said was true, these people were the scum of the earth and would do anything to get what they wanted. The feeling of relief that had washed over her when the captain proclaimed her safe quickly vanished. Now, a feeling of sickness and terror settled deep within her.

  “But how could he have killed Dean? Dean’s death was an accident.”

  “Was it?” he countered. “I don’t know why he tortured Melanie the way he did. But it’s big. At first I thought he was just after me for helping the cops put him away for so many years. I thought after Dean’s death it would end. But then they killed Melanie.”

  Thinking back on that day not so long ago, she couldn’t help but think of every little detail. What Dean was wearing, how he’d checked the store and declared it all clear. Then the eerie sound of quiet descending after the blast of the gunshot. It wasn’t like Dean to miss anything or to half-ass it. How could he have missed someone in the back of the store, unless someone came in the rear entrance after he checked?

  She gazed at Roman a moment longer before getting to her feet.

  “Every instinct in me is screaming for me to go to the authorities with everything I’ve learned here today,” she admitted. “But I know if I do, Dean’s name will be sullied. Maybe it should be, but I just can’t bring myself to do that. No matter what he was, he was my best friend, and all of this is just speculation. We don’t have any real proof that anything you said is actually what happened. I still can’t get past the idea that this man, this Ritchie Bottenelli, would kill his own daughter.”

  Roman nodded. “I understand your reluctance to believe such an accusation, but that’s the kind of man he is. I know you won’t appreciate this, but I want to place a couple of guards with you.”

  She frowned. “I don’t think that’s necessary.”

  “I do. I don’t know how I’d live with myself if anything happened to you.”

  “It’s been weeks since the attack. If someone were going to come after me, they would’ve by now. I appreciate your offer, but I’m not leaving here with a bodyguard.”

  Roman nodded.

  Standing, she headed toward the door of the study, her mind lost in a mountain of questions that seemed to only grow as they were answered.

  “He loved you dearly,” Roman said quietly.

  Turning, she shook her head and laughed sadly. “I know, and I loved him.”

  But would the familial love they possessed for each other kill her in the end?

  Chapter Seventeen

  Closing her eyes, Tess rested her head against the headrest and blew out a weary breath.

  She had so many questions that needed answers, but she couldn’t bring herself to ask them. Roman had told her more than she’d wanted to know. Jack and Robbie had a right to be suspicious, but they’d pointed the wrong man as the prime suspect.

  She was still angry with the two of them but not as much as before, and only for their complete lack of trust in her.

  Now that she looked at it, she would have probably jumped to the same conclusion they had. She’d practically lived with the Camillos and never once suspected them of anything.

  Opening her eyes slowly, she started the car and pulled slowly down the long drive leading away from the Camillos’ estate, out of the slow opening gate, and down the empty stretch of road.

  It was now fully dark. Yawning, she tried to clear her mind to sort out what she’d learned and decide the best way to deal with it. Was she still in danger? That she couldn’t know for sure. Roman didn’t know the answer to that one either.

  She’d practically had to run away like the hounds of hell were on her ass to keep Roman from sticking her with one of his bodyguards. But she had a feeling one would be lurking about anyway. That’s just how Roman was. He wasn’t the type of man who took no for an answer. She already had to deal with Jack and Robbie watching her constantly, she held no doubt that, even though the police had declared her in the clear, they would still lurk about. She didn’t need a full-fledged bodyguard on her tail, but that’s exactly what would happen. It didn’t seem to matter what she wanted. It seemed the men in her life were bound and determined to defy her wishes.

  She was a cop. She could take care of herself … maybe. After learning all that she’d missed over the years, she was beginning to doubt her abilities and was more convinced than ever that her decision to become a contractor was the right one.

  Approaching the only sharp curve in the road leading back to her home, she tried to slow, only to realize with panic that her brakes were out. Her foot pressed the brake pedal to the floor. Frantically, she pumped the pedal with her foot, but nothing happened. She struggled to turn the wheel, to miss the curve and continue down the road, but she was going too fast.

  Suddenly, the car careened off the road and over the embankment where it rolled over onto its top. Her head slammed into the steering wheel. The sound of a car horn filled her ears as something warm and sticky trickled slowly down the side of her face and into her eyes.

  Moments later, everything went black.

  * * * *

  Groaning softly, Tess tried to press her palm to her aching forehead, only to be halted abruptly by the tight pull of something securing her wrists behind her.

  A wave of panic stuck her.

  Forcing her eyes open, the room before her blurred into nothing but a large multicolored mass of indistinct shapes. Blinking rapidly, she struggled to regain her focus.

  She knew she was tied to something, but by whom and for what reason?

  Her eyes burned. Her head pounded with an indescribable intensity. Taking a deep breath, she tried to quell the nausea rolling through her long enough to at least see if she could recognize where she was being held prisoner.

  Sounds echoed all around her. The sound of water dripping, a pipe tapping, and the murmur of voices in the distance reached her ears but didn’t help identify where she was being held.

  Fear skittered up her spine.

  Slowly her vision focused. She peered carefully about the room.

  She was tied to an old metal chair. The floor beneath her was cracked gray cement, except where her chair was seated. There, it was a hideous-looking black stain she recognized immediately. She’d been on several scenes where someone had been killed, and the blood had stained the cement below the body black.

  Her fears immediately ratcheted up another notch.

  Jerking her eyes to her remaining surroundings, she took in the metal walls on all four sides, and the high metal ceiling. Racks of miscellaneous power tools and the like lined the shelves, but what worried her most was the tray sitting a few feet away from her. Knives, saws, picks, and other instruments she couldn’t identify gleamed up
at her. The thing looked like it belonged in an operating room instead of an old abandoned warehouse, which was exactly where she’d determined she was.

  She needed to get free, but even if she could reach the knife-filled tray, she wouldn’t be able to get anything off of it. Her hands were tied next to her hips with a rope that snaked its way intricately through the chairs legs. She couldn’t move an inch.

  Her entire body ached from the car accident. Her legs burned from being in one position too long, and she was more than certain her right arm was broken, as every attempt to move it sent a wave of nausea and intense pain shooting through her.

  Her only hope now was that someone would come looking for her. Surely Jack had noticed she hadn’t come home. He knew her first instinct would be that of a cop and she’d want to question Roman. He’d already tagged Roman as the bad guy and was probably knocking down his door right now looking for her. If that were the case, he would’ve seen her car on his way there.

  Jack knows I didn’t come home. He’ll report me missing and come looking for me. He’s on his way.

  She had to believe someone was on the way to save her, or else she’d go mad knowing she was alone.

  The grinding sound of metal on metal reached her ears as the door before her slid open. She watched silently as two men entered and closed the door with a resounding slam.

  Much to her surprise, the men were impeccably dressed in tailored black suits. Their red ties stood out against the stark black material.

  Both were tall and well built. One had black hair, slicked back in a fifties style that reminded her of the movie Grease with John Travolta while the other man wore his longer sandy-brown hair in a tight ponytail.

  Taking a closer look at the man with long sandy-blond hair, she frowned.

  “I’ve seen you before, at the gas station.”

  “You did,” he agreed. “I had to keep you distracted while some business was being taken care of. So, I stepped into your path, and you did the rest.”

  She scowled and knew immediately what their “business” had been. One man had distracted her while the other tampered with her brakes. She’d thought they felt funny when she pulled out of the station. Now she knew why.

  Taking a closer look at her captors, Tess frowned harder.

  She would’ve considered both men significantly handsome were it not for the fact they had her trussed up like a chicken on the Sunday afternoon buffet.

  “You're awake,” the dark-haired man said calmly as he approached her.

  “How very observant of you,” she replied sarcastically. “What gave it away? My open eyes or the conversation I just had with your friend over there?”

  Great, I’ve been kidnapped by morons.

  He smiled. “The old man said you had a sharp tongue. I like that in a woman. Too bad I’ll have to cut it out instead of letting you run it all over me.” He leaned close to her face, examining her as though she were a horse at auction.

  “As if I would ever touch you. I’d rather wear meat panties and run through the lions’ den than ever allow you to touch me.”

  Both men laughed out loud at the snarky comment.

  “Go ahead and get your jokes out. When the old man gets here, you won’t be laughing.”

  There it was, talk of that damn old man again. Her accident hadn’t been an accident, and the men standing before her were the men who’d attempted to kidnap her weeks earlier. The only difference between that attempt and this one was this time they’d actually succeeded.

  “Are you the two boobs who tried to kidnap me?” she asked only to solidify her suspicions.

  “Allow me to make introductions,” the dark-haired man said politely, pointing to his chest. “I’m Sal, and this is my brother, Tony.” He waved toward the lighter-haired man standing stoically to one side, watching her intently with chocolate brown eyes.

  “Fascinating.” She rolled her eyes. “Back to my question. Were you the peckerwoods who tried to kidnap me?”

  She really should shut her mouth, but after the last two days, she just couldn’t bring herself to do so. If these jerkoffs thought she was going to go down without a fight, they were even crazier than they appeared.

  “We were, but that’s beside the point. Now enough questions. The old man will be here soon, and he has some things to ask you. Our advice to you would be to answer him and try to do so without all the sass. If you don’t, I can guarantee you’ll regret it.”

  “Can’t wait to meet him,” she grumbled.

  With the tips of his fingers, Sal smoothed the hair away from her face. “Such a waste. Maybe the old man will give us a little taste before he does away with her, right, Tony?”

  “We can only hope,” the other man answered nonchalantly, picking an invisible piece of lint from his sleeve.

  Her stomach pitched violently. She fought the urge to empty her belly all over Sal’s hideous, expensive shoes. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing how truly terrified she actually was.

  Jack will come. He’ll find me.

  She had to hold on to that one hope. In the meantime, she’d just have to string out this torture as long as she could to give Jack the needed time to find her.

  Gathering her courage once again, she stared Sal in the eye.

  “I doubt it. Just your touch would cause me to shrivel and die like the twig between your legs, and I’m pretty sure that if I keeled over before this old man of yours gets his answers, you’ll be in a lot of trouble.”

  She should have seen it coming, but the blow from Sal’s fist slamming into her face took her by surprise. Her head snapped back and stars danced before her eyes.

  Chapter Eighteen

  After twenty-four hours, Jack had reached his maximum worry point. Now, at almost sunrise, he was out of his mind with fear. He and Robbie had driven around the entire city and not seen one glimpse of Tess. They’d contacted all of her friends in her address book, and none of them had seen her either. It was starting to look like Tess had disappeared.

  Turning into his driveway, Jack wasn’t surprised to see Patrice leaning against her car waiting for them. She’d been out all night as well looking for her best friend.

  He’d called Patrice and told her his worries about Tess this morning when Tess still hadn’t returned home. Patrice had come right over. He’d also been forced to explain why Tess had been so angry that she peeled out of her drive, which led to her missing person act. As it turned out, Patrice had been a friend of Tess and Dean since high school. She wasn’t too pleased about their suspicions of Dean and his father, either.

  “I'm sure she’s fine,” Patrice said from her seat at Jack’s kitchen table where she sipped her coffee. Problem was, she didn’t sound too convinced.

  “After you called, I figured she run over to the Camillos’ for comfort and end up staying the night in Dean’s old room.”

  “And?” Jack prompted.

  “That wasn’t the case. Roman said she’d shown up asking a lot of questions and left after about an hour. He tried to get her to take a guard with her, but she refused. Apparently she was very upset, but he wouldn’t tell me why.”

  “He had something to do with this. I just know it,” Jack said, gazing out the window toward Tess’s still-empty house. “Roman Camillo knows where Tess is.”

  “I don’t care what you say about Dean’s family. There’s no way on Earth they would ever hurt Tess.”

  “Are you sure about that?” Jack snapped.

  Patrice arched a brow and replied, “Damn sure. I’ve known Tess, Dean, and his father since our first year of high school. They’re good people.”

  Jack wished he could be as optimistic as Patrice, but he couldn’t. There was something fishy about that family, and if what Robbie said about them being involved with the shady underworld of the mob was true, Tess was in more danger than she could imagine.

  “I know you believe that,” Jack began gruffly, “but I don’t. That’s why I called Captain Lewis.
He should be here any minute. I also told him my suspicions of Roman Camillo.”

  Patrice stood and gaped. “You didn’t.”

  “Yes, he did.” Robbie nodded from across the kitchen table. “Tess left yesterday morning and hasn’t returned. She didn’t take any clothing, and we can’t get her on her cell. I have to agree with Jack. Something’s not right.”

  Patrice nodded. “You're right; she is missing. I’m worried about her just as much as you are, but you’re wrong about the Camillos. Maybe she’s just hiding out in a hotel somewhere. You know, just trying to get her ducks in a row.”

  Jack scowled in her direction. “I’m not only worried about the Camillos. Anything could have happened. What if she had an accident or was attacked again?”

  Patrice paled, and for the first time since arriving, she looked truly concerned. “I never thought about that. Tess is always so careful.”

  Patrice may not have thought about the danger Tess could be in, but he’d been thinking about it since the moment she stomped her tight little behind out the door. He’d wanted to follow her then but knew he wouldn’t make it out of the drive before she stopped him and either gave him another what for or just ran him over with her car.

  I should have chanced it. I should have stopped her. Jack watched as the captain’s police car pulled into the drive. The captain stepped out and so did another man. The two climbed the front steps.

  “Good to see you again. You remember Officer Flynn?” the captain said as he shook Jack’s hand.

  Immediately recognizing the officer from the night Tess was nearly kidnapped, Jack nodded, extending his hand. “I do. Come on in.”

  Leading the officers into the house, Jack watched as they greeted Patrice and Robbie and took a seat at the table.

  “Where’s your partner?”

  “Holdings is taking some personal days,” the officer answered lightly. “Short notice, but what the hell. I can handle things on my own.”

  “You might be able to handle things, but it’d be better were he here. I know he can’t control when a family emergency arises, but he better expect a hell of a lot of work waiting on his desk when he gets back. He left a lot of things unattended,” the captain said, obviously disappointed with the absent officer.