by Sandi Lynn
“What are you doing? You’re supposed to be sleeping,” I spoke.
“I couldn’t sleep. I have to look over these phone records.”
“Ariana, that can wait until morning.” I lightly touched her arm.
She pulled away, and with an authoritative tone, she spoke, “No it can’t.”
“Sweetheart, yes it can. Now come back to bed.”
“NO!” she shouted as she got up from the couch and headed into the kitchen.
“What the hell is the matter with you? I said come back to bed. You’re exhausted and you need your rest.”
Suddenly, she slammed the glass she was holding down on the counter and it broke into several pieces.
“Don’t you tell me what to do!” she shouted as she started to cry.
I stood there in shock, wondering what happened between the time we said goodnight and now. I walked over to where she was standing and noticed she was bleeding.
“Ariana, you’re bleeding.”
I quickly grabbed a towel and wrapped it around the palm of her hand.
“What is the matter with you?” I asked as I led her to the bathroom.
“You don’t get it, Luca. I have to find out who did this.”
She placed her hands firmly on my chest and stared at me with despair in her eyes. Not only despair, but also fear.
“You could go to jail for life and it would be all my fault. Don’t you understand that? Aren’t you even worried?” she frantically spoke.
I’d never seen her like this before. It was almost as if she was having a breakdown. And if she was, I needed to stop it. I grabbed hold of her arms to try and calm her down.
“I am worried and I do understand. You’re working too hard on this, baby, and you need to slow down.”
“I can’t.” She shook. “If you go to prison, I don’t know what I’ll do. I need to do this. You aren’t in control anymore, Luca. You just aren’t.” Her head fell onto my chest as she sobbed.
I wrapped my arms around her and held her tight. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want to lie to her and tell her that everything would be okay, because the truth was, it might not be.
“I’m sorry, Ariana. I’m sorry for trying to stop you from doing your job. I had no right. It’s just I’m worried about you.”
“And I’m worried about you. That is why I can’t stop until I find some kind of proof that someone else was responsible for her death.”
I closed my eyes as I brought my hand up to the back of her head and held her against my chest.
“Do what you have to do, sweetheart. I won’t try to stop you anymore. Okay?” I broke our embrace and stared into her teary eyes.
She lightly nodded her head.
“I’ll come back to bed now,” she softly spoke.
With my arm wrapped around her, I led her to the bedroom and we climbed under the sheets where I held her the rest of the night, too afraid to let her go.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Ariana
My little meltdown last night wasn’t one of my finer moments. The stress of this case was getting to me more than I thought it ever would. The more I couldn’t connect the dots, the more I felt like a failure. The possibility of him going to prison for the rest of his life for a crime he didn’t commit terrified me because I was in love with him. I couldn’t let him down. I had to keep fighting to prove his innocence, even if it killed me.
Tomorrow was my twenty-sixth birthday. With the trial starting in two days and the mess I was in with my family, my birthday didn’t matter. It was the last thing on my mind and the last thing I even wanted to think about. When I climbed out of bed, I found Luca in the kitchen making a pot of coffee.
“Morning,” I lazily spoke as I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his waist.
“Good morning. Up early to start work?” He grinned.
“Luca, listen, I’m sorry about my behavior last night.”
“Don’t be.” He kissed my forehead. “You had every right.”
I kissed his lips and gave him a small smile before taking a seat on the couch and picking up the papers that contained Sam’s phone records.
“One thing I noticed last night was that Sam made several calls to this one number.”
“Who does it belong to?” he asked.
“I don’t know yet, but I’m going to find out.”
“If you need any help, let me know. I need to get to the firm.” He walked over and handed me a cup of coffee.
“Thank you.” I smiled up at him.
“You’re welcome.” He bent down and kissed my lips. “I’ll talk to you later.”
As soon as he walked out the door, I called Sheila.
“Hey, I was just going to call you,” she spoke when she answered.
“Did you find anything last night?” I asked.
“No. I suspect that Sam isn’t stupid enough to keep anything secretive in his office.”
“Great. I need you to trace a phone number for me.”
“Sure. Give it to me and I’ll look it up while we’re on the phone.”
I rattled the number off to her as I heard the clicking of keystrokes on her computer.
“That number belongs to a man named Wilson Garrett. He’s a police officer in Jersey.”
“Why would Sam be in contact with a cop from Jersey?”
“I don’t know. I’ll try and dig up some information on him and get back to you.”
“Thanks, Sheila.”
I set my phone down and hopped into the shower. As I was shampooing my hair, his name kept playing over and over in my head. How did I know that name? Then it hit me. I jumped out of the shower with my hair in a lather of shampoo, grabbed a towel, and wrapped it around me. Running to the living room where my bag sat, I pulled out Luca’s juvenile file, threw it on the table, and began spreading out all the papers. I frantically thumbed through them until I found what I was looking for. Holy shit. Wilson Garrett was Luca’s father’s partner on the force. Realizing that I still had shampoo in my hair, I hopped back into the shower, rinsed it, washed my body as quick as I could, got dressed, and flew out the door to the firm.
When I arrived at Russo, Greggs, & Butler, I went into Luca’s office, only to find he was in a meeting in the conference room, so I went to Sheila’s office and shut the door.
“Is Sam in the office?” I asked.
“No. He’s in court.”
“Good. Wilson Garrett was Luca’s father’s partner on the police force.”
“I know. I just found that out when I searched him in the database and Luca’s father’s name came up. Also, and you’re not going to believe this, but, a year ago, Garrett’s sister accused a man named Royce Worthington of rape. The family is an upstanding influential part of the community. Royce’s dad owns one of the largest tech companies in the country. They’re filthy rich and guess who defended him?”
“Luca?”
“Yes, and he got him off. The jury found him not guilty.”
“So this could be revenge for Wilson Garrett. First Luca murdered his partner out of self-defense and then got the man accused of raping his sister off. I do believe Mr. Garrett had a motive for wanting to frame Luca.”
“But how is he connected to Gina Burroughs and Sam Butler?”
“I don’t know yet, but they are. Sam made numerous calls to Wilson Garrett, including one that occurred on the night of the murder at ten p.m. Do you have a picture of him?”
“Yeah. I’ll print it.”
She pulled the picture off the printer and handed it to me.
“Thanks. If Luca asks, tell him I’ll talk to him later.”
“Where are you going?”
“Back to the Peninsula Hotel.” I smiled.
****
I made a stop at Dunkin Donuts on the way to the hotel. After all, it was the least I could do for bugging Bruce again. I lightly knocked on the security office door, and when he opened it, a wide smile graced his face.
“Ariana. You
’re back.”
“I am, and I brought donuts!”
“Let me guess, you want to see the same tape again,” he spoke as he took the box from me.
“Yes, please. This will be the last time. I swear.”
“No problem. Have a seat. Want a donut?”
“Sure.” I smiled as I took the chocolate frosted one from the box.
“Is there a specific time you want to look at?” he asked.
“From ten o’clock on.”
“Didn’t you already look at that time?”
“I did, but now I’m looking for a specific person.”
“Ah. Okay.” He bit into a glazed donut.
I nervously sat there, biting into my donut as I watched the footage.
“STOP RIGHT THERE!” I shouted. “That’s him.”
I let out a sigh of relief when I saw Wilson Garrett enter the Peninsula Hotel at ten fifteen and step onto the elevator. I continued to watch and patiently waited for him to return to the lobby. And sure enough he did, with a timestamp that read 12:40 a.m.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Luca
I decided not to take Ariana somewhere for the day for her birthday tomorrow. After her breakdown last night, it became clear to me that she needed to work on my case every second she could. With the trial being in two days, she would be a nervous wreck if I whisked her off to Montauk to celebrate her birthday. I decided it would be best to take her for a nice dinner and give her the present I bought her. That would have to do for now. But once this case was over, and if I was found not guilty, I would take her somewhere beautiful. Maybe a tropical island where it was just the two of us with no distractions. A place we could escape to and forget about everything that happened. The murder, the trial, and her family.
Not confronting Sam about knowing Gina was killing me. If that asshole had anything to do with framing me, I’d make sure he paid the ultimate price. But why would he do it? I’d never been anything but a good friend to him. The dinners at his house, the anniversary party I threw for him and Jessica, and the birthday party. None of this made sense. But I knew better. As much as I wanted to confront him, I couldn’t. It would compromise everything Ariana had found out.
I left the conference room after my meeting and headed straight to Sheila’s office.
“Have you seen or heard from Ariana?” I asked.
“Yeah. She was here a while ago. She told me to tell you that she’d talk to you later.”
“Do you know where she went?”
“She went back to the Peninsula Hotel.”
I sighed. “Thanks, Sheila.”
I left the building and headed to the hotel. She must have found something to go back there again. As I walked through the doors, a sick feeling overtook me. I stood in the lobby and looked around with memories of that night flashing in my head. The night that sent my life down the shithole. I needed to sit down for a moment, so I took a seat in the lobby and rested my elbows on my knees.
“Luca?” Ariana spoke. “What are you doing here?”
I looked up and just the sight of her made me feel better.
“Shelia told me that you came here.”
“We need to talk.” She smiled. “Let’s go grab some lunch.”
We had Jeffery take us to SoHo so we wouldn’t risk running into anyone and got a table in the corner for two at Balthazar.
“Do you know a man named Wilson Garrett?” she asked as she took a sip of her water.
I had to think for a moment. The name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it.
“Name sounds familiar, but I’m not sure. Why? Who is he?”
“Wilson Garrett was your father’s partner.”
“You’re right. I had forgotten all about him. I remember that his old partner retired and he was assigned with Wilson. He was new on the force. Just graduated from the academy and I think he was only his partner for about six months before he died. What does he have to do with this, Ariana?” I asked with concern.
“Is him being your father’s partner the only thing you remember?” she asked.
“Yeah. I think so. After my father’s death, we never heard from him again. You really need to tell me what’s going on.”
“Do you remember a client you defended about a year ago? Royce Worthington?”
“Yeah. He was accused of raping a college girl. The jury found him not guilty.”
“She was Wilson Garrett’s sister.”
“What?” I narrowed my eye and cocked my head.
“I went back to the Peninsula to view the security tapes again. Sam made a phone call in the lobby at ten p.m. to Wilson Garrett, and guess what? He walked into the hotel at ten fifteen and got on the elevator. Now you said that Gina didn’t come sit down next to you at the bar until ten thirty. Right?”
“Right.”
“What I missed the last time I looked at the tape was when she came down at nine thirty, she also went back up to her room at nine forty.”
“Where was she for ten minutes?”
“I don’t know and we’ll never know at this point. So she was in her room at ten fifteen when Wilson Garrett went up there.”
“He could have been there to see anyone at that hotel. The D.A. will rip that apart,” I spoke. “There’s no connection between her and Wilson Garrett.”
“But there’s a connection between Wilson Garrett and Sam Butler, who is connected to Gina Burroughs.”
“Okay, why would Wilson Garrett frame me? Or Sam, for that matter?”
“I suspect that Wilson was trying to get revenge for the murder of his partner and for his sister’s rape.”
“And Sam?” I raised my brow.
“I haven’t figured that out yet. But I will.”
Just as I was about to say something, her phone rang and it was Sheila calling.
“Shit. We need to get back to the firm,” she spoke as she grabbed her purse.
“Why? We haven’t finished lunch.”
“I think Sam was embezzling money from the firm.”
“That son of a bitch!” I voiced loudly as I threw some cash on the table and we headed back to the firm.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Ariana
“I decided to look at Gina’s financials and there were deposits made monthly into her account from a wired account in the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars. So, I traced the account and guess who it belongs to?” Sheila asked.
“Sam Butler?” I smiled.
“You are correct, Ariana.” She pointed at me.
Luca rested his face on his hand and let out a long sigh.
“Tell me he wasn’t stealing from my firm,” he spoke.
“I wish I could, Luca, but he was. He was skimming money from his clients’ trust funds and transferring them into his wired account. Not only was he doing that, but he also inflated his fees, paying the firm our normal fee, and billed clients for legal work that was never done.”
“That son of a bitch! I’ll kill him!” Luca angrily spoke as he got up from his chair and headed for the door.
I jumped up and grabbed his arm.
“Luca, no. You can’t say a word about this to him.”
“Ariana, let me go!” he shouted as he jerked his arm away.
I threw myself against the door to stop him.
“I know you’re angry, but this will help your case. If you confront him, he’ll have time to destroy the evidence we need. We need to keep quiet. Please, Luca. Do it for me.” I placed my hand on the side of his face.
He slowly closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.
“Fine. But once this is over, I’m going after him.”
“That’s fine. Please sit down.” I took hold of his arm and led him back to the chair. “We know that Gina quit the agency three months ago and that was around the time Sam Butler started making monthly deposits into her account. What if Sam kept her as his mistress, made her quit the agency, and agreed to pay her so she didn’t see other men?”
“But maybe she still wanted to run her own business, keeping her previous clients and hiding it from Sam,” Sheila spoke. “I bet she was playing him.”
“Then Sam found out what she was doing,” I spoke as I paced around the room, “became enraged, and hired Wilson Garrett to murder her.”
“But how did Wilson and Sam meet?” Luca asked. “That’s the important question here?”
“I don’t know.” I sighed. “See what you can find on Wilson’s police career,” I spoke to Shelia. “Sam’s a lawyer, he’s a cop. There has to be some kind of connection there.”
I grabbed my purse and turned to Luca.
“I have to go talk to Detective Jacks. I’ll see you later.”
****
I stepped inside the police station and made my way down the hall to the detective’s office. When I reached it, I found he wasn’t there, so I took a seat and I waited.
“Miss Williams, to what do I owe the pleasure of another visit?” He smiled as he took a seat behind his desk.
“Gina Burroughs was seeing Sam Butler. About three months ago after she quit the escort agency, he started to make deposits of twenty-five thousand dollars from a wired account into hers. At approximately three thirty p.m. on the day she was murdered, she called him, left the hotel, and climbed into a limo that was rented by him. At approximately ten p.m., he left his party and stepped into the lobby to make a phone call to a man named Wilson Garrett who is an officer for a New Jersey police department. At approximately ten fifteen, he was seen walking into the Peninsula Hotel and stepping onto the elevator.”
“And?”
“I think he was the one who murdered Gina Burroughs.”
“Do you have proof or any evidence to support your accusation?”
“No. But Sam has been embezzling money from the firm.”
“Is Mr. Russo pressing charges?”
“Not yet.”
“Miss Williams,” he leaned back in his chair, “why are you here?”
“I believe Sam found out that Gina was still operating an escort business and he found out she was pregnant and had her killed.”
“By Wilson Garrett?”
“Yes.”
“Who’s a cop?” He smirked.