Murder at Sunrise Lake

by Feehan, Christine

  “When he comes to see me, insist on coming with him. He’ll be much more cautious how he treats me, what he says. We’ll have a better chance of making amends with each other with you present.” He sounded perfectly sincere and appealing.

  Stella shook her head with a faint smile. “Here’s the thing, Mr. Rossi. I would never, under any circumstances, go behind Sam’s back. I wouldn’t mislead him or try to persuade him one way or the other. Sam is a grown man. He’s intelligent and I don’t believe he’s hotheaded or does anything without thinking it through. If he was stubborn when he was younger, he isn’t that way now. He’s thoughtful and calm. I believe he will listen to you and whatever is between you and will honestly try to resolve it. You won’t need me there for that. If Sam wants me there, of course, I’ll go with him.”

  Marco Rossi was not a man people said no to very often. That was plain on his face, but he managed to cover up his annoyance with a small false smile. “I hope you’re not one of those women who believes your man tells you everything.”

  “I’m not certain what that means. I don’t ask Sam to tell me everything. That’s not our relationship.” She indicated the door with a little shiver. “It’s very cold out here. Perhaps we should get back inside.” She didn’t wait for him to go in front of her. Instead, she led the way, opening the door and sending Bailey in first and then stepping back so Marco could enter.

  Raine looked the same as she always did, sweet and innocent, as if she were that little pixie, sitting with her feet curled under her and the fall of red-gold hair haphazardly pulled back, making her look younger than ever. Stella was never certain if Raine purposely cultivated that look or if she was just naturally born that way, but it worked. The majority of people bought in to it. They never viewed Raine as a threat. Stella’s gaze jumped to Lucio. She wasn’t so certain he was buying in to it, but maybe it was simply the tension in the room.

  “Are you okay?” Raine asked.

  “Yes, have you heard any more news?”

  “No, I didn’t expect to, honey. They’re going to try to recover the bodies. It will take some time.”

  Stella sighed. “I’m sorry, Mr. Rossi. Sam will most likely be on Whitney for the rest of the day. I don’t know when you’re planning to return to New York, but he’ll be exhausted when he comes back. They’ll have to climb down the side of the mountain to recover the bodies.”

  Even saying it made her feel sick. She still didn’t understand how it could have happened. How could the couple have been missed at Trail Crest?

  “We can stay another couple of nights. I’ll leave the information for where we’re staying with you,” Marco said.

  Raine’s cell went off and she answered, jumping off the couch and pacing away toward the kitchen. She could be heard even with her soft almost-whisper.

  “I’m in the middle of something. I just left there. I worked all night, General. I haven’t had any sleep and what I’m doing is extremely important.” A small silence. “Give the job to Jack. He’s good. He can do it.”

  Raine listened for a moment, leaning against the counter in the kitchen. Stella could see her through the open door. She looked exasperated. “This is not a secure line. You called me on my cell phone. Yeah, because I’m not home. No, I told you …” She sighed heavily. “It’s always a matter of national security. Fine. It would take me an hour to drive home. Send the helicopter for me in an hour so that gives me time here to finish up. Tell Dante he’ll have to take me home. I’ll throw some things together and he can take me from there to you. That’s the best you’re going to get. I’ve got a life, in case you were wondering, and it doesn’t always revolve around you.” She made a face. “Very funny.” She shoved the cell in her back pocket and joined them again.

  “Sorry, Stella. I’ve got about an hour and then work calls again.”

  “You haven’t slept for days,” Stella objected. “They need to give you a break.”

  Raine shrugged. “Lots of hot spots right now.”

  Marco frowned at her. “Someone sends a helicopter for you? You’re speaking that way to a general? As in the military? Secure lines? National security? What in the world do you do?”

  Raine laughed softly and waved her hand in the air, looking innocent and young as only she could. “It does sound very dramatic, now that you put all that together. I’m a contract worker for the government, so yes, sometimes when they need me to work on something they need done fast, they send a helicopter because I live so far away from everything. The rest of it though, that’s just hogwash.”

  She made a face. “I’m not certain how best to describe Peter. He likes to be called General. I wouldn’t be able to talk to a real general that way, right? Not without getting in trouble. Peter is very, very dramatic. He plays a lot of video games so he gives orders in terms of his ridiculous video games. The pay is great, and in the end we’re both happy.”

  Stella didn’t think either man looked entirely convinced, but Raine gave a little eye roll as if Peter were the silliest man on the planet.

  “What do contract workers do?” Marco persisted.

  Raine shrugged. “I don’t know what others do, but in my case, I am very good at a certain computer code. When programs go down and they want them up and running fast, it’s always an emergency, although it really isn’t. I go in and troubleshoot. Most of the time I can do it remotely, but lately I’ve had to go to the main office and fix the program there.”

  “Some sort of virus?” Marco asked, sounding knowledgeable. “You would think government computers would have the best protections against something intrusive like that.”

  Stella held her breath, hoping Raine wouldn’t eat him up and spit him out. She didn’t. She smiled serenely, widening her eyes as if Marco were giving her the best piece of advice possible. “Why didn’t I think of that? I’ll have to talk to Peter about it.”

  Marco was silent a moment and then he burst out laughing. “You are a true O’Mallory. Of course, you thought of it. So, not a virus.”

  Raine smiled at him. “No, not a virus. Sometimes in a program, someone adds an enhancement and doesn’t think of all the combinations that might cause the program to crash. Sometimes a crash can happen due to a loss of connection while transmitting data and the data is unreadable.” She shrugged. “Not exactly the most exciting stuff in the world, but it’s a good job and good steady work.”

  Marco nodded. “I don’t know much about how computer programs work, only that they do and we rely on them now.”

  Raine had to agree. “Probably too much.” She sipped her coffee. “Lucio, you haven’t said what you’ve been up to lately. Judging by the suit, looks like your impressive skills have paid off.”

  Marco lifted an eyebrow. “Which of your many impressive skills is she referring to, Lucio?”

  “I have no idea.” Lucio sounded bored.

  Stella studied his expressionless mask. His eyes weren’t lifeless. There was something hot and lethal smoldering beneath all that dark blue, a promise of retaliation that made Stella worry for Raine. Clearly, the two were enemies— bitter enemies. Marco seemed unaware of the fact, and Lucio didn’t seem inclined to enlighten him.

  “When I was in New York, he was quite the ladies’ man, Marco,” Raine said. “He could lie with the best of them. Had women eating out of his hand. It was an easy way to climb the ladder, I think you said, Lucio. It’s been a long time, so I’m not quite certain, but I thought that was what your sentiment was. Women are so easy.”

  Stella raised her eyebrow. “I suppose when we’re young we’re pretty gullible. We believe in all that fairy-tale crap.”

  “Comes from being protected by our fathers, Marco,” Raine pointed out, ignoring the fact that Lucio hadn’t responded. “It’s better to know men lie than to learn the lesson the hard way, don’t you think?”

  “Girl, you’re letting yourself be too cynical,” Marco objected.

  “I don’t think so. I believe in being realistic, don�
�t you, Stella? I’d rather see the truth than be taken in by lies. Seriously, Marco, if you had a daughter, wouldn’t you want her to know the truth about what she was getting into when she was being married off to some man who would cheat on her? Or if she dated someone she believed loved her when he really was out to impress you? Would you want her to be so disillusioned that her world would come crashing down at some point? Better to go into it with eyes wide open, right?”

  Marco frowned. “You young women are so independent. What do you think, Lucio? Do you believe women should be protected? Would you protect your daughter?”

  Lucio’s white teeth flashed in a brief smile that failed to light those dark blue eyes. “I have no children, Marco, nor do I have a woman of my own. How could I possibly weigh in on this decision with any real wisdom?”

  “I suppose that it is the wise man’s answer when he is with two beautiful women. We should go. Thank you for seeing us so early in the morning, Stella.” Marco stood and Lucio did as well. “It was wonderful to meet you both.”

  “I enjoyed meeting you as well,” Stella said, walking the two men to the door. Relief poured through her as they moved off the porch and began walking toward their car. She hadn’t realized just how tense she had been with the two men in her home.

  Once they were out of her sight, she closed her front door, leaned against it and faced Raine. “Thank you for staying. I would have had a very difficult time without you here. I know it put you in an awkward position. Clearly, you and Lucio have some kind of history.”

  “I knew him back in New York when I was a kid. I was Irish. He was Italian. We were both Catholic. Suffice it to say the two didn’t mix.” Raine gathered up the coffee mugs and took them into the kitchen. “He was very aware back then of how good-looking he is and he’s just as arrogant now. He actually had the nerve to try to tell me what I can and can’t do the minute the two of you went out the door. Like we were still kids and he thought I would fall in line and do whatever he said.”

  “Were you ever a ‘thing’?” Stella asked, following Raine into the kitchen and leaning against the counter.

  “One doesn’t have a ‘thing’ with Lucio. He isn’t that type of man. He makes that very clear to any woman he goes near.”

  “You have a lot of animosity toward him, Raine, and that’s unusual for you. You can be full of contempt when men get arrogant and try to act like they know what they’re talking about when they don’t, but you’re never downright hostile toward them like you were with him. Not that I think Mr. Rossi was aware of it.”

  “He was aware. Not much gets by him. Don’t let him fool you, Stella, he’s not a nice man. He may have come here to see his son, but he’s been head of a crime family for years. He’s committed all sorts of crimes, from things very small to murder. I don’t know if men like him do the actual killing, but they certainly order it. These days they try to fly under the radar of law enforcement, so they don’t do the kinds of things they did in the past, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t committing crimes.”

  “I’m sorry about your father, Raine. I had no idea. And your family. You speak of them so lovingly. It must be so hard not to see them, especially your mother.”

  “I’ve come to terms with it for the most part. There are moments it hurts like hell and I cry myself to sleep. It’s her choice. She made that choice never to see me, knowing I didn’t know the circumstances of my father’s business.” Raine stuck her chin in the air and shrugged. “As much as I’d like to undo the things that led up to my father’s death, I can’t undo them. They happened. I met someone, I fell for him and I told him I could see him this one evening because my father had gone out to check on things at the warehouse. I had no idea that was information he had been waiting to hear. I went to see my supposed fiancé and he was beating the shit out of my father at the warehouse and killing his men. They took his shipment. We left for California. Someone put out a hit on him anyway.”

  “Do you believe it was Mr. Rossi?”

  “At this point, I have no idea who did it. For all I know, it was one of my father’s business partners. They lost men, sons. Brothers. Cousins. And a lot of money. They should have put the hit out on me. It would make more sense.” Raine sighed. “That’s why I live in the Sierras, Stella. I find my peace here. We’ve formed our own family. We might be strange and a little dysfunctional with all of our secrets, but we work and we’re loyal to one another.”

  They could hear the sound of the helicopter in the distance. It would set down in the meadow far enough from the house. Raine glanced at her watch. “I’d better free the hound. Daisy is going to have to do her business and run around like a maniac before we get on that bird.”

  “Be safe, Raine.”

  “You too. I hope Sam doesn’t get too upset about his father being here without him.”

  Stella hoped for that very thing as well.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Was everyone from Search and Rescue in the near vicinity?” Stella whispered to Sam. “That seems a little unusual.” She tried not to look suspiciously at Sean, Bale, Edward and Jason.

  Sean had every reason to be in the park. His work took him there, after all. She supposed Bale, Edward and Jason could go see him while he worked. There was nothing that said they couldn’t. Yosemite was beautiful and the various campsites would be closed soon. She just pictured them leering at all the female campers.

  Denver often guided hikers through the park to some of the off-the-beaten-path trails and he, apparently, had taken a small group into the park, so he was close when the call went out for Search and Rescue as well.

  Stella’s nighttime security guard, Sonny Leven, had taken his brother out to the park for a hike. They had a permit to hike up the back side of Whitney. What were the chances?

  “Not everyone, but it was good they were close to help,” Sam said. “The recovery wasn’t easy.” He sounded tired and Stella leaned into him. She knew that he was just as upset over the fact that they were unsuccessful in saving the two hikers—maybe more so.

  “Vienna examined both bodies as we waited for the sheriff to get there. Multiple broken bones of course, you’d expect that. The strange thing was, because you had said that about the killer grabbing at their fingers, she really paid attention and both bodies had two breaks in exactly the same place on the ring finger of their left hand.”

  Stella frowned and laid her head on his shoulder. Sam wrapped his arm around her. Immediately there was a small silence. Several others at the bar had ceased conversing and were staring at the two of them in astonishment. She realized it was the first time Sam had ever really shown any kind of public display of affection toward her. She didn’t move and simply waited for the Search and Rescue crew to begin their normal dissecting of their operation in the way they did.

  “Didn’t James Marley have two breaks on his finger as well from the fishing line or something like that?” she asked.

  “I don’t think it was from the fishing line, Stella. I think the killer has a signature, but we can’t risk being overheard here.”

  She turned her face into his neck, keeping her voice very low. “You’re right, but I just have to know how they were missed at Trail Crest. It doesn’t make sense, Sam. You and Vienna were there.”

  He nuzzled her temple and then her ear. “They had a permit for three people. His brother was supposed to be with them and couldn’t make it at the last minute. We were only looking through the database for couples with permits.”

  She closed her eyes. Such a simple mistake. The permit had been for three people, not two, and Vienna and Sam had been focused on looking for permits for couples only.

  “We need to talk about my father showing up and you letting him in.”

  “I think I got that it wasn’t such a good idea, Sam.” She sat up straight and took a sip of her mojito. It suddenly didn’t taste so good and she pushed it away.

  The Grill was filled with members of Search and Rescue, sitting at th
e bar or at the big round table, eating from the platters of the various appetizers Alek Donovan, the owner, had created in his kitchen to serve before his simplistic bar-style foods. The lunch room was almost at full occupancy, but Vienna had called ahead of time and Alek had saved them their spot, even though he didn’t take reservations in the bar.

  “I’m not good at turning anyone away,” she admitted. “And Mr. Rossi being a relative of yours made it even more difficult. He was very polite. Raine was with me and I kept Bailey in the room the entire time. I didn’t text you that he was there because I knew what you were doing was dangerous, or I would have. I wasn’t trying to keep anything from you.”

  “I’m aware of that, Stella.” He waited, his eyes on her, trusting her to let him know what his father had said to her.

  “He told me he’s retiring, and that he’d like to live closer to you. He said he wanted me to come with you when you go to talk to him in order to keep you calm.”

  Sam’s expression didn’t change. He kept his gaze fixed on her face. “What do you think?”

  “I don’t think, I know you don’t need me to keep you calm, Sam, and I told him that. I don’t go behind your back. He might really be ill. He said he’d had a heart attack. I don’t know him well enough to know what’s true and what isn’t, you’ll have to determine that for yourself.”

  “Did he scare you?”

  “Not at all. He was very polite. Very charming. He had another man with him. Lucio Vitale. Do you know him?”

  “I knew him back when we were both kids. He was from a very poor family. Had to work his way up. His father and two brothers were murdered. He was responsible for his mother and a sister, I think, from a very young age. He fought his way up the ladder, and I mean that literally. It wasn’t easy for him. I wasn’t that surprised to see he’d made it all the way. My guess, he’s an underboss or capo, not Marco’s bodyguard, although they introduce him that way.”