by Kaylee, Katy
“I am Aiden. That’s kind of my job.”
I rolled my eyes. It wasn’t actually his job but I wasn’t about to argue, especially not now.
“There was a…problem. I’m going out to meet Phillipe and Luca.”
“You need me with you?”
“No. I need you with Beth, Matteo. Don’t leave her side. I’m not sure when I’ll be back.”
“Roger that. Just don’t get yourself hurt while you’re out. The missus wouldn’t approve.”
I bit back another retort, fighting the urge to roll my eyes one more time while I hung up and hurried out to the garage.
My eyes narrowed as I saw the address my uncle had texted me. It was near the docks, and far too close to where me and Beth had just been at that god damned bar.
Regret washed over me all over again, but there was nothing to do now but go to the scene and assess the damage. And from the sound of Phillipe’s voice, it wasn’t going to be good. Not any of it.
It took me twenty minutes to get to the docks, park, and walk down the softly sloping incline to where the group of somber looking men were standing, studiously avoiding looking in front of them.
“Uncle Phillipe.”
“Aiden, thank god.” Phillipe turned and looked at him, and I was caught off guard by how old he looked. He had aged ten years in a day. “I just had Luca call the police. We have ten minutes, maybe twelve before they get here.”
“Good. That’s plenty of time. Where’s the body?” I asked, swallowing down nausea. It wasn’t the thought of the dead body that had bile rising in the back of my throat, but that Redman might have been there, right there, when I’d had Beth with me earlier. He might have been close enough to get to her, to reach her. To slip a note in her hand.
The thoughts tore me up inside as my uncle led me a few feet away.
“Jesus.” I said softly, taking in the carnage, quickly catalogue the messy murder, the knife laying just a few feet away from the body. “Do we know who it is?”
“Nobody. Just a girl, wrong place, wrong time, but…”
“But what?”
“Well, look at her.” Phillipe’s voice changed, growing strident and I looked back at the poor slain woman. “Don’t you notice it?”
I did, just a second before my uncle’s words hit me.
“She’s blonde, Aiden. Pale blonde. Short and curvy.”
“You think…”
“I think someone is trying to send you a message.”
I glanced behind me. Billy and Remy were standing guard next to Luca. Close enough to keep an eye but too far away to overhear.
“We were here.”
“What?” Phillipe turned to look at me, deliberately turning away from the corpse.
“Me and Beth. We were here. I took her to Black House.”
“Why the hell would you take her to a place like that.”
“We were following a clue.” I said defensively, already feeling guilty enough about putting her in danger, “While we were leaving, someone slipped a note in her hand. Someone who supposedly knows the truth about what happened to her sister.”
Phillipe went dead white at my words and for a second I was worried he would collapse right there on the concrete.
“Uncle?”
“I’m…I’m alright. I just…I need a minute.” Phillipe waved my hand away but I could see even in the dark that he was shaken.
“What should I do? If it’s really Redman…”
“It is!” The older man shouted, and then fought to moderate his tone as he grasped my arms, staring at me intently, “It is. You need to keep her safe, Aiden. That girl…you keep her safe. Don’t let her out of your sight.” Phillipe shook his head sadly, his eyes wild, “Maybe you should just lay low for a while. Don’t do anything hasty. It might be a good time to leave town for a little while, you know? You and Beth. A little vacation might be just the thing.”
Phillipe turned and walked back towards where the other men were waiting and after a moment, I joined them.
Nobody spoke as we waited for the cops to arrive and it wasn’t too long before red and blue flashing lights illuminated the corner of the docks.
“Diorno?” A detective with a familiar voice said as he drew near, “Why am I not surprised to see you here?”
I glanced up and nearly groaned out loud. It was Detective Barlow. The same detective I had been coordinating with for the drops for the reclamation program. That none of my men knew about. Oh, they were all in on stealing guns and ammunition from our rivals but they had no idea that I’d been effectively selling them back to the city’s police force.
“Hello detective,” I said, quickly intercepting him, “I am Aiden, Aiden Diorno.” I gave the detective a long look and he eyed me askance but finally played along and I let out a sigh of relief.
“I’m detective Barlow. We got a report…”
“Of a body. Yeah, I know. My uncle called it in.” I nodded to Phillipe, but the older man was just staring off into space, he hadn’t even noticed the cops arrival.
“He looks pretty shaken up about it.” Barlow said, then nodded towards the slumped body, “Why don’t you come over here and you can tell me what happened?”
Hesitantly, I nodded, following after him as he walked closer towards the body, away from my men. I didn’t really have a choice.
They were far enough away not to be overheard, but Barlow still lowered his voice.
“Is this you, Diorno? I thought we had a deal.”
“This isn’t me. This is something else.”
“It’s a god damned nightmare, that’s what it is.” Barlow spat on the ground in disgust, “What about Cooper and that shit show.”
“It wasn’t me either. I swear.” That was nothing but the truth. I hadn’t gotten the chance. Redman had gotten there before me. And then he’d left that threat for Beth to find.
“Who is it, Diorno?”
“Not your problem, detective.”
“He sure as hell is if he keeps killing my people.” Barlow growled and then looked over at me, “You swear you’re not involved.”
“I swear. This wasn’t me or my men. There’s a killer in the city. And I’m going to stop him.”
“Hey, let me do my job.” The detective said, “You haven’t delivered a shipment in almost two months.”
“I’ve been busy.” I shrugged it off.
“Busy. Uh huh. I don’t want to see you around a mess like this again. Forensics will prove whether you had anything to do with it or not but…don’t give me a reason not to trust you. Got it? Why don’t you get your uncle out of here. We don’t need him vomiting on the crime scene.”
I nodded, not saying another word as I turned to leave but as I did a flicker of white caught my eye.
I bent down, pretending to tie my shoe as I slipped the note into my hands and out of detective Barlow’s view. There was one word scribbled on it and it sent terror running through my veins like ice. Beth. That’s all it said. Beth.
Chapter 31
Beth
I rubbed at my temples in frustration as the numbers and figures swirled before my eyes. I had been at it for hours already, trying to work through this equation throughout the morning, hoping it would help the time move faster but it still seemed to move like quicksand around me.
I glanced up at the clock and nearly groaned. It had only been a few minutes since the last time I checked. And I still hadn’t gotten any further on the research in front of me.
“Damn it, science. Why do you have to be so… precise?” I grumbled to myself before deleting the last few nonsensical data points and stretching in the office chair. I hadn’t been able to sleep very well the night before, haunted by dreams and terrible visions of men lurking in the shadows and chasing after me.
Aiden hadn’t come to bed last night either, which certainly hadn’t help. This morning, Matteo had told me that he had gotten called out on a job last night and hadn’t been back home yet and worry was eat
ing at me.
I bit at my lower lip, chewing the skin worriedly as I stared blindly at the computer screen. That was the real reason keeping me from getting any work down. Worry about Aiden. Worry about what he was doing, and who he was doing it with. If he had other rivals like Cooper, bad men, terrible men…
I forced myself to stop, the thoughts like a steam engine and it was almost impossible but I knew it wasn’t going to get me anywhere productive, just sitting there and fretting.
I hated thinking about what he did, though. His ‘job’ he called it but it was so much more than that, it was his life. His whole life was dangerous. And he had the nerve to lecture me about taking risks, I snorted silently to myself.
Compared to Aiden, I was a girl scout. All I did was work in a research lab. The scariest thing I ever did was look at a solar eclipse but even then, I always made sure to have the proper eye protection.
I shook my head at myself, well, that had been the scariest up until the last two months. And then everything had changed. After I had lost my sister, I had changed.
I sat back, clutching the cup of hot coffee in front of me as my thoughts wandered. I really had changed so much in just two months. The two longest, scariest months of my life. And I was still changing, I knew that. I could feel the transformation happening just beneath my skin. And I had no idea who I would be at the end of all this.
The thought should have terrified me. I had always had my life all planned out. Every aspect, every outcome. I had known by the time I was seven years old where I would go to school and what I would study, what I would do with my life and career.
Seven year old me would by horrified by how far off course I had come. But as I sat there, thinking, I found a new strength stirring to life inside me. A strength born from going through the worst life had to throw at me and coming out the other side unscathed.
My cell phone buzzed from the corner of the desk but I ignored it. I always turned it off while I was working but I had hoped that Aiden would call. That he would tell me he was alright. That everything was going to be just fine.
I let out a sigh. Wishful thinking, I knew.
It buzzed again, vibrating on the wooden surface and I grabbed it, frustration bubbling beneath the surface when I saw several missed calls from Aiden’s cousin Antony, and a voicemail.
I hadn’t talked to him since that argument the day before even though I hadn’t really thought of it as such. He had kept calling, though, even after I’d asked him to give me some space and it left me uneasy.
I moved to put it back down but it buzzed again. Another voicemail. With a deep breath I pressed the replay button and held it to my ear.
“Uh, Beth? It’s um, it’s Antony. I just…I really wanted to talk to you about…about yesterday. About…what you said…it really hurt my feelings and…” There was a muffled noise and the sound of sniffling before Aiden’s cousin spoke again, “Just call me okay? I want to help, that’s all. Why won’t you let me help?”
I hung up, ending the message. He had sounded odd in the recording, rambling and angry. Far angrier than my words had warranted. But there was nothing I could do about it now. Antony would just have to figure it out for himself.
I shrugged it off, trying to force myself to go back to work but after listening to the voicemail my concentration was broken, and I couldn’t re-focus.
The voice mail message had thoughts of my sister rising in my thoughts and my mind worked the problem like a puzzle, trying to fit everything together but I was still missing too many pieces.
I tried to be as logical as possible, looking at everything that had happened rationally and objectively. Step by step, piece by piece, I walked through everything that I knew, all the way up to going to that bar with Aiden the night before and the note that had been slipped into my hand.
Even though I told myself to ignore it, I couldn’t. With trepidation, I pulled out the neatly folded scrap of paper and unfurled it in front of me.
I knew I wasn’t going to get any more work done but my mind wouldn’t let go of that scrap of paper. Of the hope that it offered. The answers that it promised.
I knew what Aiden would say. He would say it was a trap. That it was stupid and dangerous. But how much could a phone call really hurt? What if I called and realized it was just a trick. I could hang up and pretend it never happened. I wouldn’t even be at any risk.
I picked up the paper, feeling it in my hand. Every day that passed, I felt like I was losing Leah more and more. But this phone number felt like a lifeline and I clung to it.
Before I could second guess myself I dialed the number. My heart raced in the my chest, beating as loud as drums in my ears as the other end of the line rang. Suddenly in my head I remembered my words to Aiden. My promise to him not to rush headlong into anything. I wouldn’t break my word.
With a curse, I hung up before anyone answered. Cursing Aiden for making me make that promise, with myself for chickening out. It was real. I knew it, whatever Aiden said. It could be the clue we needed to finally find the truth, and I was too scared to make a damned phone call.
Swiping my hands over my face I rose to my feet, pacing the small room I had converted into a makeshift office. Paperwork and equations were scattered across every surface but I didn’t see any of them now. All I could see was my sister’s face, Leah’s disappointed face. Disappointed because I had let her down.
I was still trying to sim back from the edge of guilt when a moment later my phone buzzed again. I waited for it to go on, to keep ringing, but it was just once. With a frown, I picked up the cell and looked down. It was a text message, from an unknown number. No name, no greeting. The only thing was an intersection, just two street names. An address.
I knew Aiden was furious but it was far easier to deal with his anger than the ghost of my sister’s disappointment in me. I couldn’t let her down. Not again.
I had to go. I had to find out for myself. I had to learn the truth. For Leah.
Doubts swirled in my head as I typed in the address but they lessened when I realized it wasn’t a building at all. It was a park, and not too far from where Aiden’s house sat in one of the more exclusive neighborhoods in the city.
I got changed into running clothes quickly, carefully keeping my mind from thinking too much because I knew if I did I would stop myself, I would hesitate, and then before I knew it I would be talking myself into not going, into waiting until Aiden got home. But I couldn’t put my responsibilities onto someone else. I had to do this.
But, unlike what Aiden thought, I really wasn’t into taking unnecessary risks. Besides, it was in a public park in the middle of the day. Nothing would happen to me. And having an extra body guard with me would help make sure of that.
I stopped into the small security office and poked my head inside.
“Hey Matteo.” I said, waving towards the dark haired man sitting behind a table full of monitors. “any word from Aiden yet? Do you know when he will be back?”
“No, nothing yet Beth. Sorry.” He turned, his eyebrow rising as he took in my leggings, hoodie and jogging shoes.
“I’m going for a run,” I told him and he threw his head back on a groan.
“I hate running.”
“You don’t have to come with,” I said with a cheeky grin and he just shook his head while he pulled on a pair of tennis shoes. Despite his groaning, I knew Matteo ran nearly every day and it was a challenge to keep up with him as we headed down the path.
“Let’s go this way.” I said, waving him towards the gravel path that would lead to the park that was just a few miles from Aiden’s home.
“I really do hate running,” Matteo groaned again and I fought back a laugh. I needed all the oxygen to just keep my legs moving.
“No one asked you to come with.” I told him, a near repeat of what I’d told him in the office and he gave me a nearly identical look of disgust.
“You know I am not going to let you go out alone. Aiden would�
�.”
“He would kill you. Yeah, I know.” I said. I’d heard Matteo repeat the words often enough.
We jogged in silence for a long while, nothing but the sound of our labored breathing, our shoes hitting the gravel keeping time. I lost myself in the familiar rhythm, feeling the burn in my lungs and the steady strong beat of my heart but it started to race as we drew closer to the address that had been in the text message.
I slowed as we neared, waving to Matteo that I needed to take a breather and he slowed to a stop next to me.
I looked around, but there was no one there. There was nothing there at all except a few trees and early spring blooming flowers adding cheerful color to the otherwise brown landscape.
Disappointment filled me, but a part me was also relieved.
“Come on, Matteo.” I said, turning to head back to the house, “Let’s go back.”
“You sure? That was a short run. You normally are out for an hour or two at least.”
“I decided to take mercy on you.” I teased him, picking up the pace again and Matteo easily loped along beside me. The truth was, my nerves were what really needed the break. Maybe a long swim would do the trick to help me regain my concentration.
“You know, he really cares about you.” Matteo said suddenly and I gave him a sideways glance as we jogged up a rocky incline.
“Who?”
The look he shot me was wide eyed and incredulous.
“Who?” He snorted, “Aiden! Who else would I be talking about, old uncle Phillipe?”
“Hey, Phillipe likes me. He told me himself. He brought me pasta.”
“Sure he does. What’s not to like but that’s not what I’m talking about. I mean Aiden, he likes you. He likes likes you.”
“God, what are we in junior high?”
“He loves you, Beth.”
I stumbled at Matteo’s suddenly serious words and had to windmill my arms to keep my balance.
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“I’m serious. I’ve never seen him act like this, around anyone. He’s in love with you.” Matteo’s voice grew even quieter, even more serious, “Don’t break his heart, Beth.”