by Claire Adams
Keeping things to myself seemed my best bet. If there was someone out there targeting the women in my life, I’d put a huge bulls eye on Luna’s back. My gut soured thinking about it.
The door was thrown open and Mason strolled in casually. “You look like shit, Gabe. How’re they treating you?”
“You could have been here two hours ago. I’ve been sitting here all fucking day.” I bit the words out like they had teeth of their own, and he recoiled regarding me with a cocked brow.
“Contrary to what you think, I do have a life of my own.” He put his briefcase on the table and took a seat as the detective entered the room.
Detective Hatcher placed his palms down flat on the table and stared directly into my eyes as he leaned in. For a moment, I thought he’d try to get tough or slam me with new evidence, but instead he flashed a sympathetic smile. “Can I get you anything? How about some coffee or a soda?”
“Now you want to get me something? My lawyer shows up and suddenly you’re the fucking snack bar?” My throbbing migraine reminded me of Luna. I could only hope the poor girl got the hell out of dodge while she could and wondered if anyone had taken her in. Was she in another room going through the same hell?
Mason’s hand landed upon my arm. “Relax, Gabe, and tell the man which you’d like.”
“Coffee. Black.”
“Now, was that so hard? Let’s be gentlemen here, shall we?” Mason’s act grated my balls, and I was ready to get my ass back home to Cali.
Detective Hatcher went to the door and told someone on the other side to grab my order. It didn’t take two seconds for a hot cup of black coffee to be placed in front of me. I was fully aware of the cameras and two-way glass. Hell, that kind of thing was my business, and the department had used G2 equipment for years.
Hatcher took his seat at the table. “We’ve taken your statement. I strongly encourage you to stay in the city until you’re cleared to leave. We’re not placing you under arrest just yet – despite what the press is leaking – but I’m not going to lie: the evidence is mounting. We’re only waiting for the sake of protocol, so consider yourself lucky you’re being locked down instead of locked up. Are you feeling me?”
I nodded. Great, stuck in Vegas. At least I had a nice suite of my own, and I could make sure Luna stayed with me. “Anything else?”
“Yeah, I’d steer clear of your suite at the hotel and the casino. Our team has been through your room already, but considering the crime scene being two floors down, we wouldn’t want you contaminating anything.” He lifted his shoulders in a shrug as if it made good sense.
“You mean I can’t even go back to my suite to get my things? I have important belongings there. Couldn’t you arrange for someone to go with me?” I slammed my hand down on the table, and Mason shot me a look that said he wished I’d stop.
He leaned in and whispered, not trying to hide his words from the investigator. “I’ll make sure you get your things and another place to stay. You need to sit back and let them do their job. Consider yourself on vacation.” He then turned his attention back to the detective. “So what evidence are we looking at? What can you tell us?”
“I can tell you that there are two women dead and evidence that points to your boy here.” The use of the word boy chapped my ass good and hard, but I didn’t react. I had a feeling he wanted me to so I kept quiet in my seat as he continued. “Both ladies were bound and strangled with a garrote.”
Mason winced. “That’s brutal. I can assure you that my client is not the person you’re looking for, so I hope you’re keeping your eyes open for another lead.”
The detective let out a huff as if he’d been offended. “Of course we are.”
Mason leaned in, posturing over the detective. “Then what aren’t you telling me? Where are the surveillance videos?”
I nudged him. “I know that place has the best security in Vegas.”
“It’s funny you should mention that.” Detective Hatcher rubbed his chin, his eyes directed toward the paper in front of him. “It seems the entire system went down on that level last night. The incident went unnoticed, or perhaps ignored.”
“You’re suggesting that I had something to do with it because of a security glitch or some human error?” I was outraged, to say the least, but in my head, I was scrambling to figure out what had happened. My security was top notch, however, nothing was perfect when humans were involved.
“I’m not accusing you of anything. I’m only telling you the facts.” He leaned back and crossed his arms, glaring down his nose at me from across the table. “I’ll leave you to let it all sink in, and remember – we’ll be in touch.” He got up from his chair, the legs of it screeching against the floor as if some final kiss off before the door shut me and Mason in.
Mason stood up, but I took my time and sat staring at the coffee in front of me until he gave me a nudge. “Come on, we’ve got a lot to talk about.”
I got to my feet and noticed him staring at my clothes. “What? It’s not like they gave me time to dress properly, so the last thing I need from you is a fashion critique. Besides, I’m lucky they let me have my shoes.”
“You sure are. The floors in these kinds of places are no place for bare feet. You wouldn’t believe the things I’ve seen.” Mason curled his lip in disgust.
“I could imagine, but at the moment, forgive me if I don’t give a fuck.”
He pulled me to a stop when we rounded the corner. “Look, I’ve got to warn you. The press is already all over this, but someone leaked that you’d been arrested instead of being taken in for questioning.
“Joe’s waiting with the car, but when we go out there, I want you to keep your head and eyes down. I’ll keep hold of you, but I don’t want you looking up, and for all that is holy, please keep your mouth shut.”
“Wait, was I the only one brought in? My assistant, Luna, is she here?”
“She’s not here. They would have mentioned it. I was briefed before I went to see you. Nothing like walking into the shark tank without knowing you’ve got chum on your hands.”
I nodded as he took my arm, and we bullied our way out the front door and through the massive crowd of people that were all pushing into me.
“Why did you kill them?”
“Was it a crime of passion, Mr. Grant?”
“Did you think your money would get you out of this?”
“Is it true that you’re married?”
Ignoring the questions being thrown my way, I ducked into the car as fast as possible once we’d crossed the expanse of chaos and the door was closed quickly behind us.
When I looked up, Mason’s eyes were hard on mine. “You see the kind of nonsense those vultures will put out? Thankfully, they are already correcting the story, but what’s done is done.” He shook his head and went right into business as Joe slowly pulled away.
“We’ll get you a room across town.” He leaned up and told Joe to take us to the High Roller Hotel. Once he righted himself in his seat, he turned back to me. “You have some explaining to do, my friend, and I don’t want you to leave anything out.”
“I have to find my assistant. She’ll need to be safe, too, and she can’t stay at that hotel, either. Oh, and I need you to work on getting me my damned briefcase back as soon as possible. I signed a new deal with a huge client, and everything is in that case. Thankfully, I have my phone.”
I took the thing out of my pocket and brought it to life. The screen had dozens of missed calls. Most were from my sister-in-law, but some of the later ones were from Luna. There were a dozen in between, many from concerned friends, my staff back home, and clients. Unfortunately, my battery was at nine percent. Damn, this all needed to be sorted as fast as possible and before my reputation and company suffered.
With his own phone to his ear, Mason met my eyes. “We’ll handle it.” He arranged a suite, and Joe made it to the High Roller, making a few extra turns in case anyone was following us.
Luckily, we
got out and in the building before anyone noticed. Minutes later, I was in my new room, making a list of things I needed. Considering my bags were all held up in the other suite, it was a long one. “I need you to do something for me.”
Mason leaned over and glanced at my list. “I’ll go and get that for you. I don’t trust sending Joe out for things right away, and your assistant should stay on lockdown, as well.”
I’d wait until he was out of the room so I could call Luna. I was afraid of what she might have suddenly remembered about last night. I looked around the room for a charger and thank God, the place came with a full set up of any kind of charger known to man.
Mason took the list, but made no move to leave me. “You should call your family and get your assistant on her way. Warn her about the press. Things won’t be getting any better anytime soon. She should call home, too, and let her family know she’ll be gone a while.”
“Tell me how bad this could get.” I kept my eyes averted to the floor. “Let’s stop pretending the press is my worst concern right now. What could happen to me?”
“We’re waiting for the evidence to come back from the labs. I’m sure that they have expedited it, but that doesn’t mean it will be fast. The process could take days.” He let out a long breath. “Where the fuck were you all night?”
“I was at the Serendipity Hotel and Casino. I only left once to go across the street, and Luna was with me the entire time. I gave my speech, and then we celebrated over dinner, hung out with some guests, and drank a hell of a lot.”
“That’s perfect! You have an alibi. More than enough people saw you and as long as the time of death for both women occurred during that window of time, you’re in the clear.” He brushed off his pants legs and met my eyes. “What time did you get in?”
“It was about three a.m.”
“Good, let’s hope the time of death helps your alibi. I’m going to take care of you like I did with that lawsuit.” He stood and went to the mini bar.
He’d been a good friend and I couldn’t ask for a better attorney, but I couldn’t believe that my luck had come down to what time they’d died. These were women I’d kissed and fucked and taken to my home. They had been girlfriends that I’d spent countless hours talking with and had those warm and fuzzy feelings of fresh attraction over.
“I can’t believe they’re dead. And what’s worse, I can’t believe anyone would think I did it. I mean, I can see the coincidence of it, but…”
“I think we need to throw coincidence out the window, friend. I think we need to face the reality that you’re being framed.”
Chapter Five
Luna
I felt like a prisoner. I’d been so anxious to get back to my hotel room, hoping it would ground me and make me feel safer – not because the place had acted as my home base for the past few days, but because it was familiar and that’s where my bags were. It seemed that’s where I was supposed to be and certainly not upstairs in the suite belonging to Gabriel. Instead, it felt like another holding cell, another birdcage to the reporter outside waiting for me to chirp.
I stared at my hands, which were wringing in my lap, and contemplated calling my father. He must have been worried sick if this was all over the news. I hoped if it were, he hadn’t yet seen it. What was I going to tell him? I had been putting off my call home to him because I had no idea what to say. How could I explain that I was safe when my boss, the only other person I knew in Las Vegas, had been arrested for murder?
I checked the time on my phone and realized I couldn’t put it off much longer. He’d never forgive me, and I said a silent prayer that his not calling meant he hadn’t heard anything. He’d have called if he had seen it, of that I was sure, unless he’d panicked and something terrible had happened.
Don’t even think that! I sank down on the sofa and covered my face with my hands as I took a deep breath and mustered up the courage. But it was too late. As I heard the phone ring, I knew it was going to be him. Sure enough, I looked down to see his smiling face in his profile photo.
I swiped the screen and put the little black phone to my ear. “I’m fine, Dad.”
A strong release of breath sent static through the phone. “Praise God.”
There was silence, and I could imagine the look on my father’s face. His eyes were no doubt closed as the news sank in, and he was probably shaking his head until he found his next words. I’d seen him give that look to too many people over too many years. “I was scared to death when you didn’t call me. You know, it takes all of two seconds to pick up a phone!”
I sat and took the scolding, not because I appreciated him yelling at me, but because I understood the shock of it all. “I know, I was about to call you. I had to go out, and the media is swarming the hotel. They are camped outside my room as we speak.”
“Don’t talk to anyone! I’ll come and get you and-”
“No, Dad. I’m fine. They can’t sit there forever. Besides, I think the police are going to want to talk to me.” Think it? I knew it, but I didn’t want him to worry more.
“Well, if they’re accusing him, they’ve got a damned good reason. You should have an attorney on standby. Jesus, help us all.” I listened as he struggled, and though I doubted there were any tears in his eyes, I knew they were close.
I was all the man had since my mother had passed away. He’d been driving her back from a dinner party and had had a little too much to drink. One tiny slip up and the car went off the side of the road into a small canal. My mother had died on impact, and my father had never forgiven himself.
Because he always blamed himself, I grew up thinking that if I could be perfect and make him proud, he’d have some sense of joy, and so I lived to make him happy. When I went off to college, he’d had a hard time, but then he found the church. He’d learned to forgive himself and was all about second chances. Thank God for that.
“He didn’t do it, Dad. He’s a good man and this is all a terrible misunderstanding and mistaken identity. There has to be a good excuse.”
A frustrated groan of disapproval sounded from his end. “You can’t be sure of that. I understand you work for the man, Lu, but you never know someone or what someone is capable of.”
“I know Gabriel.” I couldn’t tell him that I knew Gabriel was innocent because he’d been with me the entire night. That would kill him – and then he’d kill me. Or worse, drop dead and haunt me.
“Well, I hope you’re right. I hope this doesn’t affect your job, but I feel I have to warn you, honey, you need to be thinking of your options if this doesn’t die down anytime soon. If he goes on trial, you’re going to have to distance yourself from him. It might be best to move on to something as soon as possible regardless, what with the way he’s being portrayed in the media. It’s ugly.”
I thought about the man outside my door and nodded in agreement. My head, which had only let up slightly since morning, began to throb again. “I’ll keep you informed and I’ll be home as soon as possible. Trust me when I say there is no place I’d rather be. I’m sorry this has all happened.”
“No, don’t be sorry. You can’t help what’s happened. Just know that I love you and call me when you know more.”
“I love you, Daddy.”
He responded in kind and the phone went silent on the other end as my stomach growled. I wasn’t even sure that Gabriel had made it as far as ordering my breakfast before the cops took him away, but it was well into the afternoon now, and with the headache returning, I needed something in my stomach so I could take a painkiller.
I called down for something to eat, asking if they could bag it as takeout. I knew it would be easier to open the door a bit and slip a bag inside rather than deal with the reporter who had taken up a new home outside my door.
While I waited for it to arrive, I decided to gather my things. As soon as I had the all-clear to go home, I was going to be on the first plane.
My father had a point: I needed to figure out what I c
ould do if my work with Gabriel wasn’t going to continue – and that was not because of the arrest, but because of what happened between us. I’d have to tell him it couldn’t go on and apologize for making a fool of myself by getting drunk and see what he had to say.
By the time I got my clothes refolded, I heard a knock at the door. I got up and crossed the room, feeling a bit unsteady on my feet from lightheadedness, which was no doubt from my empty stomach and pounding head. I peeked out to see if it was room service and sure enough, the reporter was still standing against the wall across the hall waiting for a chance to pounce.
I opened the door a smidge and accepted the food. Once he had placed it in my hands, I promptly tipped him and shut the door. No need to make room for anyone else to push their way in, but the man who’d been waiting for me did have time to throw out a question. As I stood against the closed door, I processed his words. Were you with Mr. Grant all night? Of course I had been, but I couldn’t engage with a reporter or I could surely kiss my job goodbye.
I crossed the room and took my food from the bag and placed it on the table. Thank the heavens for cheeseburgers, and as I opened mine and took a bite, my phone rang again.
Kim Dailey had been my friend since college and as soon as I saw her smiling face and edgy purple hair appear on my phone’s screen, I felt a pang in my chest. I’d tried to call her only to get her voicemail, and I was so relieved to finally get to speak to her. She had long been my rock and my inspiration, and now I needed a good strong shoulder to cry on.
I swiped my screen and put the phone to my ear. “It’s so good to hear back from you.”
“Girl, please tell me that I’m dreaming. Gabriel Grant is being questioned for double murder?” She said the words as if reading a headline. “It’s all over the news sites and TV.”
“Yeah, tell me about it. I’m holed up in my hotel room. There are reporters everywhere, and I’m only now getting to eat, so excuse me while I stuff my face.” I took a huge bite of the burger, and as I savored the taste, I wanted to cry. It was the first real moment of the entire day – it’s strange how food and your best friend can do that.