Adored: Book 1 (The Beloved Series)

by MJ Masucci

  As luck would have it, he heard the plows on the road and rushed out to the porch to snap on the snowshoes he left by the door. His hope was that he could flag down one of the drivers. If not, then it would take him an hour to clear the drive with the plow attached to his truck.

  He was halfway to the road and frantically waved when the plow passed by. The driver and his partner waved back not realizing that Julian needed assistance and drove by as they cleared the road.

  Julian practically ran back to the garage, a hard feat in snowshoes. He fired up the truck and began pushing the snow from the garage front, then the long driveway. It was a shitty job he did, but he didn’t care. He needed to get down the mountain to get help.

  He drove along the road that still had a thin layer of snow on it, slightly sliding in spots he took too quickly. It was dangerous, but it was necessary. As he entered town, he pounced harder on the accelerator until he pulled into the police station parking lot.

  The place was empty except for a few patrol cars. Behind the glass information window sat the desk sergeant, an older guy with gray hair who looked exhausted as if he had been there all night.

  “I need help. My wife, she’s missing,” he panted, out of breath from the run into the building.

  The sergeant, who had been enjoying a jelly filled donut, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

  “Missing how? Lost in the snow?”

  “Yes, you can say that. Please help me. She’s been missing since yesterday afternoon. I tried to find her but I couldn’t.”

  “Why did you wait so long to contact us?”

  “I live up on the mountain. I had no phone or internet connection; I still don’t. The road wasn’t plowed. I would never have made it down.”

  “Come around.”

  A big steel door to the right of the window buzzed and Julian pulled at the handle to gain access to the inside. He was directed to a detective sitting at a desk in the far corner.

  “I’m Detective Sean Rigger. What can I do for you?”

  “My wife, she’s missing. I need help. She’s somewhere out there in the snow.”

  The detective narrowed his eyes at him as if he didn’t believe his story.

  “When did this happen?”

  “Yesterday afternoon. Please, I need help. She could die out there in the snow.”

  “Before we do anything, we need some information. Sit down and tell me what happened.”

  “This is just wasting time,” Julian said as he started to walk away.

  “Sit down, Mr…”

  “Gennaro, Julian Gennaro.”

  “Robert’s son?”

  “Yeah, you knew my father?”

  “He put an extension on my house years ago, good guy. Now tell me about how your wife’s disappearance. What’s her name?”

  “Nina Caro, uh Gennaro.”

  The detective typed some notes on his laptop as Julian told him the story of how Nina disappeared and what he had found before nightfall. When he was finished, the look of skepticism on Detective Rigger’s face told Julian that his story wasn’t easily believable.

  “Mr. Gennaro.”

  “Julian, please.”

  “Mr. Gennaro, that is an unbelievable tale. Do you expect me to believe that one minute your wife was there and the next minute she wasn’t?”

  Julian looked at him shocked, “But that’s how it happened. Why would I lie? And what about the beaver? Someone was up there on my land.”

  “Have you been getting along with your wife?”

  “Yes. What the hell does that have to do with anything?”

  “Because you were the last to see her and the circumstances surrounding her disappearance are hard to digest. So answer the question.”

  “I loved her. We were getting along fine, well except for a few disagreements here and there.”

  “What type of disagreements?”

  “Just little ones, like her spending too much money on a gift for me or me not cleaning up after myself.”

  “And that made you angry?”

  “Not particularly. I got upset, but it was trivial.”

  “Have you ever struck your wife?”

  “Excuse me?” Julian had a look of horror on his face.

  “Struck her, hit her during any of these so called trivial arguments?”

  “Absolutely not. I would never hurt her in any way. We were newlyweds. We’ve only been married three weeks.”

  “So here’s what I’m thinking. You get married and you find out that it’s not working for you. So the easiest way to end it is to say she disappeared in the woods during a huge snowstorm.”

  “Are you implying that I hurt my wife?”

  “I’m not implying. I’m outright saying that I think you hurt your wife. Conveniently, your phone and internet don’t function and the road isn’t easily navigated with the snow. That gives you time to do what you need to do and take care of any loose ends before you come in here claiming your wife disappeared.”

  “You’re fucking crazy.”

  Detective Rigger clenched his fist, “Watch your mouth.”

  “I would never hurt her. Come up to my home and check for yourself. In fact, I want a search party to find her.”

  “We’ll do no such thing. We just had a big snowstorm and rather than devote our resources to a wild goose chase, we’re not wasting time.”

  “So you’re not going to do anything?”

  “No, unless you want to admit what really happened?”

  “There is nothing to admit. I’m leaving,” Julian said as he rose from his chair.

  “You sit down. You’re not going anywhere without a police escort.”

  “Why do I need that?”

  “To investigate. You see when a wife disappears under mysterious circumstances, the first suspect is the husband. You had motive, time and opportunity to do what you needed to dispose of the evidence.”

  “What evidence? Come up there and you’ll see there is no evidence. My wife is missing and you’re accusing me of hurting her?”

  “Right. Now sit there until we have a couple of officers that can escort you to your home.”

  “I want a lawyer.”

  “Why? You said nothing happened. Why do you need an attorney?”

  “Because I feel you’re accusing me of something I never did. I’m a victim, too. I lost my wife; she’s missing! All you want to do is take the easy route and blame me for her disappearance.”

  “You want an attorney? Then call one.”

  The only attorney Julian knew was one of his old schoolmate’s father. He typed the man’s name into his phone and got the information. An hour later the man, Logan Tapper, was at Julian’s side.

  “Rigger, unless you’re going to charge my client with something, let him go.”

  “He wanted a search party so I told him to wait for some free officers.”

  “Bullshit, what you want is a witch hunt. He said his wife is missing so let him get on with looking for her if you won’t help.”

  “Take him, but don’t leave town Mr. Gennaro. We have plenty more questions to ask.”

  Logan escorted Julian out of the police station.

  “Are you alright, Julian?”

  “I need to find my wife. I swear Logan, I didn’t do anything to her.”

  “I believe you, but that doesn’t mean they do. You can bet they won’t leave you alone until they get to the bottom of things. Especially if your wife is related to the Caros that I think she is.”

  “You know Vito?”

  “I do. You better tell Nina’s family what happened. I’m sure they’ll want to know. I’ll be in touch. Don’t let the police question you again without me being there.”

  “Thanks, Logan.”

  Julian got in his truck feeling the rise of bile in his throat. He promised Nina’s family that he would take care of her and now she was missing. He drove over to her mother’s home with a heavy heart at what he had to do. When he got to her m
other’s house, Frankie was shoveling the driveway. Julian swallowed hard as he got out of the truck.

  “Hey, kid, where’s Nina?”

  “Frankie, you better come in while I talk to Rosie.”

  “What the fuck is going on?”

  “She’s missing,” he softly said.

  “Nina?”

  “Yes, she’s gone.”

  Frankie grabbed Julian by the collar and pushed him towards the snow laden stairs. He almost slipped going up them, but he made it without breaking his neck.

  “Rosie, Rosie, where are you? Something’s happened to Nina.”

  Mrs. Caro came rushing from the kitchen clad in her robe.

  “What happened to my baby?”

  Julian told the story of what happened the day before.

  “You son of a bitch. I told you to take care of her,” she screamed and slapped him hard across the face.

  “I did. I promise,” Julian said as he rubbed at his cheek.

  “Then why is she missing? You were supposed to watch her.”

  “I don’t know. One minute she was behind me and the next, she was gone.”

  Frankie comforted Rosie and Julian sat down to explain what he had found before he realized she was missing. Rosie sobbed and buried her head in Frankie’s shoulder.

  “Kid, did you go to the police?”

  “First stop when I could get down the mountain. They’re accusing me of hurting her. Actually, they said I murdered her and hid the evidence.”

  Rosie looked up at him, her cheeks tear stained, “Julian, you didn’t hurt her did you?”

  He looked at her shocked, “Mrs. Caro, how could you even ask me that?”

  “She told me you two had some arguments and we don’t know you well.”

  “Nina is like oxygen to me. Without her, I can’t breathe. The last thing I would do is hurt her. I need to go. I’m wasting daylight hours not looking for her.”

  “I’m sorry, Julian, I didn’t mean to offend you, but my baby girl is missing.”

  “Frankly, I’m insulted. I have no support. I thought at least I could find it here, but I guess not.”

  Rosie and Frankie looked after him as he got up and walked out the front door. What the fuck? Everyone thinks I hurt her? Where the fuck is she?

  He raced up to his home and was surprised to see three police cars in his driveway. They wouldn’t help him look for Nina but here they were scouring the place for evidence. Before he got out of his truck, he called Logan letting him know they were searching his property.

  A police officer handed him a piece of paper, which turned out to be a search warrant for the property and all buildings on it. They had already searched his garage and loft, leaving many of the items they contained strewn about the floor.

  “Hey, do you mind not damaging my things?” he asked as he picked up several paintings they had removed from the corner.

  Anger boiled in him as he noticed that the last painting he did of Nina for her birthday had a tear in the bottom of the canvas. He ran down the stairs screaming at the officers. One of them grabbed him roughly by the coat just as Logan pulled into the driveway.

  “Get the fuck off of me. You damaged my wife’s painting.”

  “You better settle down or we’ll take you to the station.”

  “Please unhand my client,” Logan said.

  The officer let him go and went back to rummaging around one of his large steel cabinets. Logan took Julian to his car, telling him to sit while he looked at the search warrant. A few minutes later, he spoke to his client.

  “It looks like they’re going to search the grounds and your house.”

  “Logan, I have twenty-eight acres. How long are they going to be here?”

  “Until they’re satisfied.”

  Just then they heard one of the officers calling as he came out of the woods with the dead beaver. Several of the other officers surrounded him looking at the dead animal.

  “What the hell is that?” Logan said.

  “It’s the beaver I told you I found with its throat slit. It’s what drew me away from paying attention to Nina. I think she was kidnapped. I don’t know how they found it in the snow; it was almost buried when I got to it.”

  “Wait here. I’m going to talk to them.”

  Julian watched as Logan had a conversation with the officers. He slowly walked back to the car and got in.

  “They’re bagging it for evidence. Their theory is that you caught the animal and slit its throat to make it seem like something else was happening in order to draw attention away from what you did.”

  “I didn’t do anything other than not watch Nina. I should have walked slower and stayed beside her.” He began to cry into his gloved hand.

  “Julian, don’t blame yourself. We’ll work through this.”

  “Logan, I need her. I can’t deal with her not being with me.”

  “Is there anyone you can spend time with? Your in-laws maybe?

  “No, they aren’t too pleased with me right now. Vito is not even aware that Nina is missing. Rosie said she was calling him.”

  As if on cue, his phone began to ring, “It’s Vito,” he said quietly.

  Julian’s stomach roiled as he pressed the button to answer the call. He had to pull the phone away from his ear as Vito cursed him out and ranted for over three minutes. When he finally hung up, he sighed deeply.

  “Julian?” Logan said.

  “Vito wants to kill me and with his line of work, I wouldn’t be surprised if he did.”

  Chapter 17

  The next day, Julian spent most of it cleaning up the mess the police had created. They had taken several bags of evidence and searched the property nearest the creek for hours with a promise to return.

  He called Maureen and told her the news. She was working on her second movie as a costar. Her career was indeed taking off and much to his chagrin, she was dating Danté Copa. He had read about it in one of the supermarket tabloids while he waited in the checkout line; when he asked her, Maureen initially denied it. She said she was coming home to spend some time with him. Production of her next film was shutting down for the holiday.

  Julian spent that night drinking himself into a stupor. The darkness had come back to his life, folding over him like a blanket. He slept on the couch because the bed was not his, it was theirs. The bed sheets as well as her pillow carried her scent and he couldn’t bear to be near them any longer. His feelings of loss were worse than when his family died.

  Banging on the door woke Julian from his sleep. He rolled off the couch and almost tripped over Bear who had taken up residence on the floor near him. The banging continued.

  “Alright, God dammit,” he said as he opened the door.

  Joey pushed him hard against his chest and barged into the cabin with Tony close behind him. He grabbed Julian by his shirt and pulled him close to his face.

  “Where the fuck is my sister?”

  Joey’s breath smelled like cigars and coffee, a nauseating mix that caused Julian’s stomach to churn in revulsion. He choked down the rise of bile in his throat before he vomited.

  “I swear, I don’t know.”

  “I think you do. Rigger told us you’re hiding something and it’s just a matter of time before they find out what it is. I don’t want to wait, so I’m going to ask you again, where is my sister?”

  Julian stared into Joey’s cold dark eyes. No emotion flickered in them. When he didn’t answer, he was let go only to be met by a vicious punch to his stomach. He doubled over in pain, trying to catch the wind that was knocked out of him.

  Another blow to his back and another and another. Somewhere in the chaos, he heard growling and out of the corner of his eye he saw Tony throwing the dog against the wall. He heard Bear whimpering after the sickening thud. The thought dawned on him that the dog was trying to protect him and he was now injured. Deep down inside he found the strength to fight back.

  He slammed forward with his shoulder into Jo
ey’s stomach, knocking the man back against the wall. Tony pulled Julian off before he could launch a punch into Joey’s face. A meaty arm wrapped around his throat, squeezing hard until black came before his eyes.

  Julian awoke slumped on the couch, blood and spittle leaking from his mouth. His body ached as if he had been hit by a truck and he had been by one named Joey. He wiped at his mouth with his arm and went to search for Bear. He found him under the bed and he whined when he saw Julian.

  “Come, boy, come here,” he coaxed.

  Bear slipped out from under the bed limping. He tested the dog’s leg, palpating up and down until he got to his thigh. Bear nipped at him and he removed his hand before he got bitten.

  “Sore huh?”

  Julian would have to take the dog to the vet. He was worried he might have a broken leg. In the bathroom, he switched the light on and saw that he had a bruised cheek. The blood on his mouth came from it. His body was sore and he pulled his shirt up to reveal a large mass of bruises on his torso.

  “Fucking assholes.”

  He slowly dressed. Though it was early evening, there was a twenty-four hour veterinary clinic in town. He didn’t want to wait until tomorrow to get Bear checked in case it was something serious.

  Bear snapped at him when he picked him up, but he soothed him by speaking softly. On the way down the mountain, Bear licked his hand and whined. The poor animal was in pain.

  Julian carried the dog into the office and the vet, Dr. Malloy, took him right away. While he sat in the waiting room, they performed X-rays. He dozed off for a time until the receptionist woke him.

  “Bear has a bad sprain. How did this happen?”

  “I let him out and when he came back, he was limping.”

  Dr. Malloy raised an eyebrow at him but said nothing.

  “Is he going to be alright?”

  “Yes, he needs to rest. You can try to ice it if he allows you. I suggest you wrap it with a bandage to hold the ice pack in place. Do that on and off for twenty-four hours, after that you can use heat. If he doesn’t allow you, then leave him alone. You don’t want it to get worse. If there’s no improvement come back to me in a few days. Otherwise, I want to see Bear next week.”