Marked for Murder

by Colleen Helme

“Sure.” Jerry smiled, happy to help.

  Ramos glanced my way, thinking he wanted to break into the other neighbor’s apartment for a quick look around. It could be the neighbor’s boyfriend, right?

  I wasn’t so sure that was a good idea. “Let’s wait and see what Jerry comes up with.”

  “Huh?” Jerry asked. “What are you talking about?”

  Oops. “Oh, I was just thinking out loud… you know… about taking a look in the other apartment? But it might be better to give you a chance to find out more about them first.”

  “Yeah,” Jerry agreed. “I don’t want to get in trouble.”

  I nodded. “Exactly. But you’ll call me, right?”

  “Of course.” We boarded the elevator, and Jerry got off on the third floor, promising to let me know if he found anything.

  Once the elevator doors shut, Ramos shook his head. “Good save.” He thought I probably messed up more often than I was willing to admit.

  I huffed out a breath. “Most of the time, I’m fine. It’s just that I’ve gotten into the habit of answering your thoughts, so this time it was your fault.”

  He chuckled, knowing I was only half serious. He stifled the impulse to reach over and massage my tense shoulders, but… he didn’t want to cross the line. Who knew where that could lead?

  I knew he was teasing me, but before I could form a response, the elevator doors opened. Dang! I would have loved a shoulder massage. “Uh… I might take you up on that sometime. But… not more than that, of course.”

  He smirked. “Right.”

  I pulled my gaze away from his sensual lips and stepped out of the elevator, shaking my head to clear it. “There is one more person we need to talk to.”

  “Who’s that?”

  “The worker who brought me my lunch.”

  “Right,” Ramos agreed. “Let’s find her.”

  With so many eateries, it took circling the food court a few times before I found the right one. Would she still be there? As I spotted her, hope leapt in my heart. She’d slipped a purse over her shoulder and was just leaving the eatery.

  I waved to get her attention and she stopped, her brows twisting in confusion. I rushed to her side and quickly explained who I was. “Oh right,” she said. “You’re the one who nearly got killed by the potted plant.”

  “Yeah, that’s me. Hey… I know this sounds funny, but I need to know what the man who ordered my food looked like. Do you remember him at all?”

  Her brows lifted. Wasn’t it my boss who’d ordered the food? Why would I want to know what he looked like?

  “It wasn’t my boss. I’ve never met the guy. He lied to you. That’s why I want to know what he looks like.”

  “Oh. Okay. Let me think.” She’d taken so many orders that it was hard to remember one face. They all blended together in her mind. “I don’t know for sure. I don’t think he was wearing a suit, you know? Um… and maybe he had brown hair and eyes?”

  As she tried to recall each face, they all came out a little blurry in her mind, so even my mind reading skills didn’t help much. Discouraged, I let out a breath. “That’s okay. Thanks anyway. Here’s my card. If you remember anything about him, please call me.”

  “Sure.” She took my card, glanced at my name, and stashed it in her purse, convinced she’d never call me. Unless someone stood out, she never remembered them.

  Glancing behind me, she caught sight of Ramos and forgot all about me. She swallowed, trying her best not to stare, but she’d never seen a real live man who looked like someone from her wildest dreams before.

  His chiseled features, along with his dark hair and smoky eyes, held her captive. Her gaze took in his exquisitely toned body, sending her pulse racing. He was perfection. No way could she stop staring at that. It simply wasn’t possible.

  Ramos finally noticed her stare, and a slow smile curved his lips. Her breath caught, and I thought for sure she was going to faint… or drool. I picked up that she wanted to touch him, just to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. Before she could do any of those things, I thanked her again and took Ramos by the arm to pull him away.

  He held back a satisfied smirk, thinking that he always enjoyed having that effect on unsuspecting females. It kind of made his day.

  “Oh, please,” I said. “You just happened to catch her at a vulnerable moment.”

  “What do you mean by that?” he asked.

  I shrugged, not sure how to answer. How did I tell him that it wasn’t every day a woman got to look at a man like him? “She’s young and impressionable, that’s all. It’s like seeing a movie star in real life. The shock makes your brain freeze, and you can’t help staring at such perfection.”

  “Oh,” he said, smiling and lifting his brows. “So I’m perfection, huh?”

  “No. I didn’t say that.”

  He snickered, thinking that was exactly what I’d said, and no amount of denying it was going to change his mind. Perfection… he liked that. Before I could smack him, he turned that sexy smile on me and chuckled.

  How could I be mad now? It was nice to hear a little laughter after the day I’d had. Plus, he’d learned not to take his good looks too seriously, so I couldn’t hold that against him. “So what now?” I asked. “We got nothing.”

  He didn’t think that was entirely true. We knew my stalker had a connection to the office building and the condo. We had Jerry and Manetto looking into things, and Ramos had other resources he could tap into.

  “But what about the wedding? Do you think he’ll try something there?”

  “When is it?”

  “Not until Saturday.”

  “I guess it’s a possibility, but with all the cops and reporters sure to be there, I’m not certain he’d try anything. Maybe he just said that to upset you. He’s playing a mind game with you. He wants to make you sweat.”

  “Well… I’m sorry to admit that it’s working.”

  Ramos nodded. “It seems like he’s got a grudge against you.”

  “Probably because I told everyone I had premonitions. It’s as though he’s testing me to prove that I’m a fake, and he wants to expose me to the world.”

  “I’m sure that’s part of it. But why would he do that? It seems more personal. Are you sure his voice didn’t sound familiar?”

  “Not really,” I said. “But he did try to cover it at first with a British accent. The last time we spoke, the accent was hardly noticeable.”

  “Maybe you should start looking at some of your old cases and see what you can come up with.”

  I glanced at him with widened eyes. “That’s a brilliant idea.”

  He smiled and handed me my helmet. “Good, but for now… I think you need a distraction. Want to go for a ride?”

  I grinned up at him. “You know it!”

  CHAPTER 6

  I arrived home in a happy mood until I noticed the bouquet of flowers sitting on my kitchen table. All the helpless rage I’d suppressed came flooding back, sending my blood pressure to a new high. Not wanting the flowers anywhere near me, I picked them up and carried them to the garbage can outside.

  Admiring their bright colors, I hesitated, knowing it wasn’t reasonable to take my anger out on a bunch of flowers. They were beautiful but, as another wave of frustration over-rode my sensibilities, I threw them in, relishing the sweet moment of victory over my enemy.

  Just like that, I vowed that he was going down. I wasn’t going to let him upset me, and he’d be sorry he ever tangled with me in the first place.

  Back inside the house, I let out a relieved sigh. Without the flowers, I could forget about him for the moment. Concentrating on the many demands of my family, I pushed him and his threats to the back of my mind.

  Savannah came into the kitchen and greeted me with a smile. “Hey mom,” she said. “How was your day? Did you see the paper? That picture of you looks so awesome. I think we should cut it out and laminate it. I even called Madi and Ash and told them to save a copy for us.”

&nb
sp; “Oh, good thinking. Thanks honey.” I smiled at her enthusiasm, picking up that she was proud of me, and I was the coolest mom ever. My heart swelled with love for her, and I pulled her into a quick hug.

  “So,” she began. “When are we going to go swimming at the country club? Josh said we could come any time.”

  “That’s right,” I agreed. “After the last couple of days I’ve had, I wouldn’t mind spending some time relaxing at the pool. Maybe we can go on Friday?”

  “Sure,” she said, a little disappointed that we couldn’t go sooner, but she still had New York to look forward to. “It’s hard to believe that Miguel’s opening night as Aladdin is next month and we’re going. I can’t wait!”

  I smiled at her enthusiasm, picking up that it had seemed like ages since she’d seen him last, and she was more than ready to see him again.

  Good grief. It hadn’t been that long. Wasn’t it just a few weeks ago that we’d been over to Uncle Joey’s house for a graduation barbeque?

  Now with Miguel settled in New York, it meant the time was soon coming when I’d have to introduce my husband and kids to the New York Manettos. Because of a lie Uncle Joey insisted I tell them, they erroneously thought we were related. I even had a mother that I’d just met for the first time.

  Of course, his sister, and my supposed mother, Maggie, knew better, and I’d had to tell her the whole story. It had been a relief to tell her the truth, and I looked forward to seeing her again. But now my kids had to go along with the lie and call her grandma, even though she wasn’t. I knew asking them to do that wasn’t right, but what was I supposed to do?

  “Mom? Did you hear what I said?”

  Oops. I’d done it again. My kids were going to think I was getting old if I kept zoning out like this. I listened real close to her thoughts and picked up one word. “Dog? What about a dog?”

  “The dog we’re going to get.” She pursed her lips, thinking I wasn’t listening, even if I said I was. “I was saying that we’ll have to wait until we get back from New York to get a dog.”

  “Oh, right. Good thinking.” I’d recently helped a man who’d been arrested for murder. We’d kept his dog for him, and my kids had fallen in love with her. I’d basically promised them we’d get a dog after he took her back. Savannah could hardly wait, but I’d put it off. Now I realized that having an affectionate animal might do wonders for my stress levels. Plus, it would make my kids happy.

  “Okay. We’ll get a dog when we get back.”

  “Saweet!” Savannah said, pumping her fist in the air.

  I spent the next hour looking through my casefiles for someone from my past that might hold a grudge against me. That’s when I found out my file keeping was lousy. Sure I kept purchase orders for clients, but not a lot of information about the individual people. I had to rely on my memory for that. Some were easy to remember, but others drew a blank. Still, I only had about a year’s worth to look through, and nothing stood out. Discouraged, I put everything away to fix dinner.

  After Chris came home, I held him for several seconds longer than normal. As I pulled away, he glanced at me with raised brows, worried that something wasn’t right. Not wanting to talk about it, I smiled. “We’ll talk about it later. Okay?”

  “Sure,” he agreed. But he was thinking, oh great, now what? Did he really have to wait to hear about it? I shrugged, and alarm tightened his chest. “Is it about Ethan?”

  “No. In fact, Ethan’s had a change of heart, and he’s not going through with whatever it was he had planned.”

  “Oh. That’s good news. I wonder what changed his mind.”

  I glanced at him and winced. “Uh… you can thank Ramos for that. I guess he showed up in the middle of the night next to Ethan’s bed and woke him up. He must have convinced Ethan to change his plans. Since I don’t know exactly what his plans were, I’m not sure how he’s going to do that, but for now, I’m happy to let him handle it.”

  Chris wasn’t sure Ethan warranted the ‘big bad wolf’ treatment, but he couldn’t deny the relief that filled him to know it was taken care of. “Well, okay. Good. So what else is going on? Are you really not going to tell me?”

  “Oh fine,” I said, letting out a dramatic sigh. “Let’s talk out on the deck.”

  He let me pull him through the kitchen and out the sliding doors to the deck. I plopped down on the deck swing and lolled my head against the cushion.

  Chris sat beside me, trying not to smile. So much drama. It was like my life was over or something. What could be so bad? Maybe this was about the case Ethan had taken, and I was disappointed that it wasn’t going so well. Or maybe it was about the wedding, and Billie was having second thoughts. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be worse than anything else I’d ever been through.

  If only that were true. “Are you done?” I asked.

  “Hey,” he said, a little hurt. “I’m just waiting for you to explain.”

  He was right. I needed to stop feeling sorry for myself and figure this out. “There’s someone stalking me.”

  Chris froze, that was not what he’d expected. “What?”

  “It’s true. He almost killed me today.” Maybe that was a tiny exaggeration, but it could have happened.

  “What the hell. What happened?” He sat up. His eyes filled with worry and anger.

  I filled him in, starting with my appointment with John Brown and covering everything that had happened until I got home. I ended with Ramos’s idea that it might be an old client of mine. “It’s not much, but Ramos thinks it might be personal. After I got home I looked through my files but nothing really stood out to me.”

  “Maybe you should look again, when you’re not so upset.” Chris’s brows tightened with worry. “I think you should talk to Harris or maybe the chief. They need to know what’s going on. They have resources you could use, and it wouldn’t hurt to have more help than what Manetto and Ramos can offer.”

  He didn’t mind too much that I’d gone to them, but it hurt his feelings that I hadn’t come to him first. He may not be a mob boss, but he loved me more than Manetto ever would.

  “Oh Chris, I’m sorry. I thought about calling you first, but it shook me up so bad that having a mob boss on my side made it easier to deal with. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”

  “It’s okay. Don’t worry about it. I didn’t mean for you to hear that.” He pulled me into his arms and held me close. He concentrated on my news that someone was actually stalking me, and he could hardly believe it had happened so fast. It didn’t make sense. Whoever it was must have been watching me for a while.

  “You think so?” I asked. “That’s just creepy.”

  “I know, but it’s got to be true. And with the fake accent, I think it must be someone you’ve met before. Are you sure you can’t place his voice?”

  I shook my head. “I’ve thought of that. But no, I don’t remember hearing it before. It doesn’t even sound familiar to me, and it’s driving me crazy.”

  “Okay… we’ll just have to dig a little deeper. I still think you should look through your files again. It has to be related to someone you’ve helped in the past.”

  I nodded, not sure I should tell him that I thought meeting the guy was the best way to know what was going on. Uncle Joey agreed with that option, but I was pretty sure Chris wouldn’t like it. “I’ll go through them again tomorrow. Maybe something will pop up that I missed.”

  “Good.” He pulled me close, hating that someone was targeting me. I’d saved a lot of lives yesterday, and this was the thanks I got? That some crazy person, coming out of the shadows, was threatening me? Why couldn’t he just leave us alone? His jaw clenched with anger, and he let out a pent-up breath.

  “Chris, we’ll figure this out.”

  “I know. It’s just… getting to me. You know?” His gaze caught mine. “It’s crazy, but I don’t think you realize how much our lives have changed, how much you’ve changed. I mean… you’ve always been kind and giving and funny
and wonderful, but now you’ve turned into this… superhero. You’ve done things I can’t even imagine. I’m grateful for how you’ve helped people… but I hate it at the same time.”

  He had a point, but it kind of hurt my feelings. “Well, if I’m being honest, on days like today, I’m not sure how much I like it. But then yesterday… stopping that woman from shooting everyone… I have to believe that it’s totally worth it. So, for good or bad, it looks like we’re just going to have to deal with it and do the best we can.”

  He nodded and squeezed me tight. “You’re right. As long as you’re by my side, I can roll with that… and whatever it brings.”

  I snuggled against him and laid my head on his shoulder. “Good, because it looks like we’re getting a dog after we get back from New York.” He chuckled, and I relaxed in his arms, knowing that, whatever I faced, Chris was right there with me.

  Later that night, after everyone had gone to bed, I climbed under the covers and curled beside Chris’s warm body. It worried me that John Brown, or whoever he was, had threatened Dimples’s wedding, and I didn’t know what to do.

  “You need to tell Harris all about it,” Chris said, after I told him my concerns. “I think he should know what’s going on.”

  “But I don’t want to ruin his wedding.”

  “Honey… if you think something might happen, isn’t it best to go in prepared? You’re not doing him any favors by keeping him in the dark.”

  “You’re right. I’ll talk to him first thing in the morning. Then I’m coming to your office to talk to Ethan. I know he said he’d take care of the problem, but I want to make sure. The only way to do that is to find out exactly what he’s done.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Chris said. “Now I think you need to relax, or you’ll never get to sleep. Turn over and I’ll give you a back rub.”

  Not about to miss out on that, I quickly complied. As his fingers did their magic on my bare skin, it wasn’t long before I forgot all about having a stalker, Ethan’s betrayal, Claire’s DNA, and just about everything else that had happened recently.