by Linda Verji
“Does it still hurt?” he asked.
Even if she wanted to answer his question, she wouldn’t have managed it since her mouth was oddly dry. So she shook her head.
“What about the rest?” His eyes lingered over the other bruises on her face.
“No… no, it doesn’t hurt.” She finally found her voice. Forcing a chuckle, she added, “Despite what I look like, I’m not in any pain. I’m okay.”
The look in Lucas’s eyes said that he didn’t quite believe her but he didn’t say anything. He just brought her in for another hug. It was funny, wasn’t it? After all these years apart, they’d both changed, yet his hug was still the same. It was still as warm as she remembered and his scent just as soothing. She wanted to stay in his arms forever, but she knew she couldn’t. Not after everything that had happened between them.
“Seriously! I’m okay, Lucas.” She forced another laugh as she disentangled herself from his arms and took a step back. A teasing note into her voice, she said, “Now will you let me get you that business card or aren’t you interested in it anymore?”
Lucas didn’t respond to her teasing, he just watched it.
Still smiling, Jasmine turned back to her purse. “It’s here somewhere. Where… where…” She kept talking in a bid to distract herself from the man brooding behind her. “Ah… here it is.” She finally found it. Brandishing it in her fingers, she turned to Lucas. “There you go.”
Without a word, he took the card and read it.
“That should help you find Teddy, right?” she asked.
“Right!” Lucas nodded curtly.
When they finally left the guest room, Jasmine couldn’t help sighing in relief. Talk about awkward. She didn’t know how to describe her current relationship with Lucas. On one hand she was still angry about the past, but after everything that had happened, that anger seemed to have lessened to the point where she could even let him hug her. Still, she wasn’t ready to make nice either which left their relationship in limbo. Yes, in limbo. That was the right word. Limbo.
Lucas and Shane said their goodbyes after letting her know that they’d be exhuming York’s body the next day to conduct a proper autopsy. Jasmine and Kenny walked them to the door then stood at the porch to watch them leave.
“Well, I can see it,” Kenny said as she and Jasmine stared at the retreating car.
“See what?” Jasmine asked.
“The bad boy vibe that got you,” her friend said. “Lucas has it in spades. It’s practically dripping from his blond hair and leather jacket.”
“Bad boy?” Jasmine guffawed. “More like evil bastard.” But even as she said the words, she realized that the usual bite that was always there when she spoke of Lucas was missing.
Kenny noticed it too and gave Jasmine a sharp look. “What was that?”
“What was what?”
“The way you said ‘evil bastard’.” Kenny’s fist came up to her waist as she stared at Jasmine. “It’s like you don’t even mind that he’s an evil bastard.”
Jasmine snorted. “What are you talking about?”
“No. No. No. I heard it,” Kenny insisted. Her eyes suddenly narrowed. “Don’t tell me. Are you falling for him again?”
“Are you crazy?” With another snort, Jasmine turned and headed to the door. “Cause you sound crazy.”
“Uh uh. Jaz, answer the question,” Kenny insisted. When Jasmine ignored her and entered the house, Kenny followed her. “Jaz. Jazzy. Jasmine Mitchell. Jasmine Angela Mitchell. Stop running and answer the question.”
Jasmine just kept walking.
CHAPTER 13
The next day, Lucas and Shane were back at Walcott Towers.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” August Wells looked genuinely apologetic as he said, “Mr. Walcott left for Russia last night.”
Lucas wasn’t fooled. Under his breath, he muttered. “How convenient!”
“When do you expect him back?” Shane asked. “We have a few questions about York Emerson’s murder.”
“Murder?” August gasped sharply and his eyes widened behind his glasses. “It’s a murder now?”
“Yes, it’s a murder now.” Lucas didn’t know what it was, but something about the man’s exaggerated shock left him unsettled. It felt like August was faking it all, putting on a show for their benefit.
“I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it.” August shook his head several times. “I can’t believe that someone was killed on our property. Who would do something like that?”
“That’s what we’re trying to find out,” Shane said. “Can we talk to your employees? Maybe one of them saw something.”
“Of course. Of course.” A troubled look crossed August’s expression as he added, “But I don’t know if you’ll get anything. We talked to them when we were trying to find out if anyone saw York coming in but no one came forward.”
Lucas guffawed on the inside. Oh, he didn’t doubt for a second that August had talked to their employees, but he suspected that the talk was more in the line of threatening them to keep their mouths shut if they wanted to keep their jobs.
“Still, we’d like to talk them,” Shane said. “Is there a conference room or an office where our officers can talk to everyone?”
“Sure, sure,” August agreed eagerly. “I’m sure we can find a meeting room for you to interview our employees.”
His eager agreement was even more suspicious than the cagey answers he’d given them the last time they were there. Lucas couldn’t help studying the man as they followed him to a large conference room. Something about the man didn’t feel right. With the room found, August rapidly organized for Walcott Management’s employees to go in for interviews with the police.
Lucas and Shane left the uniformed officers to question the employees while they went up to the roof to take another look at the crime-scene. Of course August stayed on their heels. It was almost as if Michael Walcott had told him to keep an eye on them. Both detectives ignored him.
“Even if they’d tossed him while he was alive, I doubt he would have made it,” Shane said as he peered over the edge to the ground far below him.
“Did they clean this place or something?” Lucas asked as he looked around the rooftop. The concrete floor was oddly clean, like it had been scrubbed.
“Yes,” August said. “We always clean the roof.”
You sure you weren’t just trying to get rid of evidence, Lucas itched to ask. However, he kept his silence.
“Looks like this where they found his wallet, shoes and suicide note.” Shane pointed to a spot on the roof then took out his phone. “Yeah, this is it.”
Lucas edged closer to his partner to see the photo he was looking at. The photo was of the crime-scene right before they’d cleaned it up. However, it was recognizable because of the short, gray pillar sticking out of the floor and the blob of yellow paint on the concrete. Immediately Lucas saw the photo, he realized that there was something odd about the whole scene.
“There’s something weird,” he muttered to himself.
“You mean the lack of a phone?” Shane asked. “We already traced his number and the last place his signal pinged was at Walcott Towers before it went dead. But no one has found it anywhere around here.”
“Maybe he dumped it before jumping,” August piped in from behind them.
“He didn’t jump.” Lucas was certain that the murderer was the one who’d dumped York’s phone. However, odd as that was, it wasn’t what had Lucas attention right now. He turned to August. “I need to print something. Is it okay if I use one of your computers?”
“Sure, sure,” August agreed, but this time his response wasn’t eager. It was filled with suspicion.
Due to security concerns, all the computers in the building required passwords to access. The passwords themselves were set by the employees so, Lucas had to ask one of the employees to allow him to use their computer. Even then August kept a close eye on him.
Lucas ignored the man as he ty
ped. When he was satisfied with what he wanted to type, he sent it to the printer.
Once August read what Lucas had printed out his brow furrowed and confusion flashed in his eyes. “That’s what you wanted to print?”
“Yup.” Lucas grinned as held his printed paper out proudly. “This is all I needed to print.”
The only words on the paper were ‘GOT YOU’.
He folded the printout before telling August. “Thanks. Couldn’t have done it without your help.”
“Couldn’t have done what?” August asked. But Lucas was already walking away.
“What was that about?” Shane asked when they left Walcott Towers about thirty minutes later.
“I needed to confirm something.” Instead of heading to their car, Lucas strode towards the gates.
“Confirm what?” Shane asked as he trailed behind him. “And where are we going?”
“Walcott claims that they have no footage of York’s entry into the building,” Lucas said as he exited Walcott Tower’s property then crossed the road. “I want to check if we can find it from somewhere else.”
The building directly opposite Walcott Towers also had CCTV. The good news was theirs hadn’t malfunctioned on the day in question. Even better, one of their cameras directly faced Walcott Towers’ gates, which meant they had the perfect view of everyone who came in and out of Walcott Towers.
“What are we looking for?” Shane complained as they settled in the building’s security office to look at footage. “You know how I hate being in the dark.”
“We’re looking for York.” After a brief pause, Lucas added, “And Michael Walcott. Everyone at Walcott Towers claims that they didn’t see York enter so we need to confirm when he got to the building. As for Walcott, we need to find out if he was anywhere within the building when York was thrown off it.”
“Got it.” Shane got right to work.
Since they had York’s time of death and the time when he’d left work, it significantly narrowed the stretch of footage they had to watch. However, they found Michael first.
“I think that’s Walcott’s car,” Shane said as he pointed out a black town-car. The time on the surveillance-cam showed that it was about five in the evening. Shane added, “And he’s leaving. Does that mean that he left before York even got to Walcott Towers?”
“It looks like it,” Lucas said as disappointment swept through him. He’d been hoping that Michael was in the building when York had died.
“Maybe he came back,” Shane suggested.
“That’s possible too.” Lucas turned back to the computer. “Let’s see if we can find him again.”
However, he found York first.
“There’s York,” Lucas pointed out triumphantly. The head of security immediately paused the video.
York was dressed in a white shirt with a large red rose smack in its middle to match his blood-red pants. They couldn’t have missed him even if they wanted to. The time on the surveillance-cam showed that it was about six-thirty in the evening, two hours before York’s death.
Lucas sat forward to closely study the image of York walking into Walcott Towers. A grin lifted his lips when he found what he was looking for. “I was right.”
“Right about what?” Shane asked. “Does this have something with what you printed?”
“Yup!” Lucas pointed at the screen. “Look at York. He doesn’t have anything in his hands.”
Shane leaned forward to take a better look at York. “Yeah. You’re right. But what does that have to do with anything?”
“It has everything to do with our case.” Lucas explained, “It means that he wasn’t carrying his suicide note when he entered the building.”
“It could have been in his pocket.”
“No, it couldn’t. For that to be a possibility, the note would have needed to be folded. And if you look at the photo in your phone, you’ll see that his note was never folded. It means that he wrote it and printed it at Walcott Towers.”
“Okay, okay. You might be right,” Shane agreed. Seconds later, his eyes widened as if he’d figured out what Lucas knew for himself. “Wait! How did he print it at Walcott Towers? All their computers need password access.”
“Exactly!” Lucas grinned. “He couldn’t have printed out his note unless someone helped him, or someone did it for him. And that someone is definitely an employee of Walcott Management.”
“Or the owner,” Shane offered. “We’re not sure yet that Michael didn’t come back.”
Fifteen minutes later, they were sure that Michael Walcott had come back. And he’d come back thirty minutes before York’s body was discovered.
* * *
UNFORTUNATELY, INTERROGATING MICHAEL proved more difficult than expected. Four days later, he still wasn’t back from Russia. His absence was frustrating because not only was he the prime-suspect, but even if he hadn’t killed York, Lucas suspected that he was the key to closing this case.
When was Walcott coming back? Only August Wells knew and he wasn’t talking, which was too bad because Lucas needed this case to get solved. It was the only way to make sure that Jasmine wasn’t in danger anymore.
Despite Lucas’s pleas, Captain Harrison had refused to assign her police protection. The captain had quite rightly pointed out that with Brando Moore and Rosa in custody, Jasmine wasn’t in immediate danger. Still, that wasn’t enough for Lucas. As long as the case remained unsolved, she was still in danger. He’d resorted to keeping an eye on her himself. Every night, he watched her friend’s house from his car to make sure that no one came in while they were asleep.
Tap. Tap. Tap. The rapping of knuckles on his window dragged Lucas from fitful sleep. He turned his head only to find a uniformed officer peering into his car.
Lucas sat straighter in his seat then rolled his window down. “Morning, Kent.”
“Morning.” Officer Kent frowned. “Spent the night here again?” When Lucas nodded, the officer’s frown deepened. “You don’t need to do this. We don’t mind patrolling this area a couple more times.”
“I know. I know. But more rounds here will mean neglecting other streets. Just think of this as my way of helping out.” Lucas scrubbed his face with his palm, then yawned and stretched. “What time is it?”
The officer checked his watch. “Six-seventeen.”
“Shit!” Lucas cussed under his breath. “I’m late.”
“Late for what?” the officer asked, but Lucas had already started his car.
No, Lucas wasn’t late for work. He was late to leave. Jasmine and Kenny usually left for work at around this time and he didn’t want either of them catching him loitering outside their house. It would only make them more scared.
Twenty minutes later, Lucas arrived at the station. He was surprised to see that Shane was already at his desk. The man wasn’t a morning person and was late more often than not.
“You’re early,” Lucas noted as he shrugged off his jacket.
“And you’re not,” Shane countered with a frown. “Where were you? I passed by your place and you weren’t there.”
“I was busy,” Lucas hedged. “Why were you looking for me?”
“York Emerson’s autopsy report is in.” Shane held out a file to Lucas. “Franklin says that it’s a definitely not a suicide.”
Lucas plucked the report from his partner’s grip then scanned it. The results showed that York had died after being beaten with a weapon, most likely a golf-club, then tossed off the building after the fact. Lucas tossed the report on his desk. “Now that we’re sure, we should call in Teddy Bryk.”
“Exactly what I was thinking,” Shane agreed.
Finding Teddy Bryk was easy, and he was kind enough to show up at the station instead of making them come to him. Since he wasn’t officially a suspect, they talked to him in the break room.
“Coffee?” Shane asked as he poured himself a cup.
“Yes, thank you.” Teddy grinned. When his gaze landed on the tray of donuts beside t
he espresso machine, his grin broadened, “So the rumors are true? You guys really live on coffee and donuts.”
“Sometimes,” Lucas said even as Shane set the coffee in front of Teddy.
“Thank you.” Teddy gratefully took the coffee before his curious gaze drifted back to Lucas. “So you wanted to talk to me about York?”
“Yes.” Lucas sat up in his seat. “We’re told that you and York were supposed to meet on the day he died. Did-”
“Yes. Yes.” Teddy cut him off with an eager nod. “We were supposed to meet but York didn’t turn up. I waited and waited but he didn’t show up.” His expression turned grave. “I wish he’d turned up. Maybe I could’ve talked him out of doing what he did.”
Lucas’s eyebrows rose. “What did he do?”
“You know.” Teddy waved his hand. “The suicide.”
“It’s not a suicide,” Shane informed him. “It’s a murder.”
“What?” Teddy exclaimed. The surprise that flashed in his eyes was expected, however the nervousness that filtered in soon after was curious. Very curious. “York was murdered?”
“Yes.” Lucas nodded. Keenly watching the man, he asked, “Where were you and York supposed to meet?”
“He was supposed to come to my office.” Teddy licked his lips nervously before asking, “You guys really think he was murdered?”
“We don’t think. We know.” Shane had obviously noted Teddy’s anxiety. He was studying the man just as keenly as Lucas when he asked, “Where were you between seven and eight-thirty on that day?”
“Eight-thirty?” Teddy’s answer rushed out. “I was at Colombo’s bar. You can check with them.”
If Lucas wasn’t already suspicious of the man, that rapid answer would have done it. Watching him, he answered, “We’ll do that.”
“No problem. No problem.” Teddy sent him another nervous look before saying, “I can’t believe that someone would murder York. Who would murder him? He was such a good kid.” Teddy’s face contorted, and it looked like he was trying to cry. Unfortunately, no tears spilled. Still, he went on, “Even though he hadn’t broken out yet, the kid had talent. Real talent. He was going places. It’s so sad that we lost such talent. All he needed was one movie and he could have-”