IF I FAIL: A Jake Carrington Mystery Page 27
Chapter Thirty
Shamus surprised Jake, he normally didn’t make comments like that. “Yes, she is.”
“Have a good night.”
“Oh, yeah! See you in the morning.”
Jake left the captain’s office, headed to Louie’s desk. He noticed Louie was whispering conspiratorially into his phone.
Deciding to bust Louie’s ass, he stood over him, asking, “Hey, who are you talking to?”
“None of your business, now scram,” Louie said, brushing Jake away with his hand.
Jake grabbed the phone, figuring he knew the person on the other end of the line. “Hey, beautiful.” He was surprised when Louie’s mother answered him back.
“Hey, handsome,” she said, with her heavy Italian accent.
Louie laughed his head off, trying to grab the phone back. Jake wasn’t having any of it. “How are you, Mrs. Romanelli?”
“I’m good, Jake, thanks for asking, even though you thought you’d be talking to our lovely Sophia.”
Tough old woman, Jake thought fondly. “It’s just as much of a treat speaking with you, as it is speaking with Sophia,” he answered smoothly.
“You always could think on your toes, Jake.”
“I only speak the truth. Take care, Mrs. Romanelli,” he said, handing the phone back to Louie.
Louie hung up from his mother, still laughing.
Jake said, “Good one, Louie.”
“Yeah, I saw you coming—figured you’d think it was Sophia on the other end. Got you,” he said, pointing his index finger and thumb, closing one eye to sight the target and lowered his thumb, shooting Jake. He walked to the coffee machine, smiling.
“You have any plans tonight?”
“You mean something more exciting than going home, having dinner with the family, helping out with homework, doing my chores, and falling into bed? Nope.”
“That actually sounds good, Louie.”
“It is.”
“We need to wrap up the details with Cavilla tomorrow. What time do you want to start?”
“I’d like to start at seven though I’ll set it up for nine-thirty.”
“Sounds good. I should be in early if you need to bounce anything off me before the interview.” Jake grinned.
“Ah, hoping for another marathon?”
“None of your business, Louie. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Wait, I’ll walk out with you.”
“I thought you were going to set up the interview?”
“I’ll call from the car.”
“You do know it’s illegal to drive and talk on a cell phone, Sergeant?”
“It’s official business, Lieutenant. So you going to Mia’s, or is she coming to your house?”
“You certainly are nosey, Louie. I’m going to dinner at her house.”
“Why did you just call in a take-out order from the Four Seasons?”
“Real nosey. Because I don’t want her to waste her time cooking. I’ve got other plans.”
They reached Louie’s car. “Ah, have a wonderful evening,” Louie said, climbing in.
“I plan on it. You too, Louie. Good night.” Jake walked to his car. Burke approached him.
“Jake, you have a minute?”
“Yeah, what’s up?” he said, looking at his watch.
“Big date?” Burke joked.
“Yeah, so get to it, Al,” Jake pushed.
“We can’t find Kale or Jones. It looks like Leroy Kale left the state. No one’s talking about Spike,” Burke said, frustrated.
“Why don’t we go over everything in the morning, maybe pinpoint an area where he might hide, or a relative willing to put him up.” Jake climbed into his car.
“Okay, see you in the morning.”
*
Jake knocked on her door. Mia answered it barefooted, wearing a pair of white shorts with a black halter top, her face bare of make-up. Jake thought he’d never seen a more beautiful sight. As he leaned in for a kiss, she reached behind him while returning his kiss, closed the door and locked it. He spun her around, pinning her back to the door; taking her hands in his, he pulled them over her head, deepening the kiss. He ran his hands down the length of her, stopping at her hips, holding on to her tightly. He loved the smooth, soft feel of her skin. Mia lowered her arms and wrapped them around his neck. After a few minutes, they broke away.
“I’ve wanted to do that since yesterday morning,” he said.
“It was worth the wait,” she said, still holding on to him.
“Great outfit.”
“Thanks. Something smells good enough to eat,” she said coyly.
“I could be crude here, but I won’t. It’s veal parmesan with some broccoli rabe.”
“We’ll leave the crude for later. Come on in. I set up the dishes out on the deck.”
They walked to the back of the condo, through the kitchen door leading to the deck. She’d set the table elegantly. Jake noticed, next to one of the plates, sat a thick pile of paper.
“What’s this?”
“It’s my manuscript.”
“I get to read it? I thought I couldn’t…”
“It’s finished.”
“Wow, I’ll read it while you’re gone.”
“I…thought…you could read it tonight,” she said nervously.
“Tonight? Mia, you’re killing me. I want every minute I can have with you.” He couldn’t believe she wanted him to read it tonight. It had to be three hundred and fifty pages.
“No, not the whole thing, Jake, just the first fifty pages. It’s what I gave the agent and the publisher. I want your honest opinion on it.”
“Oh. Do you mind if I read while we eat?”
“Yes, I do. I just want to spend some time with you, catching up. I missed you. I’ll set you up in the living room so you can read after dinner, while I do the dishes.”
He noticed her anxiety, nodded his agreement. Damn, I had other plans for tonight. I’m a fast reader, how long could it take? They finished their dinners. While Mia cleaned up, Jake went into the living room with his coffee. An hour later, his coffee untouched, he finished reading the first fifty pages.
Mia turned from the counter, looked at him anxiously. He gave nothing away, with his cold, blank cop stare on to tease her, knowing it would drive her crazy.
“Well?”
“It’s great, Mia. From page one it grabbed my attention. Your main character is funny, smart, and serious all at the same time. I like the story line, also.”
“Really? You’re not just saying you like it so I’ll be crude with you?” she joked.
“No, it really is good, Mia. You know I love to read. This grabbed me right away.”
“Thanks,” she said modestly.
“Can I take it with me, so I can read the whole story while you’re gone?”
“Yes, if you promise to lock it up.”
“I will.” He took the fresh cup of coffee she handed him, moving back out to the deck to enjoy the mild spring night awhile longer. Conversation flowed back and forth between them. Around eight, Mia took his hand, leading him inside and up to her bedroom.
They spent the rest of the night making love, and fell asleep in each other’s arms. Jake woke with a start around midnight. He climbed out of bed, trying not to wake Mia.
“What time is it?” she asked in a voice laced with sleep.
“It’s midnight, go back to sleep. I’m going home, so I don’t throw off your schedule tomorrow.” He reached over for Mia. “Good luck tomorrow, I’ll be thinking of you.”
“Thanks, I’ll give you a call later in the day, okay?”
“I’ll look forward to it.” He leaned over, kissed her, then finished dressing and left.
He let himself out, knowing she’d reset the alarm from upstairs. He spotted a man running to a dark four-door car, probably a Ford Focus, when he stepped out of the condo. Running after him, Jake only caught a partial on the license plate—356—didn’t get the lett
ers as the man sped away. Turning back to the steps, he noticed a package. Cursing, he dialed his friend Dave’s cell, hoping he’d pulled the late shift again. He hadn’t. Dave came out in his personal car.
“I’ll run the plate for you, Jake, while the lab processes the package. Who do you think’s doing this?” Dave asked.
“I don’t know. Mia couldn’t think of anyone who would do this to her. The car’s either black or blue. I can run the plate, if you like. I’ll start with Woodbury, Middlebury, Watertown, and Wilkesbury. Okay?”
“You should hit it faster, Jake, you have more resources. Are you going to tell her about this package?”
“No, she’s heading into New York for the next couple of days on important business. I don’t want to upset her. I’ll tell her when she gets back. Could you give her condo a few extra passes this week?” Jake asked, concerned.
“I will. Relax, Jake, we country bumpkins can handle ourselves.” Laughing, he drove away before Jake could say another word.
*
Louie looked up, surprised see Jake there so early on a Wednesday morning. He walked into Jake’s office. “What, she threw you out?”
“No. She had to leave early this morning, so I left at midnight.”
“So, what’s wrong? You look mad.”
“Last night, as I left her place, I saw a man running from her steps. He jumped into a car, and drove away before I could get a make or the full license plate. It was dark, probably a Ford, four-door sedan. I only got a partial plate. I called Dave Guerrera again. He took the package to process. I wanted to run the plates through our system.”
“What did you find?”
“Nothing yet, the search is still running. I only started with four or five towns. If I get nothing, I’ll expand the search.”
“What did Mia think?”
“She doesn’t know about this one. I asked Dave not to tell her. I’ll tell her when she gets back. Don’t look at me like I did something wrong.” Jake stared at Louie, added, “I didn’t want to worry her while she’s away.”
“You’re being overprotective. She might be able to shed some light on it. It could be a disgruntled lover.”
“When she gets back I’ll tell her. Did you get the interview room reserved?”
“Yes, we’re all set for nine-thirty. It’s room four.”
“Great. I’m gonna start working on my report for the Wagner case. I thought of something last night on the Adams’ case. I want to call the lab, have them compare the DNA sample from Jeff Adams to his kids, see if there’s any match in relationship there.”
“Smart. This way, if he’s not in the data base, we’ll know if he was at the crime scene. You know, Jake, sometimes you impress me.” Louie smiled.
“Only sometimes? I’m disappointed,” he joked back.
Chapter Thirty-One
Walking into the interview room at precisely nine-thirty, Jake nodded to Mark, who was already seated and chained to the floor. At the door a uniformed officer stood at attention. Jake dismissed the officer from the room, waited until he left before he turned to Mark.
“Good morning. Mark, before we go any further, I’m going to turn on the recorder and the video.”
Louie already engaged the equipment, had it set on pause. He now hit the play button on both.
“For the record, Mark, you’ve been read your rights pertaining to your arrest. Correct?”
“Yes.”
“Once again, do you understand them?”
“Yes.”
With the housekeeping chores out of the way, Jake started the questioning. Jake took Cavilla through his confession, looking for more details.
“Mark, can you tell me again why you killed Shanna Wagner?” Jake asked.
“I already answered that question.”
“Mark, I just want to clear up some things from yesterday’s interview.”
Cavilla answered. “It was an accident. I went up to the school to talk to her. She wouldn’t talk, she just started screaming…” Jake cut him off.
“Did you force the GHB into her then?”
“No, not right away.”
“When did you drug her?”
“She just kept arguing with me. She didn’t care she made me a big joke at work. You know—the guy whose girl left him for another woman. It’s bad enough she didn’t want me—she tried to call the cops, tell them I forced her into the car…” He was lost in the event. Jake interrupted again.
“You did force her into the car. You stated that yesterday.”
“I pulled her into the car, I didn’t hurt her. I just wanted a few minutes with her, so we could talk. But no, what a bitch. Yelling, screaming, she tried to get out of the car. I tried to control her. I gave her the water with the drug in it then. It didn’t work like I thought it would. The guy who sold it to me said she’d do anything I wanted her to. She didn’t. The bitch fought me. She didn’t become happy or sexually aggressive. I mean, she fought me, started scratching, punching me, and she kept yelling. I couldn’t think. I hit her back to shut her up. Before I knew it, she lay there, not moving. What could I do? I dumped her.” Jake controlled his urge to punch Mark out.
“The drug reacts differently with different people, Mark. You should know how unstable something is before you use it. You took Shanna Wagner’s life because your ego couldn’t handle rejection and you ‘got rid of her’, like a bag of garbage.”
Mark started to answer.
“Mark, do you have anything else to add to your story?”
“No,” he said, his focus on the floor.
The interview took two hours and ten minutes; they learned nothing new. They pinned down the details, along with his story, to strengthen his confession, making it hard for his next attorney to put holes in it. Their only defense would be to try for temporary insanity. Jake didn’t believe they could pull it off, but you never knew. He’d have to wait and see how the trial went.
After the interview, Jake put a call in to Neptune, Florida and spoke with Chief Beau Taylor.
“Hi, Beau, it’s Jake Carrington. How’d it go yesterday?”
“You know, it went as expected. Mrs. Lola Adams is not a forthcoming woman in anything. She refused to supply her DNA. She called a lawyer. Her husband gave his sample immediately, leaving her to fend for herself and then he went back to work.”
“He didn’t hang around?”
“Nope. I think he’s at the end of his rope with this one. Imagine.” Beau laughed. “Me, I would’ve tossed her back after a week. She’s as mean as a catfish on your arm.”
Jake laughed. “Well, if my hunch is right, she’ll need it to survive in her new home.”
“You feel that strongly about her?”
“Yes, I do. No solid evidence yet, you know, it’s the gut.”
“Yes, I do know. I’ll keep a guard on her. If it points to her, we don’t want her getting away.”
“Thanks, Beau. The results are being rushed. I should have them before the end of the week. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Take care, Jake.”
*
The week dragged for Jake. He really missed Mia. The Wagner case wrapped up, he cleaned up some loose ends, finished his reports, and put it behind him. I got through another tough one. How much longer could he deal with cases like the Wagner girl’s? The Adams case became a watch and wait game. They reviewed all the statements and facts again. They dissected individual statements and alibis.
“You know, this case…it had to be someone close to her, someone who knew her habits. The only person she ever pissed off that I can tell is her ex-husband and his new wife,” Louie said, frustrated.
“I know. We have to wait on the new DNA samples, see what they produce.”
“Yeah, I know. Oh, Sophia wants to know if you want to come to dinner tonight. I have to warn you though, she’s going to pick your brains about Mia.”
“Did she make gravy?”
“Yes.” He rubbed his stomach.
“Yes.”
“I’ll be there, besides, I haven’t seen the kids since the party.”
“No, you’ve been too busy with your new girlfriend,” Louie joked.
“So, I have a really good excuse.” Jake laughed.
“Yep.”
*
Dinner at the Romanellis’ killed one night for Jake. On Thursday night he stayed home, read Mia’s manuscript from front to back. Impressed, he wished he could call her; instead, he waited for her call. A rare thing for a crime drama to hold his attention, hers did. She portrayed an accurate and entertaining story. Around eleven she called.
“Hi, I didn’t wake you, did I?”
“No. How’s it going?”
“It’s…good. They’re telling me which parts they like, and which parts they think need some editing and re-writes, overall its good feedback.” She sounded a little disappointed.
“Are you okay? You sound down.”
“No, I’m good. It’s just been such a long couple of days. Stress tires me out.”
“Mia, I finished reading the book a little while ago, it’s great. It’s real and it’s entertaining. You tell them I said so.”
“You really liked it?” He could hear in her voice how much it meant to her, that he not only read it, but liked it.
“I really, really did. When do you think you’ll be coming home?”
“Probably not until Saturday.”
“Oh.”
She heard the disappointment in his voice, decided to be honest. “I’ll finish up tomorrow with the agent, who also surprised me by having a publisher at the meeting. I ran into my father today, and he invited me to dinner tomorrow night. I couldn’t turn him down.”
Something there, Jake thought. “It doesn’t sound like you want to go. Why?”
“It’s a long story for some other time, Jake.”
“I have time now,” he offered.
“No, I’ll tell you in person, not on the phone. If I can, I’ll give you a call tomorrow night. If not, I’ll call when I’m on my way Saturday.”
“Okay. You’re still invited to dinner Saturday night if you get back in time. I made reservations at the Fishhouse in Woodbury. In case you’re late, you can join us for dessert.”