A Santini's Heart (The Santinis Book 10) (16 page)

T
he wedding planning
and the ceremony itself had been quick, but the reception lasted into the early hours of the next morning. Once again, the Santini family came out in full force.

Carlos smiled as Tia leaned her head against his shoulder. They were sitting at the head table watching everyone party through the night. He kissed her forehead. She was a vision in ivory silk and lace, a simple dress for a complicated, beautiful woman. He would never forget the way she looked in it as she walked down the aisle on her father’s arm.

“I kind of like being a Santini,” she said. He could hear the tired happiness in her voice. He could understand as he looked around the ballroom. His family did tend to do things big, especially weddings.

“I like you being a Santini.”

“That’s good, because you’re stuck with me.”

He chuckled. Just then, Conrad Santini, the son of his cousin Brennan, came rushing toward them. He was five and sugared up.

“Carlos,” he said louder than the music, which was a feat since it was blaring.

“Whatcha need?”

“Papa is trying to make me go to bed.”

The man in question came running up behind him. “It’s almost one in the morning, Conrad.”

The boy frowned and looked at Carlos. “Aunt Joey said that it was time to celebrate, and gave me three pieces of cake.”

Carlos sat up and leaned down to eye level. “Well, just so you know, Aunt Joey has been drinking a lot tonight.”

Brennan smiled. “I’d be careful, cuz.” It always sounded funny when he used slang. There was a ting of his mother’s British accent in Brennan’s voice. “Conrad tells that woman everything.”

Carlos chuckled. “She has them all brainwashed.”

“She didn’t wash my brain,” Conrad said. “She gave me cake.”

His father chuckled. “Yeah, that’s how it all gets started. Come on.”

He picked up his son, slung him over his shoulder, and carried him away.

“Where is his wife?” Tia asked as she watched him walk away.

Carlos glanced at her. “Died in a car wreck last year.”

“How sad,” she said, looking out over the crowd. “What happens when a Santini loses his mate?”

He shrugged. “Not really sure. Hasn’t happened during my lifetime.”

“Hmm.”

He leaned closer and nibbled on her earlobe. “How about we ditch these losers?”

She laughed. “Yes. My feet hurt though. I need to take off my shoes, but I don’t want to trip over my dress.”

“I can take care of that,” he said, rising from his chair. He leaned down and plucked her off the seat and into his arms. She didn’t resist. She entwined her arms around his neck.

“Santinis are such showoffs.”

He smiled at her. “Oh, darlin’, you haven’t seen anything yet.”

T
hank
you so much for purchasing A Santini’s Heart. I hope you enjoyed Tia and Carlos’ story. If you did, please leave a review at your favorite online store and tell your friends about
The Santinis
!

J
oin
Mel’s
newsletter
so you can get the short story
The Lost Night.
Find out what happened the night Aeden and Wendy first got together. Only available to newsletter subscribers. The story will be released in the October Newsletter.

J
oin
the hard living and hard loving Fitzpatrick men as they travel the often bumpy road to true love. For centuries, their family has been committed to family and community, but finding true love is their ultimate goal in life.

A
eden Fitzpatrick rushed
out of the train and through the milling crowd. Too many damned people at the airport. It figures she would leave the weekend everyone else decided they needed to go on one final fling with summer. Worse, he was running late because he had gone to the wrong fucking airport. Now, he had a one-way ticket he didn’t need.

His phone vibrated. When he saw his sister’s face, he wanted to growl.

“Where are you?” Kaitlin asked.

“I’m busy.”

There was a pause. Of course there was. She was either going to start crying or barfing. He wasn’t sure which one, but that is all she had been doing since she found out she was pregnant.

“You’re supposed to be here to say goodbye to the Santinis.”

Dammit. He forgot he was supposed to be at a brunch with her new in-laws.

“Is Wendy there?”

“No. She’s waiting at the gate.”

Dammit. Life never did go right when it came to that woman. Couldn’t she be late once and miss her flight? At least she could have been standing in security.

“Listen, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Before she could say anything, he turned off his phone. He scanned the departures and found her flight. Fuck. He had less than 25 minutes to make it to her.

He jogged past families and irritated businessmen as he hurried down the long hallways. Aeden was out of breath by the time he made it to the end of terminal. He scanned the throngs of people and his heart started to sink. Anger and disappointment weighed heavy on his shoulders. Dammit, he couldn’t have missed her. Then, a flash of a blonde ponytail caught his attention and the heaviness on his soul dissolved.

She was third in line. His family had always said he was loud, so he shouted her name. She turned in his direction and her mouth hung open. He didn’t wait. He strode forward and people seemed to get out of his way.

Still, she didn’t move. It was if she were glued to the floor. When he reached her, he took her bag, and set it down on the ground.

“Aeden, what the hell are you doing here?” she asked.

It figured she would ask him in that tone. It was if she thought he had lost his mind. And he had. It was the only explanation he could come up with.

“What am I doing here?”

Did their two nights together mean nothing to her?

“Yes.”

He couldn’t really answer her another way. There was only one action that would get her attention. Aeden cupped her face, and slammed his mouth down on hers. He had the pleasure of watching her eyes flutter shut before he shut his own. When he pulled back, his world had tilted.

“That. That is what I’m doing here.”

When she opened her eyes, tears shimmered in her blue gaze. “Aeden…”

He shook his head. “No, don’t say anything. You have to go, I have to stay. We’ll just call this, to be continued.”

She chuckled, albeit a watery one. “Okay.”

She brushed her fingers over his cheek. “Be careful.”

He nodded. “You too.”

Then, he stepped back and watched her go through the gate. She gave him one last look over her shoulder, then she stepped through the door.

He felt as if the center of his world had just been sucked out of him. The idea that he had no way of seeing her every day, or even talking to her was almost too much for him to accept. A month ago he would have scoffed at anyone who thought he would miss the woman. Now, he couldn’t even think of what to do now that she was leaving.

Even knowing he should leave so he could avoid questions from his family. Aeden just could not seem to make himself leave. He stood by the window and waited until he saw the plane back out then make its way to the runway.

It was going to be a long six months.

W
orking with local
, state, and federal agencies, the men and women of TASK FORCE HAWAII work on cases ranging from bank heists to terrorism. A diverse team filled with ex-military, law enforcement, medical, and technical support, they are Hawaii’s last defense against the worst criminals. The series will include six books total.

* * *

M
artin Delano stepped
out of his pickup and shut the door, as a light trade wind danced over his skin. He slipped his shoulder holster on, then looked up and down the street. Finding no traffic, he jogged over to the other side, following the lights set up by the Honolulu Police Department.

Being former military, he should be used to the early morning wakeup calls, but it didn’t mean he had to be happy about it—especially this morning. The lights burned his eyes. Damn, he was getting old when he couldn’t seem to make it up and at work without a cup of coffee. He should have grabbed one before he left his house in Hawaii Kai.

Police tape marked off the spot, and a very serious looking young officer in uniform stood by the entrance. His militant expression told Del this was his first big assignment. The kid raised his hand as if to stop him…or die trying. God save him.

He wasn’t in the mood.

“HPD only, sir,” he said, his voice stern.

Del sighed and pulled out his Task Force badge. He’d been there a year and people in the department still didn’t know who he was. Of course, the officer looked like he was straight out of the academy, so that was probably the reason. However, the department was small, and Del had been on TV enough that he thought everyone knew his face. And, as the local members of his team kept telling him, everyone knows everyone else on the island.

The officer’s face reddened. “Sorry, sir.”

Del nodded and attached the badge back onto his belt. “I’m looking for Rome Carino.”

“Of course, sir.” He turned and motioned with his hand. “He’s right over there, by the Medical Examiner.”

Del glanced over and saw where he was talking about. There was a barrier set up along the opposite side of the bridge. That would have been done probably before the ME had shown up.

“Mahalo,” Del said, as he walked past the officer towards the ME. He passed a few familiar faces. Some smiled, some frowned, and others barely acknowledged his existence.

The air was muggy from the recent rain, and the sun would start rising soon. Traffic in Honolulu was always a bitch. The influx of tourists added to the locals’ aggravation, but figure in the water main breaks and the rail construction, it could be a real pain in the ass. Being Monday made it worse, and the McCully Bridge over the Ala Wai Canal was always busy.

As he approached the group, he noticed a handful of detectives he knew. He had been there for a year now, and he still felt like an outsider. Being a Haole didn’t make for easy detective work in Hawaii. Not to mention, a few of them thought he shouldn’t have been given the job. Carino had been offered the job at one time, but he declined. Now, Del was starting to understand why.

Del knew it was a bad sign when Carino called him. Del’s team only handled the major crimes, the ones that would require more than a little diplomacy working with various law enforcements. Not that he was always good with diplomacy, but in other words, Carino didn’t want the headache.

He noticed Drew Franklin, the ME assistant. Nice kid, local, tall and skinny, with a world class mind and an irritating habit of trying too hard. But he was good on the job, even if he did have an odd sense of humor, and an odd choice in clothing. He was wearing a pair of jeans today, his regular sneakers, and a T-shirt that said ‘I like big books and I cannot lie.’

“Howzit, Del, I just got here too.”

Del nodded. “Did you get the call?”

He pushed his horn-rimmed glasses back up the bridge of his nose. “Dr. Middleton called. She said I didn’t need to be here, but I thought maybe Cat would be called out.”

“Nope, I was on call last night, so I took the call.”

“Makes sense.”

“I’m glad you think so,” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, but it went over Drew’s head.

He just smiled as they walked together. The closer they got to the scene, Del’s worry grew. He knew it was a dead woman, but for him to be called out, it had to be huge. Maybe a celebrity or dignitary. That meant it would hit the news services soon. Damn, he hated dealing with the press.

Carino noticed him and turned to greet him. Lean and tall, with feral eyes, he’d moved to Hawaii from Seattle several years earlier. The homicide detective had been one of the most welcoming in the HPD. His wife had insisted on inviting him over for dinner several times. A lot of folks weren’t happy when they hired an outsider like him, but Carino had been a transplant also, and Del had an idea he had wanted to make everyone know that he accepted him.

“Sorry about calling you out, Del, but Dr. Middleton thought it was important. Usually, I go with her gut, and when she showed me, I was sure of it.” He nodded. “No problem.”

Carino looked at Drew. “Dr. Masterson could use some help.”

“Of course,” Drew said and hurried off, almost tripping over his larger than average feet in the process.

Carino and he watched Drew greet the doctor with as much enthusiasm as he had Del.

Del shook his head. Was he ever that young and eager? He couldn’t remember, but he was sure that he had been when he entered the military. When he turned back to Del, he offered him a grim smile.

“Man, to be that young again,” he said, voicing Del’s thoughts.

Del nodded. “Makes me tired just listening to him sometimes.”

Carino’s smile faded. “I didn’t want to say anything in front of him, not yet, but I have a bad feeling this might be a serial.”

Del knew Carino wasn’t jumping to conclusions. When there had been a serial killer terrorizing Honolulu, and especially the BDSM club members at Rough ‘n Ready, he had been at the head of the case. He had caught the killer no one else had expected—with the help of an FBI agent, who had later become his wife. Carino did not make assumptions.

A heavy lead weight started to tighten in his stomach. This was going to be a fucking nightmare. He just knew it. And, it would put his team to the test again. He didn’t have a background in investigative work. Being an Army Ranger did give you a skill set that helped out in some things, but investigating a serial killer was different. Thank God he had a team with more experience in that department. Both Cat and Adam were in the department during Carino’s investigation. And he knew his ME had experience with that kind of thing.

“What makes you think that? Does it resemble any other killings?”

The detective shook his head. “No, but she was posed, grotesquely. There’s just something about the way she was left…” he sighed and rubbed his temples.

“Long night?”

Carino nodded. “Yeah, and I was just thinking I was getting too old for this.”

“Nothing going on with Maria?”

He knew the detective’s wife was pregnant and entering the final few months.

Flashing Del a smile, Carino shook his head. “No, just horrible insomnia for her, which means I have it because she wanders through the house constantly.” His smile faded. “It’s going to be a bitch of a day today, considering who I think is down there.”

His head was already pounding from the lack of caffeine, and this was just ramping it up to a whole other level of pain.

“Who?”

Carino looked toward the scene, then back at Del. “We have to wait for official word, but I think it’s Grace Singh.”

The name hit him like a ton of bricks.

“Well, fuck.”

Del knew the story. Hell, everyone in Hawaii knew the story. Two weeks earlier, a pretty schoolteacher had disappeared. Right off the street in a good part of town.

There was no sign of her anywhere, which was definitely odd. From all accounts, she was sweet and unassuming, a bit of a homebody who lived with her parents—not an uncommon occurrence considering the housing situation on the island at the moment.

When the news had hit, everyone had shown up to help. Honolulu might be a big city to some, but Hawaii still operated like a small town. When one of their own went missing, especially a cherished teacher, they called out the reserves. Citizens, law enforcement, everyone. They all had looked for her and could not find one bit of evidence as to her whereabouts.

“Exactly. I wouldn’t normally jump to conclusions, but she’s fresh, and I know her face, of course. That means she has been alive the last two weeks. And, it’s bad. There is no doubt in my mind someone tortured her.”

Fuck. Nightmare did not cover it. They would get attention from the mainland on this one, and they always sent the local press into a frenzy.

“Okay.”

They walked side-by-side down to the scene. With each step they took, he felt the weight of the oncoming investigation. This was going to be a bitch—and more than anything, he wanted to do right by the woman. Her poor family had been so sure they would find her alive, and now they would forever be without one part of the whole.

No one deserved to die like this.

“Hey, Elle, how’s it going?” Del asked.

Dr. Elle Middleton was an English transplant, and one of the best in her field. He knew he was damned lucky she had been assigned to his team when she had arrived in Hawaii.

“Hullo, Del. Not good, especially for this young woman.”

She stood up and wiped her forehead with the back of her wrist. Since she’d cut her light blond hair, the fringe of it appeared just above her blue-green eyes. He read the horror in her gaze. This was not going to be pleasant for anyone.

“You got a time of death?”

“Within the last six hours from the liver temp. I would say less than three when she was actually found. She was left here after the rain stopped.”

“Yeah?” Carino asked.

Elle nodded. “The impressions of shoes are there and there,” she said pointing to the ground. “Drew is going to take a cast of them, but I am not sure we will find anything particularly important in that. They look pretty common. So, I’m assuming he waited on purpose until the rain was done. That ended about half past eleven last night here in Honolulu.”

Del sighed and shook his head. “Poor woman.”

“Indeed. I can tell you more when I get her on the table, but this woman went through hell.”

“Show me what you have right now.”

“Hey, I have a meeting with the brass at the top of the hour. They wanted an update. Call me if you need anything.”

“Sure. Give my love to Maria,” Del said as Carino slapped him on the shoulder and walked away.

He turned back around just as Elle moved and he finally saw the body. The memory of the smiling picture did not even seem like the same woman. Her eyes were closed, but he knew they were dark, always twinkling in all the photos. She was short in stature, five three if he remembered correctly, with short hair, and probably weighed no more than one hundred pounds. At least she had. If she had been posed, she had been moved, probably by Elle.

“We have pictures of her body before she was moved?”

“Yes,” she said irritated.

He looked up and offered her a smile. “Sorry about that. Just thinking things through, and I didn’t know who was here first. You know I am still new at all of this.”

Elle sighed. “Sorry. Knowing just how bad it was…it hurts.”

He heard the memory in her voice. “I understand.” And he did. Elle would comprehend what Grace Singh had endured more than most others.

She straightened her shoulders, then squatted down. “If you look here, she was tied up.”

She held up the hand of the woman and pointed to her wrist. He saw the burns on her wrists. Some light, some dark, and with different patterns pressed into her flesh.

It was done with some kind of rope, and probably impossible to narrow down.

“Her ankles are in the same condition.”

“And the different shades of the bruising?”

“Repeated injuries. And with different ropes from the burns. So, he kept her like this for some time. Probably the entire time she was there. I’m pretty sure of sexual assault, but I will verify that in the lab. There are also burns on her body.”

He squatted down beside her and looked over the body. There were small cylindrical burns over her flesh. Scabs had formed over some of them, while others were fresh.