Love Lost (10 page)

“I’m not in the mood for this shit!  Get that shit outta my face!”

Eddie cocked the gun, never taking his eyes off of Vin.  Lucio placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder and Eddie put his gun away.   Lucio knew that once Eddie fixated on someone, it was hard to get him to stray from the hunt.  Vin was not going to last long if Eddie had his way.  He started the car and took off down the street. 

“Eddie doesn’t trust you.”

“Am I supposed to give a fuck?”

Eddie cracked his knuckles and reached for his gun again.  Lucio shook his head no as he stared out the window.  

“I, on the other hand, think you may be useful to me.”

“How’s that?”

Lucio pulled into a driveway and he saw the recognition on his face.

“Have you been here before?”

“No.”

Lucio smirked.

“Really?  Let’s go inside.”

He climbed out of the car and they followed.  He led them to the fire escape ladder and pointed to the top.

“After you.”

“Not until you tell me why we are here
.”

“Someone took something from me and I want it back.”

Vin laughed.

“And breaking and entering is your answer?”

Lucio scowled at him.

“What do you propose then?”

“Get close to the person that stole from you.  You can have more access that way.”

Lucio put his hands in his pockets.

“I believe you already know her.”

He saw Vin lower his gaze for a split second. 

“Yeah?  Who’s that?”

“Her name is Selene.”

“Selene?  I don’t remember anyone by that name.”

Eddie slowly walked behind him and before Vin could react, a zapping noise echoed in the alley.  He shook violently and fell to the floor with a loud thud on the floor.  Lucio leaned down.

“We’ll see what you know.”

After they came back from his parent’s house, Jason had asked Selene to stay at his apartment as a precaution until the shooter was caught.  He was overjoyed when she agreed.  It had been almost two weeks since the shooting and they had fallen into a routine that they both had grown accustomed to.  They spent every waking moment together and Jason couldn’t be happier.  Every chance he could
, he was holding her or kissing her and she was the same way with him.  He had fallen hard for Selene, but was cautious about telling her.  She still cried herself to sleep but not as often as she used to.  The funeral for Daphne had been hard on her and she woke up every night screaming for almost a week after Daphne was buried.  Jason had begged her to talk to someone about what was going on, but she refused every time.

Jason woke up after hearing Selene on the phone.

“That’s good.  I’ll be in this afternoon and we’ll talk then.  Thanks.”

Jason walked over and kissed her shoulder.

“Making plans?”

Selene turned around and said, “Yeah.  I’m going back to work.  I have a meeting with Daphne’s dad
; he wants to talk about the firm.  Everything has been repaired and cleaned up. I had a new alarm system and locks installed so everything will be ok.”

Jason closed his eyes and tried to breathe. Selene placed her hand on his face.

“Jay, I’ll be fine.  Trust me.”

He picked her up and carried her to the bedroom.  He fell on the bed and pinned her underneath him. He grazed his lips along her stomach until he reached her chest.  He placed his head on her chest and listened.

“God, I love this sound.”

Selene frowned.

“What sound?”

“Your beautiful heart.”

Selene smiled as Jason kissed her tenderly. She wrapped her legs around his waist as he pulled her shirt up above her head, kissing her deeper and feverishly. His phone rang suddenly and they both groaned.

He grabbed the phone to answer as Selene started to kiss his neck and nibble on his ear.

“Straiz.”  His voice was barely audible and he coughed a few times.

“Straiz, its Kayhill.  I need you in my office pronto.”

Jason made a face and Selene laughed.

“Ok.  I’ll be there soon.”

He hung up and kissed Selene roughly.

“Can I have a rain check?”

Selene nodded yes and kissed him back with the same intensity.

“Be safe.”

Jason threw on some clothes and headed out the door.  He tried to call Vin, but it went straight to voicemail.  He was going to have to leave a voicemail when he reached the precinct. He hung up the phone, thinking to himself that he should probably go by Vin’s house as he walked toward the Captain’s office.  He sat down and the captain tossed him a file.

“What’s this?”

The captain responded, “These are the results on the prints found on the matches.”

Jason opened the file and stared at the results.

“There has to be something wrong with this.  Run them again.”

The captain shook his head.  “We ran them three times already.  Is there something I should know about?”

Jason slammed the file on the captain’s desk.

“IT’S WRONG!  SHE WOULDN’T DO THIS!”

The captain got up and slammed the door shut.

“Why are you so upset? Are you involved with her?”

Jason’s silence was the only answer he would provide.

“You compromised this whole case with your lack of will power.  Bring Selene in for questioning
, or I will.”

Jason stood up angrily and walked out of the office.  He drove around for a few hours thinking about what he needed to do.  He did not believe that Selene was involved with these murders.  Maybe Mike was the informant she was trying to protect? The questions continued to grow and he knew that his captain was right.  Only one person knew the answers and she needed to be questioned by anyone other than him. 

He finally drove home and walked in to find Selene in his t-shirt and boxers.  God, she was beautiful. She ran up to hug him and tried to kiss him until she realized something was wrong.

“What’s wrong?  Are you ok?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.  I thought you had a meeting to go to.”

“It ended early.  Daphne’s dad left me in charge of the firm and I will need to keep him updated on everything that goes on.  You look upset.  Did something happen?”

Jason swallowed hard and then replied, “I need you to come with me to the precinct.”

Selene backed away from him and he hated what he was going to have to do. 

“Why do I need to go to the precinct?  Did you find the shooter?”

Jason closed the door and leaned against it.  He folded his arms across his chest and then asked as calmly as he could manage
, “Do you remember the barista from the coffee shop?”

Selene nodded and turned away from him.  Jason frowned.  She only did this when she was trying to hide something from him or couldn’t tell him the truth.

“Yeah.  His name was Mike.  Sweet guy.  Why?”

“He’s dead.  That is why I had to end our first date so soon.”

Jason watched as Selene covered her mouth and sat on the couch.  She was genuinely shocked at the news, but yet something else bothered him.  She seemed like she had been expecting it somehow.  Why would anyone expect bad news? 

“What happened?”

“Someone beat him up pretty bad and then shot him twice in the head.”

“Do they know who did it?” 

“You tell me.  They found a set of matches on his body with your prints on them.”

Selene looked up at him with a mixture of confusion and hurt.

“You think I killed him?  You think I’m capable of hurting someone like that?”  She stood and stormed into his bedroom.

He followed her and turned her around to face him.

“How do you know Mike then?  How did your prints get on those matches?  Tell me
something
, because I can’t help you if you won’t tell me what’s going on!”

She pushed him away and yelled, “Take me wherever you need to take me and then take me home.”

Jason ran his hands through his hair angrily.

“Selene …”

Selene spun around and grabbed a bag to fill up with her things.

“This was a mistake.  You obviously don’t know me
, or trust me for that matter.  I need a minute to get dressed. Do you mind?” 

Jason knew this conversation was over when she refused to even look at him.  He walked out of the bedroom and waited for her downstairs.  She climbed into the car and they headed toward the precinct.  As Jason pulled into the parking lot, Selene climbed out of the car and entered the building without a look back at him to see if he followed.  His guilt was building.  He should have talked to her before bringing her, but his pride seemed to overpower him.  His stupid pride could have cost him the most important thing in his life. 

Selene watched as he walked into the precinct and the captain signaled him into the interrogation room.  She had already sat down, all too familiar with how this would be played out.  She never imagined that she would ever be the suspect of any interrogation.  Jason walked into the room and leaned against the wall nearest to her.  She wasn’t sure if he was there as a way to scare her or protect her.  She couldn’t look at him because the minute she did, everything would come out.   He was her weakness and he didn’t know it.  The captain jolted her out of her thoughts.

“Ms. Mendez, I appreciate you coming in today.  This will just be basic questioning.  How did you come to meet the victim?”

Selene answered quickly. “He worked at a coffee shop that I go to.”

The captain placed a clear bag with matches on the table for Selene to see.

“Do you recognize this?”

“Yes.  They are matches.”

“Yes they are.  Your prints were on them.  Do you know how they got there?”

Selene nodded her head yes.  “I gave those to him.  He smoked and asked if I had matches when I left the coffee house a few weeks back.  I reached into my purse and found those.  I gave them to him and left to go to work.”

The captain grabbed the bag of matches and stood up.  He paused and then asked, “How are you connected to the Pink Bunny?”

“I’m not.”

“How did you get the matches with their logo then?”

“One of my clients has ties to that club.” 

Selene started to fidget nervously.  How can she continue to answer these questions without destroying her whole case and not perjuring herself?  If she lied to the cops, she would look guilty. Jason was clenching his fists like he was getting angry and she couldn’t blame him if it was
toward her. 

“Who is your client?” 
the captain asked.

“I’m not at liberty to say.”

The captain crossed his arms.  “This is a murder investigation and you are our prime suspect.  You will provide us with what we need to know or you will force me to bring up charges against you.  Tell me the name of your client. NOW!”

She saw Jason look toward his captain with shock on his face.  This is not protocol.  He knew that Selene was a lawyer and she was bound to a confidentiality agreement.  What was he doing?

“No, you won’t.  You have no concrete evidence against me besides my prints on a set of matches I gave him weeks ago. You don’t even have a warrant that requires me to divulge any information regarding my clients.  With your lack of evidence, you will never find a judge who will give you one either.  When you do have said warrant, I will let you know what you need to know.  Until then, I’ll be leaving now.”

Selene got up and the captain grabbed her arm to keep her from leaving.  Before she could protest, Jason was instantly holding the captain against the wall.

“Straiz, get off of me.”

Jason let him go. “What was that about?  You know she can’t give you that information. What were you thinking?”

“I’m doing my job to solve a murder.  You should be doing the same, instead of worrying about her feelings.”

“I’m taking her home.  She’s no longer a witness.”  The captain looked angrily at Jason.

“You need to put your personal feelings aside on this one, Straiz.”

“Too late for that, Sir.”

Jason walked out and grabbed her hand to lead her outside.  She pulled her hand from his as they walked through the front door.

“I’m sorry about what happened in there.  He has been stressing out on this case we’re working on and it is starting to get to him.” 

Selene still refused to meet his eyes.  He thought she was capable of murder and that hurt her.  She would never be able to do that.  He placed his hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him. 

“Look, I understand you’re upset at what happened back at the apartment.  And I’m so…”

Selene raised her eyebrows at him and shook her head.  She started to walk away from him.  Jason let out a frustrated sigh and yelled out her name.  She turned around as he tried to catch up with her. She barely noticed as someone walked toward them.  Jason turned to follow her gaze as the man reached into his pocket. He pulled out a gun and pointed it in Selene’s direction.  She froze. Jason yelled out.  “SELENE, GET DOWN!!”