Rafael (5 page)

Kaya arrived at
the precinct, having driven there on auto-pilot. After eighteen years of
navigating the same route every day, she could do it with her eyes closed. The
only change over the years was where she parked. Being chief meant the premier
spot in the whole parking lot now belonged to her.

Sighing, she
thought back to the days when she was just a beat cop. She didn’t have to make
any decisions; she just did her job and wrote a report. Now it was up to her to
ensure everyone else was doing their job and to double-check all reports. She
didn’t trust anyone else to that task, not after the governor had questioned
one that was less than perfect. Never again would her department look
incompetent. If it took her all night, she looked over every report that came
in before they were sent on up the judicial chain of command.

As she walked
through the lobby past the bullpen, she greeted the few overnight employees by
name. One thing she made sure of was that the office was stocked with decent
coffee. She needed her caffeine fix as much as the next person, and she refused
to drink sludge. Her team didn’t make a lot of money, so she didn’t want them
spending what they did make on expensive, barista drinks. She poured herself a
cup of hot, steamy, wake-me-up and settled in for the day.

Several cups of
coffee and a couple of hours later, her day team began coming in, grumbling and
complaining as they did most mornings. Being a cop was a rewarding job when the
bad guys were caught, but when they had a case like they did now, it wore on
your soul. Kaya waited until all bodies were feeling the caffeine running
through their system before she wrangled them into the conference room. She had
learned a lot about dealing with a large group of mostly testosterone laden men
over the years; let them know right away your balls are bigger but mother them
at the same time. From the moment she was promoted to chief, she laid down the
law, and her team listened. She proved herself time and again in the field,
garnering the respect of those who didn’t think a woman should be a cop, much
less chief.

With their early
morning brief over, she stopped Dane and Jorgenson. After she had left the
hotel, the two of them spent the next several hours interviewing all of the
hotel staff before going through the guest rooms. There was no sign of
struggle, no sign of a break-in. Whoever pulled off an abduction of that
magnitude could not have managed it alone. There were a few of employees they
wanted to talk to again as well as all of the managers.

Jorgenson walked
off to get busy, but Dane held back. “You okay, Boss? You seem tense.” He
usually offered up his dimpled grin that she was positive melted the panties
off certain young women. Hell, if she was honest, that grin made her stop and
take notice in the beginning. Today he was holding back, almost sounding
concerned.

“No, Abbott, I’m
really not. We have eleven dead, one missing and very few leads. We need
something and soon because Magnus Flanagan’s chances are sliding down the
percentage scale quickly.” She was shocked when he gripped her shoulder with a
small squeeze. “Hang in there. I’m going to check on the lead I got. I’ll let
you know how that goes.”

He walked away
leaving Kaya speechless. Well hell.

Kaya was going
over the previous night’s reports when her desk phone rang. “Chief Kane.”

“I have
information on your murders. I saw Rafael Stone leaving the scene just after
daybreak yesterday.” The line went dead. The voice on the other end had been
distorted by an electronic device.

She stared at
the receiver a beat before hanging up. First, only those in law enforcement or
higher up knew the number to her office phone. Second, time of death still had
not been released. Dante had called Kaya yesterday while she had been meeting
with Rafael.  She later returned his call when he informed her of the cause as
well as time of death. The bodies were found at approximately ten a.m., and the
ME estimated the murders happened at approximately eight that same morning.

Since the sun
came up right at eight, the time frame fit. Unless Dante shared TOD with
someone outside of his department, he and Kaya were the only ones with that
information. Well, them and the killer. She picked up her phone and dialed his
department.

“Morgue. They
dice ‘em, we ice ‘em.”

Kaya would never
get used to the young assistant. “Trevor, this is Chief Kane. Please put Dante
on the phone.”

“Hold whatcha
got.”

Shaking her
head, she waited less than a minute for the ME to pick up.

“Chief Kane,
what can I do for you?” His deep baritone voice was sexy over the phone. If the
man ever chose to smile, she might consider him handsome.

“Dante, have you
spoken to anyone other than me about the murders?”

“No, I ran the
tests and made the notations in the computer myself.”

“Does Trevor
have access to the information?” Kaya could see the young man chatting up the
murders over a nice game of Halo with his geek buddies.

“Yes, he does,
but I can assure you, he takes his job seriously and knows not to speak about
ongoing cases, the same as you and I.  Is there a problem?”

“I hope not. I
just received an anonymous phone call with a tip.  The caller knew the
approximate time of death.  Let’s hope it was a guess.” She pressed the button
that disconnected the call. When the dial tone buzzed, she punched in the
number for her IT department.

“Wilkes, this is
Chief Kane. A call came in to my private line, and I need it traced. Yes, about
three minutes ago. This is priority.” She hung up. What the hell was going on?
If someone actually placed Rafael at the scene when they said they did, all of
his alibis had lied to Dane. She called his cell, but it went to voicemail.
“Dane, Kaya. Call me.”

Needing another
cup of coffee, she passed by the dispatcher’s desk on her way to the kitchen.
“Hey Kim, did you put a call through to my phone a few minutes ago?” The
younger woman had worked at the precinct for years, and Kaya knew her well. “No,
Ma’am. Is something wrong?”

“No,
everything’s fine. I just missed the call, and they didn’t leave a message.”

Her office phone
was ringing as she walked back through the door. “Kane.”

“Chief, Wilkes
here. We couldn’t get a trace on the call that came in. It was from a burner phone.”

“Okay, thanks.”
Kaya was at a loss. She needed answers. She didn’t want to be wrong about
Rafael.
Mr. Stone.
Sipping her coffee, she thought back to the dream of
him and the little boy. Wishful thinking was all that could be. There was no
connection between them, never would be, especially as long as he was a
suspect.

The anonymous
tip bothered her. She received them frequently and more often than not they
were bogus. Was this one real? Was someone trying to set him up? His alibi was
airtight
if
his housekeeper and gardener were telling the truth. There
was also the security footage at the office with timestamps. She needed to see
them.

Rafael’s home
was a large manor situated on a sprawling piece of land located on the
northeast side of New Atlanta. The house boasted eight bedrooms, ten bathrooms,
billiards room, dojo slash gym, state of the art kitchen, swimming pool, and
his favorite area: a flower garden. The garden covered approximately three out
of the fifty acres. Paths led through the various types of greenery, blooms,
trees, and fountains. It was one of the most serene places he had ever enjoyed.
When Rafe wanted to think, this is where he went. Benches were scattered
throughout the paths, and on one of these benches is where he found himself
this morning. The brisk October air kicked his senses into sixth gear.

Ever since
waking, Kaya filled his thoughts. He couldn’t shake the memory of their brief
contact, the electricity that zinged through his arm when they shook hands. The
way she trembled beneath his touch and the scent of her arousal as they stood
close were tattooed on his brain. However hard it was to control his thoughts,
he had to get a lock on them. There was a killer to find so that he was no
longer a suspect.

He had learned
the art of meditation from Geoffrey. Rafael calmed his heart rate, stilled his
body, opened his mind. Breathing in through his nose slowly, all tension eased
from his body. Rafael imagined he was standing on a rocky cliff looking out
over a wild sea; waves rolling in, crashing over the jagged rocks that
protruded from the depths like a barbed wire fence protecting a prison. The
beauty of the water mixed with the turmoil of the waves somehow brought a sense
of balance to Rafe. As he breathed in the scent of the saltwater, he felt a tug
on his arm. Looking down, there was a small, black-haired boy reaching for his
hand.

Clasping onto
the child’s hand, he looked back out to the sea. The tide calmed; the waves no
longer crashed. The water was as smooth as glass. Glancing back down, the child
was smiling up at him. “It’s pretty, Papa.” The boy was pointing to the
horizon. The sun was peaking its head over the faraway horizontal barrier that
appeared close enough to touch. “It is beautiful, my son.”

Rafe came out of
his trance with a start.
What the fuck?
Rarely did his meditation take
him that far into his subconscious. But a child? He was not a father, of that
he was certain. The fates guaranteed they could not procreate unless it was
with one who could handle carrying a Goyle fetus: their mate. Would the fates
have changed their minds or had they made it so the humans could carry a
shifter child as well?

Meeting Kaya and
the possibility of human bonding must have affected him deeper than he knew.
Previously, Rafe bore little hope of finding a mate and having a family. Now,
it was all he could think about. To have his home filled with children, given
to him by the woman he was fated to be with, would be worth every second of
loneliness he had endured for the last five hundred years. He rose from the
bench and made his way through the garden, stopping to admire the last few
blooms that were hanging on in spite of the cooling weather.

Grabbing his
phone on the way to the shower, he rang Geoffrey. Frey was one of the more
disciplined of the Clan. He didn’t stay out late and he rose early. “Yo.” His
answer was in no way disrespectful to his King. He was answering as family.

“Yo yourself. I
got a call earlier from Sin. He’s sending Lorenzo Campanelli and Jasper Jenkins
our way. I need you to pick them up from the airport and bring them to the
manor. Sin said that Jasper is showing signs of aggression. I think I have the
perfect test to see if that’s true.”

“Ah, let me
guess. A little friendly scrimmage?”

“Right you are
my brother. It’s been a while since we have gathered all the family together,
and I do believe today is perfect for a
meeting
.”

“If Jasper isn’t
exactly a team player, how are you going to handle him?” Frey was the enforcer
of the family. He relished bringing less than submissive members back in line.

“I won’t be
handling him; you will. The way you brought Michael around all those years ago
was brilliant. If you can tame
his
beast, surely you can handle Jasper.”

“We shall see.
Are you going into the office this morning?”

“Yes, for a while.
I am going to schedule a video chat with the others so we’re all on the same
page.  I will be home by the time you bring our guests. Sin didn’t give me much
of a heads up, so they can stay with me until they find their own homes. I’ll
have Willow set up the video feed, and I will talk to you then.”

Rafe stopped off
in the kitchen for a cup of coffee before he made it to the shower. His
housekeeper was putting something sweet smelling in the oven. “Good morning,
Priscilla. We will be having new family arriving this afternoon. If you would
please, make sure two of the guest rooms are ready.”

The older lady
walked up to Rafe and pulled his face down so she could kiss his cheek as she
did every morning. She was the closest thing he’d had to a mother in almost two
hundred years. Priscilla’s family had been serving the Di Pietros for
centuries. She and her brother, Jonathan, lived with and served Rafe and
whoever stayed with him.  Very few humans knew of the shifters, and those that
did were as loyal as if they were shifters themselves. “Of course, my boy. You
go shower. Sweets will be ready when you are finished.”

“You spoil me
too much.” Rafe kissed her cheek and did as she said. An hour later he was
pulling into the parking garage at Stone, Inc. At the back of the garage, a
wrought iron gate slid open, and his car passed through. Only he and his inner
circle knew the code that led to the underground lot. Everyone else parked
outside the barrier.

The top floor of
the building housed Rafe’s office and his private apartment. His second home
was spacious and included all of the amenities one could want. It, as well as
all Society homes, was equipped with roof access. All were custom built and
situated strategically throughout the city and surrounding states. They each
contained Julian-designed security systems that were more advanced than any
available to the government.

Julian was not
only an expert forensics scientist but also an electronics whiz. His I.Q. was
off the charts. If anyone outside their family found out what he was capable
of, his life would be in jeopardy from not only the government but also the
likes of Gordon Flanagan. Julian had confided in Rafe many years ago that he,
too, had perfected the cloning formula, but only in theory.

It was quarter
‘til eight, and Willow was sitting at her desk when Rafe arrived. “Good morning,
Willow. How was your evening?”

His young
assistant blushed. Even though Rafe had hired her a couple of years ago, she
was still shy when he spoke to her. “It was very nice, thank you. I received an
email from Ashley and forwarded it to you.”

“Excellent. I
would like to have a video chat with the team. Please set that up for nine, and
I will let them know to be on the call. Anything else for me?” Willow was
young, but she was the most efficient assistant he had ever employed. She was a
very pleasant, if somewhat timid, young lady. He enjoyed her immensely.

“No, Sir,
nothing else.”

Rafe let her get
busy with setting up the video and walked the short distance to his office.
Sending out a group text, he let the others know to be on the call in an hour.
He sat down at his desk and turned on his computer. As soon as it booted up he
opened his email program. The first one he looked at was the itinerary. The
flight was coming in at two that afternoon giving Frey plenty of time to get to
the airport.

The email
program was fitted with the very best spyware possible. When messages came in
from anonymous accounts, they were sent to his spam folder. He noticed there
was an email from an unknown source with the subject “I want to hire your
firm”. Knowing he should delete the message immediately, something about it
nagged at Rafe, and he opened it anyway.

“Mr. Stone,

Our company
is looking to relocate to New Atlanta. While there are many available spaces,
we prefer to have our facilities built to our own specifications, from the
ground up. We are contacting several firms for bids. Attached to this email is
a rough sketch of what we are looking for. If you wish to bid on the project,
please reply to this email and we will contact you for a meeting.

Regards,

Bartholomew
Cromwell

CEO,
Cromwell, Inc.”

Rafe was
unfamiliar with the name Cromwell. He would have Nikolas or Julian check out
the validity of the company as well as search for information on Bartholomew.
Against his better judgment, he opened the attachment and found a drawing of
what looked like a modern office building with a warehouse attached. This type
of structure wasn’t his specialty. If it turned out to be a legitimate request,
he would have to think long and hard about bidding on it.