Love Inspired Suspense October 2015 #1 (11 page)

“Let's look first.” Blain had Santo's number but he'd have to explain to her why. And he couldn't do that right now.

They made it to the door and Blain checked around it. “Has to be an alarm system.”

“Yes. There's a lot of valuable stuff in this warehouse.” Rikki grabbed his arm. “Do you think there's something here that would cause someone to kill?” She shook her head. “I don't want my family to be involved. I couldn't handle that.”

Blain didn't want to admit it, but he'd thought long and hard about her family being involved. It made sense, after all.

“Anything is plausible at this point.”

He touched a hand to the glass-paneled double doors and pushed. One of the doors swung open.

“That's not good, either,” Rikki said. “Blain, this is dangerous.”

Blain held her behind him. “Which is why we're going to wait here for backup.”

He didn't want her to see in case something bad had happened to her father. She might resent her family's reputed criminal activity and she might not be close to Franco but he could tell Rikki loved her family in spite of everything.

A good reminder that he still had to handle this case with kid gloves.

Because blood was always thicker than murder, after all.

ELEVEN

T
wo cruisers and a sheriff's-department SUV showed up in record time. When the Alvanetti warehouse was messed with, everyone came running.

“Whadda we got?” The sheriff's deputy asked, his gun and flashlight out.

Blain knew the young deputy. “Hey, Billy. Not sure yet,” Blain said after the two Millbrook officers hurried up. “Franco Alvanetti is missing so we decided to check here, since according to his daughter, Regina, he sometimes comes here late to work.” He indicated Rikki behind him. “We got here and found the door unlocked.”

“He'd lock the door behind him,” Rikki said. “His car is parked over there.” She pointed to a big oak tree off to the side of the building.

“I'll go check the vehicle,” one of the officers said, hurrying away.

“Let's get in there,” Blain said. “Rikki, you stay behind me, okay?” He couldn't leave her in the car so he had to let her go in.

She nodded but her eyes held a solid apprehension. She grabbed Blain's jacket and held tight.

Soon they were moving through the dark front offices. Blain noticed opulent furnishings and several cubicles and conference rooms. They passed what looked like a kitchen and dining area.

“Where's the main office?” he asked. “Where would he go?”

She pointed to the left. “The one in the corner with the river view.”

Blain saw the big windows and the glistening Millbrook River beyond the security lights and the mushrooming trees. The cloudy night didn't allow for much light to creep in so he held his flashlight over his weapon.

“There!” Rikki pointed behind the big desk. “It's him.”

Blain rushed over and found Franco lying on the floor. He checked Franco's pulse. “He's alive.” Then he shouted, “Call 911 and get an ambulance out here. And someone go over the rest of this place and check for any sign of intruders.”

Everyone scrambled into action. Rikki fell on her knees beside Franco. “Papa? Papa, wake up.” She touched his forehead and took one of his beefy hands in hers. “Daddy?”

Blain turned on the office light and pulled her away. “Let me check him out, okay?”

She nodded, her expression void of emotion. She looked as if all the blood had left her body. “I need to call Santo,” she said, her voice above a whisper.

“I can do that,” Blain said, his hands moving over Franco's body. When he touched the older man's head, his fingers came away with blood. “He's got a bad gash on the back of his head.”

Rikki took in a shattered breath. “Someone hit him?”

“Or he fell and hit his head.”

Blain grabbed Franco's overcoat from the desk chair and placed it around him. Then he checked the older man's vitals again. Weak, shaky pulse but no other obvious signs of injury. The paramedic would have to determine the rest. “Help is on the way, Rikki, okay?”

She bobbed her head. “He looks so old, Blain. When did he get so old?”

Blain held one hand to her father's erratic pulse and then took her hand. “Hang on. Both of you need to hang on.”

A month ago, Franco Alvanetti had only come to mind whenever Blain thought of bringing the reputed crime boss down. That and how he resented his own father for turning a blind eye. Now his whole perspective was changing. The Alvanetti family was more complicated than he'd ever imagined.

Starting with the woman kneeling by her father with her eyes closed in prayer.

Sirens echoed out over the night. Rikki got up to run to the door. “They're here.”

“And we need to stand back and let them to their jobs,” Blain said.

He did a quick visual of the entire room and saw a small white statue lying by the ornate credenza. He quickly snapped a picture of the statue, sure that someone had used it to hit Franco over the head. Then he dug into his jacket pocket and found a pair of latex gloves. After putting them on, he picked up the statue. It was a goddess of some sort, heavy white porcelain. A big jagged crack indicated it had been chipped on one corner. A dark stain spread against the damaged part.

Blood?

Rikki saw his actions and gasped. “That's one of his favorite pieces. My mother bought it in Italy and teased him that the face looked like hers. He loves it.” She walked to the credenza. “He kept it right here.”

Blain saw bloodstains on the base of the foot-high figurine. Someone had definitely used this as a weapon.

One of the other officers hurried into the office. “Sir, we found something else.” He gave Blain a pointed stare.

Rikki didn't miss a beat. “Just tell him.”

Blain nodded at the officer. “Go ahead.”

“We found a body,” the young man said. “Out back by a Dumpster.”

Rikki put a hand to her mouth. “Is it my brother?”

The man shook his head. “No, ma'am.” Then he walked over to Blain and whispered, “It looks like the picture we have up at the station. The one of Chad Presley.”

Blain's gaze locked with Rikki's.

“What is it?” she asked, her hand grabbing the sleeve of Blain's jacket. “Blain?”

He couldn't hide it from her. “It might be Chad, Rikki. I'm sorry.”

Rikki's eyes turned a misty black. “Show me.”

When he didn't move, she gripped his sleeve again. “Blain, let me see him.”

Blain nodded and turned to the other officer. “Bag and tag this, Wilson.”

Then he and Rikki headed out to the back of the property where a group of officers were gathered. They parted when Blain brought Rikki toward the grim scene.

She pushed past him, but he held her back, his hands on her arms. “Rikki, is this Chad Presley?”

She stood so still he was afraid he'd lost her. Finally, she bobbed her head. “Yes, that's him. That's Chad.”

Blain turned her around. She was shaking. “Somebody get me a blanket for Miss Alvanetti, please.”

It looked like the killer was now targeting the entire Alvanetti family and people connected with them. And it was obvious whoever was doing this wanted something very important.

Blain was more determined than ever to find out what exactly that might be.

* * *

Rikki sat at the hospital with her brother Santo, both staring at a kitschy watercolor on the waiting room wall. Caught in a grip of horror over what had happened tonight, her mind moved from finding Tessa dead to seeing her father lying so still...and then seeing a man she'd been close to for years sitting up against a Dumpster with blood all over his clothes.

And now, her brother staring off into space, his expression full of anger and what looked like his own private despair.

Santo had been furious, of course. He'd ranted at Blain and her and the police and the paramedics. Now he sat with a brooding frown, his hands in the pockets of his winter coat.

“I can get us some coffee,” she offered, thinking her brothers and her had never been close. But she was rethinking that and a lot of other things these days.

Santo burrowed deeper into his coat. “I don't need any coffee.”

Rikki glanced at the ER doors. They'd been in there with her father a long time. Blain had left a few minutes ago to take the bagged figurine to the station to log as evidence and to talk to the medical examiner about Chad's body. Thinking she'd never sleep again, she glanced at her brother.

“They didn't find anything missing,” she said, needing to talk about this. “Nothing, even though the office was a mess. The warehouse looked intact.”

“I heard that but I've got some of my staff walking it right now along with some officers to see if anything else is messed up. I intend to go over the inventory again first thing in the morning. A professional would cover his tracks.”

She stood and whirled to stare at her brother. “What have I done, Santo? What is it about me that this family can't love?”

Santo pulled a hand through his thick black hair. He looked as exhausted as she felt. “What is it about this family that
you
can't love,
mia sorella
?”

That question floored Rikki. “Isn't that obvious? We live dangerous lives, lives of secrets and sins. I had to get away but our lifestyle has finally caught up with us.”

Santo looked shocked and sickened. “You judge too harshly, Regina.”

“I know what I see.”

His dark eyes scanned her with regret. “You know what you think you see.” Staring ahead, he said, “Two people you met after you left here are dead. What does that tell you?”

“You're cruel,” she replied, gritting her teeth at the pain coursing through her. But he was right.

“I'm realistic,” he retorted. “You always did only see what your so-called noble heart needed to see and nothing else.”

“I see that someone is after me and now my family.” She tugged her sweater close. “And I'm beginning to wonder if my family isn't involved in something none of us can control.”

“What do you care?” he asked, rage radiating from his eyes. “You and Victor, you both chose to leave me with this mess.”

“What do you mean?”

Santo gave her a long, measuring stare. “I...”

The ER doors swung open then, causing him to stand and turn toward the doctor coming up the hallway.

Rikki watched her brother's face, sure that Santo knew something he wasn't telling her, but then that had been the pattern with her family for most of her life. But she'd have to wait to find out. The doctor didn't look as though he had good news.

* * *

Blain finished filing his report and pushed back his squeaking desk chair. He planned to head back to the hospital to check on Mr. Alvanetti and Rikki. Her brother was with her and Santo had brought his own guards with him, right along with his own uncooperative attitude.

But Blain worried, anyway. The neighborhood canvas back at the townhome hadn't brought any answers. A couple of joggers had been spotted that afternoon but the descriptions were vague and could fit anyone. Blain had been jogging there himself so he couldn't dispute the statements.

No prints anywhere. Nothing yet on the brother in Europe.

No solid evidence on any of her clients being involved. The all had alibis and clean records.

Now a shooting attempt this morning and an attack at the warehouse and a dead ex-boyfriend. Franco was in the hospital and Chad Presley was dead. He had to wonder again what the ex-boyfriend's involvement in this could have been. Chad had somehow made his way west from Tallahassee to the panhandle, maybe looking for Rikki or maybe looking for something else. They'd never get a chance to interview Presley now. But Blain did have something to add to his notes.

He remembered Rikki telling him Chad had been at a wedding at the estate last spring. Had he scoped the place, searching for something? Maybe gone to the warehouse and confronted the old man? But then, who had killed Chad and why?

The crime scene people had determined that the slug they'd found embedded in the fence behind Chad Presley had matched the one they'd found near Tessa Jones's body. Possibly the same shooter.

His phone buzzed. Lawson. Finally.

“Hey,” he said. “Thanks for calling me back.”

“What you got?” Hunter asked. Not one for small talk.

“It's a long story,” Blain said. He gave Hunter the particulars. “I need you to do some digging, especially in the state capital and maybe down in Miami. Are you nearby? Can you take this on?”

“Not nearby but I'll be there soon enough,” Hunter replied. “Email me the facts.”

“I'll get right on that,” Blain said.

He hung up, relief washing over him. Now if he could just get a hit on Victor Alvanetti.

Blain didn't have a lot of resources and he had no European connections. He stared at his notes and then lifted his head.

But he knew someone who did.

Time to make this investigation a family affair.

He grabbed his coat and headed back out into the night.

When he got to the hospital, he found Rikki and Santo huddled together in a corner. Rikki glanced up and saw him and then shot out of her chair after giving her scowling brother a worried look.

“Hi,” she said, meeting Blain near another hallway.

“Hi. What's the status?”

“He has a concussion,” she said. “He's okay but while they were examining him his blood pressure spiked.” She pushed at her tousled hair and looked over her shoulder. “They want to keep him here to rest for the night and...they want to do some more tests in the morning. The doctor said my father is suffering from exhaustion, too.”

“Exhaustion?” That shocked Blain. “I thought he was retired and kind of hanging out at the house most days.”

“I thought that, too,” she said with a lift of her shoulders. “I think he stays up half the night, sitting with my mother even though she has a nurse.”

“That's understandable,” Blain said. “In spite of everything, they seem to love each other.”

He looked into Rikki's chocolate eyes and wondered what that kind of love would be like. Would he ever know? Up until now, he hadn't really expected a lasting relationship with a woman. But there was something about her. Those pretty, pink lips, those exotic, slanted eyes and dark, winged eyebrows.

“Did you find anything?”

Blain tore his gaze away from Rikki to find her brother staring him down from behind her with a dark, threatening scowl.

“Uh, no. No viable witnesses have come forward about seeing anyone entering or leaving the town house the other night and our shooter from this morning apparently has lost his will to speak. And nothing regarding tonight at the warehouse. We'll go over the security tapes and maybe that will help us identify your father's assailant since he's indicated he didn't see who attacked him.” He held back and then said, “And we need to find Chad's killer.”

He didn't mention the ballistics report.