L.A.P.D. Special Investigations Series, Boxed Set: The Deceived, The Taken & The Silent (68 page)

He placed a warm hand over hers and tipped his head to indicate Cait in the back. “It’s complicated. We’ll talk later.”

Laura closed her eyes. What had she gotten herself into? All she cared about was Cait…trying to protect her…and now she’d put her child’s life in danger. “I’ll do whatever I can.”

He squeezed her hand. “You can help by authorizing me to get your phone records and by telling my partner everything you know, from beginning to end and not leaving out a single thing.”

“Your partner?”

“I’m taking you to his house. When I’m not there, he’ll be there—until we get a resolution.”

“But why tell him? I already told you everything.”

His shoulders tensed. “He might see something I don’t.” Then he paused, his brows drawn together. “I want to make sure my personal involvement isn’t coloring my judgment.”

Her pulse quickened.

“It’s just a double check. We do it all the time.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

LAURA WAITED IN the car
while Jordan knocked. The door opened and a large man appeared. She couldn’t see him very well, other than he was about Jordan’s height and had sandy-blond hair. Jordan stepped inside and seconds later came back out.

“Come on. This is where you’re going to stay for a couple days.”

“Are we still on vacation?” Cait asked. “I want to go home and play with my friends.”

“Soon, sweetie,” Laura said, getting out of the car. She was at a loss over what to tell the child. She didn’t want to lie to her, and Cait was too smart to think they were just visiting one of Jordan’s friends.

He led the way inside. “Laura and Cait Gianni, meet Luke Coltrane, one of the crankiest guys I know.”

Cait giggled, then looked away as if embarrassed.

“It’s true,” Luke said, making a snarly face. “Some people think I gobble up little children.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Luke.” Laura smiled and shook his hand. He was a detective; she recognized his name from one of the conversations she’d had with Jordan.

Cait glommed onto her mother’s leg.

“He’s just kidding,” Laura said.

“No, I’m not. But I’ll refrain this time.”

“Ignore him, Cait,” Jordan said. “He’s harmless. Now, let’s get you two settled.” Jordan took their luggage and started toward the back of the house. “Where do you want them?” he asked Luke.

“There are only two bedrooms besides mine, so take your pick.”

The stairway was at the back of the narrow two-story home. Despite the fact that the place needed a good cleaning, Laura liked the antique furniture, the dark wood, old leaded-glass light fixtures and the eccentric architecture. The house definitely had a personality of its own.

Cait clung to Laura’s side as they went up the narrow stairwell and down an equally narrow hallway. Jordan stopped at one of the three doors and flung it open. He reached across to the other side and opened another. “Both bedrooms are small. Take your pick.”

“I want this one, Mom.” Cait indicated the bedroom on the left. “I can see the ocean from the window.”

“I think we should share a room,” Laura said. “Otherwise Jordan won’t have a place to sleep.”

He shook his head. “Not a problem. I like the couch downstairs just fine. And that way I’m in a better position to keep an eye on things.”

“What things?” Cait looked at Jordan with big eyes.

Laura glanced at him, too, hoping he wouldn’t say anything to frighten Cait.

“Actually, it’s the refrigerator I want to keep an eye on. I like my midnight snacks.”

“You’re lucky. My mom won’t let me have snacks.”

Laura took a stance, hands on her hips. “Not true. You have snacks all the time.”

“Fruit. Fruit’s not a snack. It’s food.”

“It’s good for you,” Laura said. “Now, let’s get you unpacked and let Jordan go about his business.”

He smiled, then said softly, “I’ll need about ten minutes alone with Luke.”

She nodded her understanding but cringed inside. He wanted to fill his partner in, to tell him how she’d lied to the police, how she’d obstructed justice. Funny how she’d never really thought about it that way until he’d said it. But she’d do it again under the same circumstances. Without a thought.

“Can we go to the beach, Mom? I want to go to the beach.”

“It’s getting late.”

“Can we go tomorrow?”

“We’ll see.” If this nightmare ever ended, maybe they could get their lives back. Do normal things. Truth was, she couldn’t remember what normal was anymore.

Cait flopped onto the bed. “You always say ‘We’ll see’ when you really mean no. You never let me do anything.”

Laura sighed, lifting Cait’s suitcase to the bed and taking out the child’s pajamas. “That’s because you’re seven years old.”

“Almost eight. Shannon gets to go places all the time.”

“Well, we just came back from the mountains. That’s someplace.”

Cait smiled. “Yeah, I guess, but—”

“No buts,” Laura said. “None of us are going anywhere right now.”

Cait’s face crumpled. “You never want to talk about other things, either.”

Seeing her daughter’s frustration, guilt swept through Laura. If she were Cait, she’d be feeling the same way. And there wasn’t a damned thing she could do about it. “This isn’t the time or the place to talk, but I promise we will when we get home. And I promise I’ll listen.”

“I want to go home now. I don’t like staying away so long.”

“Neither do I, honey.” Neither do I.

***

Jordan found Luke in the kitchen holding a drink. “You can’t be alert if you’re drinking,” Jordan said.

Luke frowned, then held up the glass. “Pure tonic water.”

“You get anything on the composite?”

“Not before I left. If there’s anything, it should be there by now.”

“You tell anyone?”

Luke shook his head. “So, what’s going down?”

Walking over to close the kitchen door, Jordan said, “A lot.” He proceeded to give Luke the Cliff’s Notes version of everything Laura had told him, including the events at the cabin…except the personal things.

“What the hell…if we’d known when we were investigating… She had to know she could go to jail for obstructing the law, didn’t she?”

“She didn’t care about anything except her daughter’s safety. But she’s willing to help us now. Only they need a safe place. I figured this was better than most.”

Luke nodded. “She could still be in trouble for obstruction of justice.”

“I know. I’ll try to get her immunity if she testifies.” Jordan felt edgy, couldn’t stand still. “But I don’t want it to go that far.”

“You sound involved.”

“I am involved. I think I started this whole thing.”

“That’s bull. She started it when she withheld information.”

“Technically true. But she was doing just fine until I showed up.”

“Yeah,” Luke said, cracking a grin. “You’ve got it bad.”

Jordan glared at him. “I’m trying to solve a case and keep two people safe.”

“All good intentions. But you’ve still got it bad. So, what’s the plan?”

“I’m going out. But when Cait’s in bed, Laura’s going to tell you the story from start to finish. Detail by detail. I still don’t know if she’s given me everything and I just need a double check. See what you can do.”

“Gotcha.”

A half hour later, Jordan, on his way into the Robbery Homicide Division, stopped at the front desk. “Hey,” he said to Mary Beth. “Got that information I asked for?”

She looked up, her expression teasing. “What’s it worth?”

He wasn’t in the mood for joking around. He was on a mission. “Do you have it or not?”

She gave him a nasty look and shoved her hair out of her eyes. “Well, sort of.”

“Sort of? Either you have it or you don’t.

“I have this.” She handed him a printout.

“Thanks.” He snatched it from her hand and headed back to his desk.

“Hey, partner.

The two-pack-a-day voice grated on Jordan’s nerves. Jordan turned to see Howie Ralston staring at him from two desks away. Ralston was the last guy in the department he wanted as his partner.

“Yeah. What’s up?”

“That’s what I was going to ask you. You get anything on the Valdez case?”

“I talked to the daughter, told her about her mother.” Jordan went to his desk, laid the printout on top, then sat to read it, hoping Ralston got the message.

“How about the Kolnikov case?”

He kept his focus on the printout. “What about it?”

“I heard you’re honing in on a suspect.”

“You heard wrong. In fact, it’s just the opposite. I’m shutting the case down.” He went back to the printout.

Ralston came around the desk to stand in front of him, apparently wanting Jordan to look up. “Why?”

“Because we’ve exhausted all leads. We’re wasting our time.”

Rubbing a beefy hand across his chin, Ralston turned to leave. “Okay. I’ve got better things to do, anyway,” he said over his shoulder.

Before Jordan could respond, the guy was out the door. Hell, he couldn’t have planned it any better. If Ralston knew they were shutting down the Kolnikov case, the whole department would know. And hopefully DeMatta’s mole.

He shoved back his chair and glanced at the papers, flipping pages. He stopped on an entry, his heartbeat quickening. The Belzar Corporation was owned by a Nick Stanton. Quickly he punched the name into NCIC.

His phone rang and Mary Beth came on the intercom. “The boss wants to see you.”

Shit. He let the program run, got up and went to Carlyle’s office.

The captain sat behind the desk, his face drawn, dark circles under his eyes. “I heard you’re giving up on the Kolnikov case.”

Jordan grinned. “That was quick.”

The captain eyed him from under his brows. “What aren’t you telling me?”

It was tough to get anything by the boss.

Carlyle motioned to Jordan to close the door. “Continue.”

Jordan took a piece of paper and wrote,
I have information to suggest a particular person was at Eddie Gianni’s house the night he died
.

The captain nodded, flipped on the radio and motioned Jordan to the window. Keeping his voice low, Carlyle said, “Anyone we know?”

“Yep. But no positive ID,” Jordan whispered back.

“Can you get it?”

“I will.” He didn’t know how, but he would.

“You need backup?”

“Not yet, but soon. I don’t want any leaks.” Jordan knew the captain would readily agree if it meant solving one of their biggest screwup cases.

“Make it soon. I can’t wait to get the mayor off my ass.”

Jordan went back to his desk and checked NCIC for the composite photograph he’d fed it earlier. Four pages of photographs popped up, each one bearing a resemblance to DeMatta’s new man. He paged down, mentally eliminating those in jail and those who really didn’t look like him at all. On the last page, a familiar face stared back at him. Nicholas Stanton. The guy who’d been at Vincento’s with DeMatta was the same guy listed as the owner of the Belzar Corporation.

Stanton worked for DeMatta. Was the corporation a front for something else? According to Rita Valdez’s description, Stanton was most likely the man she’d seen with Anna Kolnikov. It made sense Stanton would know the woman if he was doing business with DeMatta. Laura had seen a blond guy with Kolnikov, and if she could identify him…

His thoughts spiraled. Stanton’s corporation owned the black car that had been following Laura. But that didn’t make sense. Was Stanton one of DeMatta’s new hit men? Brought in from New York to take out Rita Valdez and threaten Laura? Maybe take her out, too. The MO for Kolnikov’s murder was similar to Valdez’s. Had he been in L.A. four years ago, too?

Jordan went back to the computer, checked for any and all information on Stanton, nerves pulsing under his skin as he waited for the information to materialize. When it came, he sat on the edge of his chair, his legs bouncing with nervous energy as he read. Stanton had a couple of felony convictions, but with short jail time. Last paroled in October, not long before Kolnikov died. But he had a New York address at the time. DOB, December 24, 1980, New Paltz, New York. Born on Christmas Eve. Nicholas Stanton’s mother had a sense of humor.

He’d never heard of town and pulled up MapQuest on his computer. His blood rushed. New Paltz was about twenty miles from Poughkeepsie, the city where Kolnikov was born. Rita Valdez had said the man she saw with Anna had been from the same hometown. Had Kolnikov grown up in New Paltz?

But what would be the connection? There were too many years between Nick and Anna for them to have known each other as children.

Another completely unrelated thought popped up. Kolnikov probably had parents and maybe brothers and sisters who still lived in New Paltz. Possibly they could tell him something about the woman. But would the information help him find her killer? He doubted it.

He sighed, resting against the back of his chair. He didn’t need to know anything more about Kolnikov. If he found her killer, it would be enough. Justice would prevail—and that’s all that mattered.

***

Laura had watched Luke’s expression shift from understanding to incredulity during their conversation. Afterward, she couldn’t tell if he was appalled or just plain disgusted.

He sat across from her on an old frayed couch in the living room. The piece of seventies furniture looked at odds with all the antiques, and she suspected he kept it around for comfort. He scratched his head. “Is that everything?”

“Yes.”

“Did the person Cait identified at the funeral know she recognized him?”