Nowhere to Run (Stephanie Carovella) (32 page)

Delucci cleared his throat loudly. “No one is going to be shooting anyone,” he stated clearly, giving Stephanie a warning glare.

“Mr...Leigh, I’m afraid you will have to accompany me down to the station,” he confirmed firmly, watching the man shrug nonchalantly. He scowled when Stephanie snickered. “As for you, do you realize the kind of trouble you are in for blatantly disregarding the police barricade? We don’t just put it up for the sake of it. You broke into a federal crime scene. It’s an offense. You could be charged with trespassing and contaminating a crime scene.”

Stephanie pulled the keys to Ana’s apartment out of her pocket, dangling them between her fingers. “It’s not really breaking and entering when you have a key,” she said mockingly, a wicked smile sliding across her lips.

Delucci fought down the urge to smile, telling her sternly, “Damn it Carovella, this is not a joke. You fired a weapon in a closed off crime scene and compromised it. Do you even have a license for this Glock?”

Stephanie rolled her eyes at Delucci. “I’m not a complete idiot. Of course I have a license. Do you really think I would risk contaminating a crime scene if I wasn’t sure there was nothing to be found here? I’m sure your investigators have gone over this crime scene with fine-kid gloves and found nothing. Trust me, there’s nothing to contaminate.”

Delucci swore. He hated the fact she was right. So far, they’d yet to find any evidence to lead them to a suspect. The apartment had been wiped clean. Gena had given him a list of people in Ana’s life whose fingerprints might have been found within the apartment. Not only did they not find any unfamiliar fingerprints, they found no fingerprints full stop. The entire apartment had been sterilized.

Anger and frustration ate at him. They were chasing their tails and he was positive Stephanie Carovella knew more than she was letting on. It was almost like she was one step ahead of the L.A.P.D, just like the killer. When she gave him another mocking smile, he snapped. “Fine, you want to continue to be a smart ass, you can do so downtown. I’m charging you both with trespassing.”

Chapter Thirty-Two

Gena stalked into the police station, her car keys clenched tightly in her fist, frustration pumping through her. Jase followed behind her, grinning in amusement as Gena muttered to herself. Leave it to Stephanie to get arrested, he thought with a wry grin. He wondered if someone had ever thought about slapping a warning sign on her. The woman seemed to cause chaos wherever she went. Life certainly wasn’t dull with her in it, he knew this much.

Heading towards Delucci’s office, Gena blew out a sigh of annoyance. Damn Stephanie and her,
I can do whatever the hell I want
, attitude. When she’d received the call from Delucci telling her Stephanie had been detained, she’d been tempted to ignore it and just let her sit in a jail cell for a few hours. Her conscience had caused her to cave in and she’d grudgingly agreed to come down and bail her out. Gripping her keys tighter, she scowled. The woman was a pain in her ass.

Rapping her knuckles on Delucci’s office door, she opened it, popping her head in. “Frank?” she called cautiously.

Delucci lifted his head from his paperwork, smiling warmly at her. “Gena and Jase, come in.” He beckoned them in with his hand, indicating for them to sit.

Gena shook her head, bracing herself against the door frame. “What did she do this time?” she asked with a resigned sigh.

Delucci chuckled huskily, leaning back in his chair. “I’m guessing this isn’t a first for you?”

She shook her head. “It’s not even a second, third, or fourth time. You wouldn’t believe the amount of calls I’ve had from Detectives asking me to come and collect her. So?”

“She broke into Ana Ferrier’s apartment,” Delucci told her, smiling when Gena cursed.

“She’s certainly resourceful,” Jase said, chuckling.

“That’s not what I’d call her, Jase. A pain in my ass yes, but certainly not resourceful. She’s just fucking unbelievable,” she bit out, clenching her jaw in frustration.

“I’m not finished, Gena,” Delucci said, his eyes twinkling with mirth.

“There’s more?” she groaned. She shook her head. “No wait, what am I saying? It’s Stephanie, of course there’s more. She wouldn’t just simply break and enter. That’s too easy for her.” Sarcasm dripping from her voice, she asked, “Hit me with it, what else did she do?”

“She shot her husband.”

“She did what? Is he dead?” Jase asked.

Delucci looked from a dumbfounded Jase to a not so surprised Gena.

“Did she hit him?” Gena asked, trying to hide her laughter.

Delucci laughed in amusement. “No. She missed him. The bullet went into one of the walls,” he admitted.

Gena relaxed, her lips curving into a smile. “Then she wasn’t aiming for him.”

“She said she wasn’t,” Delucci said.

Gena moved away from the doorframe, sliding into a chair opposite him. Jase silently did the same.

“Did Dominic Delaney really teach her to be a crack shot?” he asked curiously.

Gena laughed huskily, her own eyes dancing in amusement. “She told you that?” Shaking her head, she grinned widely. “Dom was a lousy shot. He liked to use words to solve arguments. If that didn’t work, he used his body. He was a former under-18 champion kick-boxer and had a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu.”

Gena smiled at them. “Trust me, she missed on purpose.” Grinning at Jase, she said softly, “Dom might have been a lousy shot, but Stephanie isn’t. Like everything else she does in life, Stephanie needed to be the perfect marksman. She and I used to spend our Sunday mornings down at the pistol range on East 6
^th
Street. We spent hours down there. Every weekend, we would meet up, shoot some targets and then have a late brunch. Trust me, if she’d wanted to hit her husband she would have hit him.”

Delucci cleared his throat. “Speaking of hitting, did you know he hit her?”

Gena nodded, a lump developing in her throat. “Ben and Jesse filled me in on the details before I came down here.” Slumping heavily in her chair, she whispered, “I keep failing her Frank. I swore I would protect her and I keep failing her.”

“Gena, you can’t blame yourself,” Jase said, gently touching her arm. “She didn’t tell any of us.”

“But you knew didn’t you?” she argued, watching him nod.

“I figured she didn’t walk into a door. I just didn’t think it was my place to ask,” he admitted.

“Exactly, you noticed. I should have known. I saw the black eye and was too preoccupied condemning her to ask her what happened. What kind of best friend doesn’t ask her how she got a black eye? I should have asked. It’s what friends do.”

“She’s pressed charges against him,” Delucci said, watching Gena nod her relief.

“How the hell did she get into the apartment?” Jase asked, an idea already forming. He knew Stephanie went to see Ben after they’d talked and Ben had keys to Ana’s apartment.

“She had keys,” Delucci said, shaking his head with a grin. “I should be furious with her, but I can’t help but admire her. Like you said, she’s resourceful.”

“Ben,” Gena groaned, clenching her teeth in annoyance.

“He might not know his keys are missing,” Jase intercepted, grinning at Gena.

She rolled her eyes. “Even if he did, he wouldn’t tell us,” she snapped.

“Do you know how her husband knew where she was?” Jase asked.

Delucci leaned forward in his seat, his smile turning feral. “Now that’s an interesting question. It seems he’s been following her.”

Gena snorted in disbelief. “He’s been following her?” she echoed.

“For quite a while it would seem. Stephanie informed me her husband told her he moved to the same small town she moved to when she left L.A. His sole purpose was to meet and marry her,” Delucci said, disgust lacing his voice.

“He stalked her?” Gena asked in amazement, watching him shake his head. “What is it with her and guys? She’s a psycho magnet.”

Breaking off in distaste, she shook her own head. “Jesus fucking Christ, I don’t know how she manages it. She just throws herself into the path of danger without even trying.” Pausing, she asked, “Have you interviewed him yet?”

Delucci smiled at her again. “No. I thought we could talk to him together.”

Gena’s smile was predatory. “I can’t think of anything I’d like better, but first I want to see Stephanie.”

Delucci’s smile faded. “Actually, when I said we, I meant Jase and I.”

***

He stepped into the apartment, his body humming with anticipation. Leigh Walker had made mistake after mistake in handling Stephanie Carovella. He should never have let her return to Los Angeles – to return to him. If she’d been his from the beginning, he wouldn’t have let her out of his sight.

He smiled dangerously, sweeping his eyes around the tiny apartment. It was perfect. Walker was the ideal patsy for his crimes. One quick enquiry into his past and the L.A.P.D would have their first and only suspect. He couldn’t have asked for a better person to take the fall. It was too good to be true and all he had to do was help them along.

Slowly walking around the apartment, he laughed softly to himself. Walker should never have kept the old apartment, but he knew he would. He was sentimental in that way. It was his first mistake. It wouldn’t take the L.a.P.D long to discover this apartment. Or Stephanie, he thought, pride running through him. His love was smart. She was putting together the pieces faster than Gena Evans ever could, like he knew she would. Of course, the trinkets he planned on leaving behind would help their case along.

Dropping the bag he held onto the floor, he knelt down into a squat and unzipped it. He pulled out the plastic bag holding his keepsakes. He didn’t really want to part with them, but it was for a good cause. And, he could always get new trinkets.

Unsealing the bag, he pulled out the sterling silver necklace with the letter K dangling from it. He stroked it lovingly. Katrina, his sweet Kat. She’d been his first kill. Unplanned and rushed, he hadn’t meant to take it as far as he had, but she wouldn’t stop her struggling. She had been his first taste – his first rush of the power he’d felt when he took her life.

He smiled nostalgically. He remembered the rumors – all the talk over campus, the belief that Stephanie was his intended victim. He’d sat in class after class and heard the whispered rumors. He knew otherwise. He knew Stephanie was special. Before he touched her, he needed to practice. He wanted to be worthy of her. He wanted her to be proud of him.

Pulling out the rest of the mementos he’d brought with them, he picked up the simple gold cross and St Christopher necklace. He’d taken them from the two girls in Texas. He smirked inwardly. They’d been praying to the wrong person when he slit their throats.

Stalking into the master bedroom of the apartment, he tossed the mementos into a bowl sitting by the bed. Moving back into the living room, he crouched down beside his bag. Glancing down at his watch, he calculated how long it would take him to complete his job. He had so much work to do, and he had to work fast.

By the time he was finished, his old friend, Walker, would have a one way ticket to death row. His smile turned chilling. He should feel guilty about framing Walker, especially considering the fun they had playing together in university. He had been his best friend, his competitor and partner in crime. He didn’t like handing him to the police on a platter and wouldn’t have needed to if he had left Stephanie alone.

But no, ever the competitor, Walker had attempted to claim Stephanie as his own. He had tried to take her from him. And if this wasn’t crime enough, he hadn’t treated her like the precious jewel she was. The moment Walker struck Stephanie he had been a dead man in one form or another. Nobody hurt Stephanie Carovella and got away with it.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Stephanie accepted the coffee Gena handed her, taking a sip as Gena slid into the chair beside her.

“Are you okay?” Gena asked her, shifting slightly in her chair so she could examine Stephanie’s bruised face more closely.

Stephanie rolled her eyes. “You’re finally asking me if I’m okay? After all I’ve been through, you’re asking me now?”

Gena shrugged, attempting to hide her guilt with a casualness she didn’t feel. “It’s better late than never right?” Reaching out, she touched Stephanie’s cheekbone. “I wish I’d noticed this.”

Stephanie gave her a tiny smile. “Why? There’s nothing you could have done to prevent it.”

“No, but I could have locked your psycho ex-husband up,” Gena argued. Shaking her head, she softened her tone, chiding, “You really are a danger magnet, aren’t you?”

Stephanie took another deep sip of her coffee, resting her head against the wall. “Have you spoken with Leigh?”

Gena grimaced. “No. Jase is going to interview him with Delucci.” At Stephanie’s surprised look, Gena laughed bitterly. “It’s killing me not to interview him. Almost as much as the fact that Jase and Delucci seem to think this is their show and not mine. I
want
to interview your scumbag of a husband and I’d assumed I would be, but Delucci decided otherwise. Apparently it wouldn’t be in our best interest. He suggested Jase conduct the interview instead. I’m too close. I hate this crap, Steph. They’re squeezing me out. I know it.”

Taking a deep breath, she said, “As much as I hate all the politics within the L.A.P.D I have to acknowledge them. Interviewing your husband wouldn’t be in our best interests. I get that. I just don’t like the feeling I’m being screwed over.”

“He’s my ex-husband, or at least he will be as soon as the annulment is through,” Stephanie said. Groaning, she closed her eyes. “How did I not see him coming a mile off?” Scowling, she added, “I used to think I knew men. I knew the ones to stay away from and the ones to never let go of. Now I’m not too sure.”

Dropping her gaze to her coffee, she sighed heavily. “I’ve always been good at walking away from the good ones, Gena.” Closing her eyes again, she whispered forlornly, “I should never have walked away. I should have held onto him tightly and loved him with everything I had. I should have taken every opportunity to let him know I loved him. Instead I walked away from it all.”