The Eligible Suspect (11 page)

Chapter 9

D
isguised in their new outfits, Korbin led Savanna into Julio’s Mexican Cantina on a charming street corner of Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Minutes from downtown Denver, it had a small-town feel in the middle of the metropolitan buzz. He searched the area for signs of surveillance. If Damen had told police about Julio, they’d be keeping an eye out for them. He spotted a car in the parking lot with two people inside. They didn’t notice them. The passenger was busy eating a taco. He had his hands full.

Korbin glanced over there every so often as he and Savanna walked to the entrance. Inside the vestibule, he looked back through the glass. The two men hadn’t recognized them.

Stepping into the entrance, he guided Savanna through a throng waiting to be seated. The restaurant had been featured on a dining network television program. Tourists and residents flocked here for their spicy green chili and giant burritos. Savanna stepped up to the wood-planked wraparound porch beneath a western gabled roof.

“Your friend owns this?”

“Yes.”

At nearly seven, there was a wait. Korbin gave a false name and asked to see Julio.

Savanna didn’t doubt their wait was about to get much shorter when the hostess smiled at her. “Are you Savanna Ivy?”

“Uh...”

“You are!” She laughed her delight and put her hands to her face.

“Could we have a private table?” Korbin asked.

“Of course. Oh my God. I can’t believe we have a celebrity here! You’re here to see Julio? How do you know him?”

“Table?” Korbin said, impatient.

“Oh, of course. I’m sorry. You probably don’t want to cause a scene.”

Korbin glanced at the others crowding the lobby. They all stared. So much for not being noticed.

The hostess grabbed two menus and led them into the dining room, seating them in a corner booth in the dim bar area. All of the stools were occupied, and conversation, laughter and clanking dishes blended into a harmonious roar.

He watched the hostess whisper to a waitress, who glanced their way and then nodded with a few words. Business carried on as usual.

Korbin relaxed. For now.

Savanna took a menu from their waitress, who met her eyes but revealed no sign of recognition.

A few minutes later, the waitress appeared with waters. Instead of asking for their order, she put a magazine down in front of Savanna. Seeing it was a copy of an entertainment issue with a picture of her standing with her sisters Autumn and Arizona, she realized she was about to be asked for an autograph. The photo was taken at a Hollywood cocktail party her parents had thrown.

“One of the cooks asked if I could get you to sign this,” the waitress said.

Not many asked her for an autograph. Her father was the producer, not her. Taking the pen the woman removed from her apron, she asked for the cook’s name and scrawled a greeting to him and his family before signing her name.

“He’s been wanting this for a while,” the waitress said. “He thinks you’re the most beautiful of the Ivy women.”

Korbin had to agree that she was beautiful, but was all of this attention due to her face being splashed all over the news in association with a supposed criminal? The public loved a good scandal.

“Tell him thank you for me,” she said awkwardly.

“Are you ready to order?”

Savanna ordered a smothered burrito with spicy green chili.

“I’ll have the same,” Korbin said.

The waitress jotted down the order, glancing frequently at Savanna as though dying to say something.

“I read about your latest breakup,” the waitress said. “The lawyer? Is it true he was married?”

Korbin turned sharply from another check of the restaurant and saw how uncomfortable Savanna was over this confrontation. She hadn’t told him much about her second heartache. In fact, she’d downplayed it. But now this waitress was asking her about it and she was reacting as shaken up as she’d been over her fiancé.

“It is hard for us to keep anything private.”

The waitress noticed her stiff response and backed off. Sort of. She kept her demeanor and tone light. “Well, someone will come along. And he might be sitting next to you.” She winked at Korbin.

Did she think he might be Savanna’s next try at love? He exchanged a glance with Savanna, who was equally uncomfortable.

“I’ll go get Julio.” The waitress took the menus and with a smile, retreated to the kitchen.

Moments later Julio appeared. Unlike the waitress, he wasn’t smiling. No doubt he’d heard the news. Korbin hadn’t told him why he needed his cabin, only that Damen had gotten him into some trouble and he needed to get away for a while to sort things out.

“Korbin.”

Korbin reached up to shake his hand and Savanna scooted over to make room for him on her side.

He took the seat. “When you phoned I had no idea you were in that kind of trouble, Korbin.”

“I was set up,” he said.

“You’re their prime suspect.”

Catching Savanna’s anxious look, he explained to Julio about his meeting with Collette and giving her his gun. He was afraid that Damen had used it to kill her.

“Police haven’t found the murder weapon,” Julio said.

Korbin hoped they never would.

“Why did you have a gun?” Savanna asked.

He heard her concern, her conflict over being with him and his shady background. “I bought it after I told Damen I wasn’t going to work with him anymore.”

“So you carried it with you to the restaurant?”

“I carried it everywhere.”

“Do you have money?” Julio asked.

Relieved his longtime friend believed him, Korbin said, “I withdrew plenty of cash when I left for Wolf Creek.”

“Then you’ll need a place to stay. I’ll deny letting you in, but you can stay in one of my apartment rentals. It’s between tenants right now. I’ve also stored a car in the garage there. It’s a surprise sixteenth birthday gift for my daughter.”

“I don’t expect you to do that, Julio.”

“Well, I’m doing it. You’ve always been there for me. I know you are a good man. I can’t stand by and watch you be sent to prison for crimes you didn’t commit.” He dug into his pants pocket and pulled out a set of keys. “I expected you to come and see me after I heard the police were searching my cabin.”

“Thanks. I’ll make it up to you.”

Julio waved his hand. “No need. I’d expect the same if I was ever in a jam. If you didn’t come here for help, why did you? I can’t imagine it was just to say hello, not in the midst of all your trouble.”

“Your brother-in-law is an FBI agent.”

“Yes.”

“I need you to ask him to get a background on someone.” Korbin took out a piece of paper where he’d written Tony’s name.

Julio took it and put it in his pocket. “Should I have him call you?”

“Sure.” Julio had his number.

In the bar area, a news broadcast began.

“More on the hunt for fugitive, Korbin Maguire. Police have tracked him to a remote area near Wolf Creek Pass. Wanted in connection with a fatal hit-and-run and the murder of Collette Hamilton, Maguire’s car was found abandoned following the hit-and-run and he was seen leaving Hamilton’s home that same night.”

The screen switched to a recorded clip of Damen saying he saw Korbin leave the building at the time of the murder.

“Ricchetti found Hamilton’s body and called 911,” the newswoman said. “He is not considered a suspect in the case. ”

Korbin sat stunned as he heard that piece of news. Damen hadn’t seen him leave Collette’s house. Collette had been dead long before he’d arrived there. Police may postulate that he had enough time to kill her. And Damen’s claim to have seen him leave the house supported that theory. But what about motive? The police weren’t saying much to the press. Damen had likely told them Korbin was enraged that Collette was going to marry him. A love triangle turned fatal.

The newswoman went on to announce the latest breaking news. “A startling twist has developed on this story. Police are now speculating whether Maguire has kidnapped Savanna Ivy, one of producer Jackson Ivy’s daughters. Savanna lives in a remote area of Wolf Creek where Maguire’s truck was found stuck in snow. A local sheriff spoke with Maguire and Ivy after they claimed to have escaped a gunman on skis, a gunman Maguire named as his longtime friend, Damen Ricchetti. But yesterday evening police found Ricchetti badly beaten and unconscious in another cabin where Maguire is believed to have been hiding. Police aren’t commenting on the case, but the Wolf Creek sheriff said it was possible that Ricchetti went after Maguire for killing his girlfriend...”

“It won’t be long before police come here to question me,” Julio said, standing from the table. “You better go. I’ll get your order ready so that you can take it with you.”

“Thanks, Julio.”

Julio patted his shoulder once when Korbin stood. “I’ll be in touch.”

“Don’t use your own phone to contact me,” Korbin said, turning to Savanna, who was slow to get up from the booth. She seemed unhappy about the things she’d heard on the news.

Taking her hand, he kept it until Julio came back with a bag containing their food, then led her out of the restaurant, careful to watch out for police.

* * *

Savanna was quiet all the way to the apartment, and Korbin didn’t broach any subject of his guilty appearance to the general public. His life was on the line. If he couldn’t prove his innocence, he’d be sent to prison. He didn’t have much time.

The apartment was in south Denver. Korbin instructed the cab driver to drop them off several blocks away, as he’d done when they’d gone to Julio’s.

Savanna walked beside him in her melancholy.

“Why didn’t you mention the lawyer before?” he asked to get her thinking of something other than him killing Collette.

The fact that she wavered with doubt irritated him, but he had to understand. Damen claimed to have seen him leave the murder scene, which, of course, he had, but long after the murder, not at the time of death.

“I did,” she said. “I said it didn’t work out.”

“No, I mean about him going back to his ex-wife.”

She kicked a rock on the sidewalk, sending it skipping along. “I didn’t feel like it.”

Yep, she was hurt by the lawyer. “Did you catch him, too?”

“Are we almost there?” She started walking faster.

“Did he know you caught him?”

Glancing over at him again, she took a while before answering. “I flew to Denver to surprise him. When I arrived, his ex-wife was there. She was in a robe and they both looked like they had just gotten out of bed—at three in the afternoon. He admitted to seeing her and said that was the first time they’d been intimate since before their divorce.”

Korbin saw her curl her hand into a fist at her side.

She had felt strongly for the man. Twice she’d been hurt in the same manner.

“Every time I think I know a man, I discover I didn’t know him at all,” she said.

She must have serious doubts as to whether she knew him or not. They hadn’t meet each other long ago, so that was normal, but how long would it take her to trust again? She’d opened her heart to trust the lawyer and he’d betrayed her as her fiancé had.

For some strange reason, that made her safe to him. She’d been wounded and wouldn’t give her heart so easily to the next man she fell for. He felt safe being with her, safe to let his guard down, safe to give love a try. As that feeling swept over him, heavy dread sank in his stomach. He’d never considered that it would be possible to replace his wife. But what if he could? What if he fell in love again?

Picturing his wife’s face came with a familiar stab of guilt; he withdrew from that contemplation.

A police car appeared on the street.

Korbin considered ducking out of sight but that might be too obvious. He stopped walking and faced Savanna, who spotted the police car with widening eyes.

Pulling her to him, he said, “Don’t be afraid.”

She resisted with her hands on him. “I’m not afraid.”

“Then make it look good.”

With his arms slipping around her, holding her tantalizingly close, he kissed her, watching her wary eyes ease into passion.

As he listened to the police car drive by, he felt Savanna relax in his arms. It didn’t take much to fuel their desire. Enticed to kiss her for real, he angled his mouth with hers and pressed for more.

A homeless man walked into the alley behind Savanna, barely giving them a glance as he passed. The sound of traffic and people faded away.

Moments later, the urgency of getting to the apartment overruled and he managed to pull back. Savanna looked up at him with sultry blue eyes that he’d so loved losing himself in when he was making love to her. He was back there with her now. Temptation began to build again. He moved to kiss her once more. But she let out her breath and stepped back.

He kept his feet planted where they were, when everything in him urged him to take her back into his arms. He bargained with himself that if he took her to the apartment, they’d have the entire night alone together, where he could taste her the way he had in Wolf Creek.

Brushing her hair back from her shoulder, she started walking. He walked with her, the passion cooling and the significance of the way Savanna made him feel becoming reality. How terrible was it for him to compare her with his wife? They were nothing alike, and he was afraid he could fall for Savanna a lot harder than he’d fallen for Niya. He didn’t welcome how he also began to suspect that Niya’s death had exaggerated his love for her.

* * *

They reached the apartment and Savanna waited while Korbin made sure no one saw them go up the stairs to Julio’s vacant unit. It was pretty nice. Not terribly big, but it would do for a safe haven, one only Korbin needed.

Savanna wondered again what she was doing with him. Why didn’t she just leave? She could call Macon to come and get her. He’d take her to Evergreen where she’d be safe. Safer, probably, than she was here.

Thankful that Korbin left the television off, she went up to take a long bath. For an hour she soaked with her thoughts.

Kissing Korbin was like a drug. Was her brain in an altered state with him? She’d sensed the way he’d withdrawn after that. He needed to keep his distance from her, too. After kissing her, some reminder must have struck him. He must have started thinking of his wife. Murdered by a gang member.