A Storm Is Coming (8 page)

She pulled away from him and looked up with curiosity in her eyes, “Of course. Anything.”

He laughed, “Please no musicals. I hate musical movies.”

*****

Alex spent most of the morning working away in his office. He would be leaving shortly to meet with Braylee and her team.

The buzzing of his phone caught him off guard. He was tempted to ignore the call until he noticed the name that flashed across the screen.

Quickly, he answered, “Detective Jones.”

“Yes. Mr. Manchetti, I have some information that might prove useful to you. It’s not anything we can discuss over the phone or send electronically. Can we meet as soon as possible?”

Alex looked at his watch, “When and where?”

“Meet me at the underpass by lower Wacker Drive and Columbus in twenty minutes.”

“It’ll take me at least thirty to get there from here.”

“Then, I’ll see you in thirty.”

Alexandro rose from his desk, quickly grabbed his keys and jacket letting Cecily know he was leaving on his way out the door.

Once he was in his car and on the road, he called Braylee to let her know he’d be late to the meeting and to start without him. He knew how she was about being on time and didn’t want to piss her off especially after the night before.

He told his car to dial Braylee, and moments later the ringing of her line was echoing throughout the car. Nate answered on the first ring, “Hinsdale and Associates.”

“Nate. It’s Alexandro. Can you put me through to Braylee?”

“I’m sorry she’s in a meeting.”

Alexandro was frustrated. Typically, people moved heaven and earth to fulfill his requests. He wasn’t used to being treated in such a manner. While doing his best to keep his emotions at bay but quite sure he was failing miserably, Alex responded irritably, “Interrupt her.”

Nate paused for a moment as if debating what to do but eventually decided due to the urgency in Alex’s voice to interrupt, “Hold on a minute.”

Alex waited for just a few moments before he heard Braylee on the other end, “Alex? What could be so important that you couldn’t wait for our meeting?”

“Detective Jones just called. He has some time sensitive information that he wants to give me. Braylee…he’s giving me this information off the grid. Somethings not right.”

“How far are you from my office?”

“I’m about five minutes…”

“I’ll be downstairs in three. I’m going with you.”

“There’s no need for you to come with me. I just wanted to give you a heads up as to why I’m going to be late.”

“You promised me no surprises. I want to know what you know…when you know it. So, I’ll be downstairs waiting when you get here.” Braylee disconnected the call. She didn’t want to give him any room to disagree.

Since she’d taken the call at Nate’s desk she didn’t have far to go to give him instructions. “Keep the legal teams on track and working together. I’m going to be out for about an hour with Alex. No one in that room is to know.”

Nate nodded, “Then, no one in that room will know.”

*****

It wasn’t even five minutes later that Braylee was seated and buckled into Alexandro’s Lykan Hypersports car. She turned to him and smirked, “Do you think you could have driven a car any more conspicuous? I’m sure nobody will notice that you’re driving one of only twenty cars ever made.”

“Stop being such a smartass and hold on.” Alex pressed his foot on the gas driving well past the speed limit. “All I could think about was getting to lower Wacker in thirty minutes. This car will get me there. Anyway…how’d you know what kind of car this is?”

“My firm worked with the first US owner and W Motors on its import. So much for that theory of yours huh?”

Alex took his eyes off of the road for just a second, curious as to what she was referring to, “What theory?”

“That my life and practice is boring and that any first-year law student could handle the cases my firm handles.” Looking smug, Braylee sat back in her chair and folded her arms.

Even when she was being a brat, Alex still found himself wanting her like he’d never wanted any woman...ever. But, it was time to bring her down a peg or two.

“So, let me get this straight…you went from trying corporate raider, insider trading, and sexual harassment cases with a few cases of protecting whistleblowers thrown into the mix to basically checking a box on a form for a super wealthy client? I mean…I guess it’s nothing to be ashamed of…going after the more lucrative and easy cases.”

“Hmm…you should fire the team who did your research. It seems you went through all that trouble to get information about me and yet your facts are incomplete. When what you should be doing is handing me another check.”

He raised an eyebrow, “Really? Why?”

“Really. Because if it weren’t for me and my connections in congress you wouldn’t even be able to drive this three million dollar monstrosity on the streets. A first-year law student couldn’t handle that.”

He was impressed. Did she ever back down? Apparently, not. There was a lot more to learn about Ms. Hinsdale.

Chapter
10

Alex pulled his diamond white sports car underneath some dilapidated L tracks in an industrial area that hadn’t been used in years. He kept driving until he saw Detective Jones standing next to his own unmarked car.

Alex put the car in park then leaned over Braylee to open his glove compartment. His closeness caused her to breathe in deeply.

However, Alex was focused and hadn’t noticed the intake of air from his closeness. He reached inside and pulled out a semi-automatic pistol.

Braylee swallowed, “Do you really think you’ll need that? He’s a detective.”

“If he’s meeting me offline…” He put the gun inside his jacket, “you can never be too careful. Better to be prepared than not. As a matter of fact, you should probably stay here.”

“I told you that I want to know what you know when you know it. I’m going.”

“Do you always have to be so stubborn? If something went down, you can’t even run in those heels.”

“I’m a black woman who was raised in the city. I can handle myself….okay?” She stared him down for just a moment.

“Well, at least stay close Braylee. I mean it. If something goes down and you’re not by my side, I promise I’ll shoot you myself.”

Braylee responded, “Fine, I’ll stay close.” Then she opened her car door and stepped out as she waited for him. They walked in sync towards Detective Jones.

He wasn’t too pleased to see that Alex had brought someone with him as he tossed the cigarette he’d been smoking into a puddle of water.

Alex spoke first, “Detective. What was so urgent it needed to be discussed in secret?”

Detective Jones looked skeptically at Braylee, “I wasn’t expecting company.”

“She’s no one you need to worry about. What do you have?”

You could tell that Detective Jones was deciding if he was going to talk in front of Braylee. After an awkward silence, he finally spoke, “This case is bigger than me. There are things going on that I’ve never seen happen in an investigation in all of my twenty-three years of experience.”

Frustrated, Alexandro had to force himself to be patient, “Like what? Why in the hell am I in this godforsaken place?”

Braylee touched his arm to help him calm down and stay focused. She spoke, “Detective, can you please tell us what you couldn’t over the phone or at the station?”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a flash drive. “First, I found this information on accident just poking around in our system and thought I’d better save it before it disappears.”

The stress and strain of the situation made Alexandro sound hard, “What’s on it?”

“The entire investigation. Initially, I wasn’t able to access certain parts of the database which I thought was odd since I’m the lead detective. However, I had a friend get me past all this shall we call it red tape.”

Alex rubbed his brow, “And?”

“I found two sets of everything. Two autopsies, police reports, a log of items found at the crime scene, and another log with some of those same items missing. Someone wants to make your brother look as if he killed himself. However, one of the autopsy reports shows a distance and the direction of the bullet that entered into your brother’s head that would have made it near impossible for him to have shot himself. Whoever shot him would have needed to have been standing at least eight to ten feet away.”

Braylee saw the color drain completely from Alex’s face.

He continued, “There is always the possibility, but it’s highly unlikely that…due to how the body was found and the trajectory of the bullet…that the shooter could have been left handed. But, not likely. But that still wouldn’t account for the distance. Luciano couldn’t have shot himself.”

Alex was incredulous, “Who at the police station would have the type of power to have manufactured all of this information?”

“Not sure. Some of these docs could be forgeries. However, I found a flurry of e-mails going back and forth between Sanderson, our Chief of Police, and the Mayor regarding this case.” Detective Jones rubbed his unshaven face, “It’s possible because this is high profile that he wants to be kept in the loop. However, I doubt it. We’ve had dozens of high profiles without this type of activity. At least as far as I know.

Again, I’m the lead detective, and even I don’t have the official autopsy report that was dated two weeks ago. They’ve been sitting on this information. My guess is they’re still trying to tie up loose ends.”

This was big. Braylee shouldn’t hear any of this because none of it would be admissible in court if it ever made it that far. However, more and more of Alex’s theory was starting to have more validity. If any of this could be proven true.

Braylee was curious and couldn’t help blurting out, “What’s in this for you? I mean why give us this information?”

“Because I’m a good cop. Believe it or not…there’s a lot of us who want to see justice prevail. I’ve got two more years until retirement and I don’t give a shit about the Chief. He’s as crooked as they come. But, who do I tell and not lose everything that I’ve worked my ass off for my whole life? Nah…I can’t take the risk. It’s going to take someone with Mr. Manchetti’s vast resources and name to take the Chief and his ass clowns down.”

What the detective said made sense. It was just her suspicious nature that didn’t leave Braylee totally convinced.

Detective Jones’ voice took on an ominous tone, “I’m sure I don’t have to explain that whatever the hell is going on is dangerous.” His eyes focused on Alexandro like a laser, “Your brother is already dead because of it and a slew of folks in the department are trying to cover it up.” He paused before continuing, “I’ll only give this information to you Mr. Manchetti but only if my name is never ever mentioned. Never. I’m retiring in two years. I want to live to see it.”

Alex was so angry he couldn’t speak, so he just nodded and reached out to take it from his hands.

Braylee could see all the different emotions playing across his face. Her heart went out to him. She spoke on his behalf, “Thank you, Detective. You have our word that you will never be revealed as our source.”

Those reassurances seemed to be enough. He nodded and turned to walk to his car. After walking a short distance, he turned back around, “Mr. Manchetti…I truly am sorry for your loss. I hope you can find closure and destroy all of those dirty bastards.”

Alex swallowed hard and nodded. That was a promise he’d made to himself the moment he knew this might not be a suicide. He would hunt down and destroy anyone who had a hand in his brother’s murder…or the cover-up.

The detective got into his car and pulled away.

Braylee stood next to Alex in silence. The only sounds surrounding them were the birds overhead and the cars in the distance whizzing by on the upper deck. It was obvious from the clenching of his jaw that he was trying to pull it together.

Alexandro hadn’t uttered a word since his inner thoughts had been confirmed. Her heart ached for him. So, she did what she hoped any good person would have done for her. Braylee stood still, stared out into the distance and waited; giving him the space and time he needed to get his thoughts together.

After another couple of moments, he spoke in a leaden voice, “I should get you back to your office.”

The burning desire to hold and console him was overwhelming. Braylee turned towards Alex and cupped his face into her hands. She whispered, “We’ll get the bastards that are responsible for this. I promise we’ll take them all down. Nothing is worth a life.”

He looked into her eyes and glimpsed something he was sure not many people got a chance to see…gentleness and compassion.

The pain reflected in his eyes reached her core. Initially, Braylee only wanted to offer comfort when she pulled his face into hers…and kissed him softly on the lips. When her eyes fluttered closed, Alex pulled her body flush onto his and deepened it. He held the back of her head in one hand and wrapped his other arm tightly around her waist.

The kiss started out as a reassuring peck but quickly escalated into one of the most powerful kisses Braylee had ever experienced.

She was so pliant in his arms and for just a moment since his brother died…he could breathe. Alex hated to pull back, but they weren’t in a safe place. He touched his forehead to hers and wrapped his other arm around her waist as they both tried to get control.

“We should get back.”

There was no way Braylee could speak. Alexandro had kissed her senseless. So, she just nodded.

Her warmth kept the numbness from completely taking over him. Alex didn’t want to let her go, so he held her as they walked arm in arm to the car. Once he’d deposited her safely, he went to the other side and got in.

The ride back to the office was very quiet with each of them lost in their thoughts.

Alex’s mind was racing. How was he going to face Cecily? How was he going to explain to her that her father was killed over a technology he’d helped to discover? He would give anything to have Luciano back. He should have done something to prevent this. But what? He still couldn’t think clearly but one thing he did know…Braylee was right. Nothing was worth a life.