Gravity (Artistic Pricks Ink Book 1) (31 page)

“Are you seriously implying that Kionna had anything to do with this?” I ask, holding her trembling body in my arms.

“No, Mr. Hanlon, I’m not.” Officer Alvarez says, stepping closer to us. “What we do believe is that this is too big of a coincidence for the person threatening Miss Slade to not be involved in this as well.”

“There is very little chance that this was random. The assailant appears to have waited for them specifically and then used a silencer from what we saw on film,” Officer Stewart adds. Walking over to Mitch’s station, I sit in his chair and pull Kionna with me. Mitch and everyone else, heads back behind the counter giving us some much needed privacy.

“I did this,” Kionna chokes out, her tears wetting my shirt. “There’s a little boy waking up to find his mother has been killed, because of me.”

“No,” Luke says softly into my hair.

“Miss Slade,” Officer Alvarez says. Stepping closer, she sits on the edge of the chair Mitch’s clients sit in. “I know this is a lot to digest, but we need to know what happened up until you left. Does anything stand out?”

Kionna takes a shaky breath and sits up in my lap. “I had to leave last night. Lynsey let me borrow her car because she was going to leave with Doug anyway. She insisted on dancing in my place to cover for me. Oh God,” Ki shrieks burying her face in her hands. “That was meant for me, wasn’t it? She was still dressed in my stage wear, wasn’t she?”

“It would appear so,” Officer Stewart says nodding his head.

The moment the words pour from his mouth Ki begins to sob. “I need to call Kelly,” she says, pulling from my arms. “I need to get my phone.”

“Your phone is in the bag. It can wait,” I say, pulling her back against me. “One thing at a time, baby,” I say in an attempt to soothe her. I can’t stand this feeling. I hate every fucking bit of what is going on, knowing I can do nothing about it.

“Kelly, as in Kelly McGlawn?” Alvarez asks and Ki nods, sniffling softly. “Currently, she may still be at the station giving her statement. She was rather distraught when I spoke with her over the phone.”

Once Kionna calms down a bit, she goes through every detail of last night. We all listen as she tells us about Mitch’s outburst and how she convinced Doug to help her get him into the back. She goes on to me showing up and then how she left to go after me. Even about how she called to quit her job just hours later. By the time she finishes, everyone is pretty much in agreement that Kionna leaving early threw off her would be attacker, ultimately causing Lynsey to be targeted by mistake. Which leaves Kionna feeling unbelievable guilt.

“We believe that Mr. Ryan was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. If the person has formed some sort of unwarranted infatuation, they may have seen him as a threat to be removed.” Officer Stewart explains once Kionna is finished. “If you have any more information, please get in touch immediately. We will up our patrols in your neighborhood as well as add this area to it. I know this is hard and I wish we had more to go on. Hopefully, forensics can find something at the scene.”

Tires squeal making me tighten my grip on Ki just as the front glass window explodes. Kionna screams as I throw us to the floor. “Get down,” both officers say running toward the busted glass drawing their weapons.

“Clear,” Officer Stewart shouts then jumps over the window pane onto the sidewalk. “I’ll have a look out here. Alvarez, call this in.”

“Everyone okay back there?” I ask, looking over to where Shelby, Skinner, and Mitch all stand staring in disbelief at the wreck that is Artistic Pricks Ink. Broken glass covers the floor where our entry area is and into some of the guys’ stations.

“We’re good,” Mitch nods, wrapping an arm around a trembling Shelby.

“I’ve got something, here.” Alvarez says, picking up a brick with a note attached to it with some sort of twine. Walking over to the counter, she puts on a pair of gloves from her pocket before unwrapping the note from the brick. Ki and I stand to our feet and walk over to see what she has found. She spreads the paper on the counter so that we can read as well. Though, I wish Kionna hadn’t. “I need to call this in,” she says, pulling a phone from her front pocket.

”
Her blood is on your hands, whore. It should have been you. Next time you won’t be so lucky.”

“Oh my God,” Kionna gasps, staring at the note in disbelief.

“There’s nothing much out here other than a few tire marks,” Officer Stewart says, coming down the hallway from the back entrance. Walking up to the counter, he eyes the note and nods. “I guess our suspicions were correct. I’m very sorry Miss Slade.”

“You’re sorry?” I ask, angrily. “Excuse me, but I need to know what is going to be done to catch this son of a bitch.”

“I understand your worry and frustration, Mr. Hanlon. I do,” he replies calmly, but I am anything but calm right now.

“I don’t think you do,” I growl. “If it were you, how would you handle it? Would you be okay with this happening to the woman you love and…”

My words stop when Kionna faces me immediately. Her eyes look up into mine, the tears slipping down her face is the last straw. “Are we done for now? I need to take Miss Slade upstairs so that she can rest.”

“Absolutely,” Officer Alvarez says walking over to us now that she has ended her call. “If we need anything else we know where to find you.” Looking at Kionna, she reaches out and squeezes her shoulder. “We will catch this man, I promise you that. The more erratic the behavior of a suspect, the more likely they are to mess up. Doing that with us here was a big mistake and we will catch whoever is doing this.”

“Thank you,” Kionna replies.

Looking at Mitch, I blow out a breath. “Get a closed sign up, no one touches a gun until we are sure all the glass is cleaned up. I’ll need some plywood for the window until I can get someone out to replace it.”

“It’s handled,” Mitch says, patting my shoulder as he walks by me. “You take care of your girl, we’ve got this.”

Wrapping my arm around her, I lead her up the hallway toward the steps where I left her bag when I ran after her. Hoisting the strap over my shoulder, I release Ki so that she can walk ahead of me. I watch her carefully as we step inside of the apartment. The Ki that always puts on the strong front is gone. Kionna is frightened and I can see all the guilt she feels in her eyes. I can’t fix this for her, I can’t make it all go away like I want desperately to do. I have never felt as helpless in my life as I have lately.

It fucking blows.

Tossing the bag onto the coffee table, I kick the door closed and do the only thing I know to do for her. “Come here, baby,” I whisper, spreading out my arms.

Her bottom lip trembles as she steps into my arms without hesitation. The moment her arms wrap around my chest, she crumbles. Kionna sobs loudly, letting it all out now that we are alone. Holding her tightly, I sit back on the couch and just hold her while she cries. My fingers run through her hair as my other hand rubs small circles onto her back. There is nothing I can say because no amount of words are going to be enough. I know she has to feel this because there is nothing else to do, but it doesn’t make it any easier for me to watch her go through it.

I am also not about to apologize for being relieved that she came after me instead of going back out on stage. If she had finished her night, I know how different this moment could have been. I know very well what I would have lost. Am I a selfish bastard? Maybe. I have been waiting a long time to feel this way about a woman, and now that I am finally feeling it, it will be a cold day in hell before I willingly give it up. I plan to do everything in my power to keep her here with me, where she belongs.

I don’t know how much time passes; after a while, Kionna’s sobs slow and her breathing evens out letting me know she has fallen asleep. There is a light tap on the door before it opens, but Kionna doesn’t move. Skinner steps inside, worry etched all over his features. Fumbling through is pockets, he pulls out his smokes.

“Don’t you dare light one of those in here or I’ll shove it up your ass,” I tease, reminding him for the thousandth time since I hired him.

Shoving them back into his jeans, he nods. “Right, sorry. The cops are wanting to take that Charger in the back, and said that they’ll be back if they need to talk to anyone again. Charlie is on his way with plywood and we’ll have everything cleaned up in about an hour.” Scrubbing a hand over the flames inked on his head, he blows out a breath. “Shit is crazy, man.”

“Yeah,” I reply. “Tell them the keys are still in it.”

“She’s gonna be fine,” he says, looking down at Ki.

“Just a lot to take in at once, you know? She’ll be okay.”

“You let me know if you need anything, yeah?” He asks, turning toward the kitchen. “I need a soda before I help the guys get those boards unloaded from Charlie’s truck.

“Hey,” I say stopping him. “Once I get her settled in bed and check everything over, I need a ride to pick up the ‘Cuda and some of my shit. We’ll be stayin’ up here for a while, don’t want to risk going back and forth to the house until this crazy fuck is caught.” I say as I hear the fridge open followed by the sound of him popping the tab on a can.

“Sure thing, just let me know whenever you’re ready to head out,” he says between gulps as he walks through the door.

Looking down at Kionna, I wipe away a tear from her cheek. Cradling her in my arms, I stand to my feet and carry her down the hall. Stepping into the bedroom, I carefully place her on the bed and pull off her shoes before covering her with the quilt. I smile, remembering the first time I did this and how I fell asleep beside her.

“You said you love me.” Kionna mumbles sleepily, not opening her eyes.

“I did,” I whisper. Leaning down I brush the hair from her face and press my lips to her temple. “That’s because I do.”

“I love you too, Luke,” she mumbles. “Never told anyone except my mom that, but it’s true.”

“I know, Dollface.” Tipping her chin, I press another kiss to her lips. “Get some sleep.”

Kionna snuggles down into the covers and sighs. I watch her shift restlessly until she finally falls back asleep. Turning from her, I reluctantly walk from the room toward the kitchen for a soda of my own.

Leaning back against the counter, I pop the tab open and take a long drink, hoping the sudden burst of caffeine will help me make sense of the clusterfuck of a morning. Yanking my phone from my pocket, I make a call to my mother and relax a bit once I know all is good there. From what she says the neighborhood has been quiet and there is nothing to report other than she starts her job this afternoon.

“I have to go now, Luke, so that I can get ready to leave. You take care of Ki and I’ll call and check on you both after work,” she says, sounding more excited than I have heard in a long time.

“Okay. Mom?” I ask, hoping she hasn’t hung up yet. “I’m really proud of you for doing this shit on your own. I mean, I know it took a lot of courage on your part, just wanted you to hear that from me.”

“Thank you, Lucas. I love you very much,” emotion clogging her voice as she replies.

“Love you too, Mom. Talk to you later,” I say, when my eyes meet the half opened kitchen window that leads out to the fire escape.

Walking over, I see the butt of a cigarette sitting on the windowsill. “Skinner, you shit,” I grumble, yanking up the butt before shutting and locking the window.

After checking on Kionna one last time, I head downstairs to make sure everything is cleaned up after our drive-by so that we can get reopened before things get busy tonight. Shelby and Mitch are busy sweeping up glass and righting things that were knocked to the floor.

“Hey Shelby, why don’t you head upstairs and take a breather?” I say, knowing that her nerves are as frazzled as everyone else’s. “Kionna is asleep now, but I want someone upstairs in case she wakes up.”

Nodding, she hands Mitch the broom and walks toward me. “Okay, I’ll just head upstairs once I’ve washed up and stuff. I really want to clear things up with her anyway. I said some nasty things last night and jumped to some pretty bad conclusions.”

Looking up I see my best friend sweeping up the glass and I nod. “Yeah, I think we all have regrets about last night, Shelby. Good thing we all have a chance to make things right.”

“Yeah,” she says starting down the hall.

“See everything is handled,” Skinner assures, walking up behind me, carrying a large trash can. “We’ll be up and running again just in time to take a late lunch break.”

“Bend over, asshole.” I say holding up the cigarette between my fingers.

“Dude,” he says setting down the can. “That wasn’t me. It had to be Mitch.”

“Whatever. No one smokes here, except you. Get your ass to work,” I say, making my way over to Mitch. “Chuck will be here soon and we can get this hole closed up.”

Mitch nods. “Yeah, I made the call. Chuck’s on the way now. Look man, about last night…”

“I get it,” I say interrupting him. Reaching out, I clap him on the back. “We’ve been friends a long fuckin’ time. That’s not going away over some bullshit misunderstanding. Everything is out in the open, all cleared up. Let’s forget it happened. Keep an eye on the girls, Skinner is taking me to get the ‘Cuda and pack a bag, I’ll be back in less than an hour.”