Known (22 page)

It was a phone call he didn’t want to make.

Play it cool. Only I know what happened in the woods.

“Yes?” came the voice in his ear.

“It’s me,” he said unnecessarily. “I’m waiting for Gianna.”

“The old man gave it to her?”

“He said he did. What else would they have done at their meeting?” he lied, keeping his voice calm.

“The word on the street is that there is a new unidentified body at the medical examiner’s office. I assume he’ll stay unidentified?”

“I have no doubt. How could they figure it out? None of his records exist.” His tongue felt thick in his mouth with the lies, and he struggled to speak clearly.

“What is Rafael doing?”

Rafael had been assigned as his partner. He’d protested the necessity of help, but his father had overruled him. “If this is the meeting we’ve been waiting for, I don’t want the old man slipping out of our hands. Another set of eyes will help.”

He didn’t see Rafael as help; he saw him as a spy. Someone to report back if he messed up. He’d dealt with Rafael before. The man rarely talked. He stared at you with dark eyes and then picked at his nails with a pocketknife. The habit was disgusting and intimidating.

“Rafael is outside by Gianna’s vehicle, waiting,” he lied again.

“How close are you to the Trask woman?”

“As close as possible,” he said. “This should all be wrapped up soon.”

“I wasn’t happy about the forest ranger’s death. What happened?”

He silently choked. His father’s stating he wasn’t happy was the equivalent of the anger of a thousand betrayed men. “I took the action I felt was needed at the time.” The sensation of his previous panic in the snow washed over him and he pushed it aside. “It was necessary. The fire had blocked me from cleaning the scene and the ranger was about to alert others. Killing him bought us some time.”

“Bought
you
some time.” Disdain flowed through the phone. “No more impulse decisions.”

“You sent me here to take action,” he argued, his face growing hot. “I have to act as I see fit.”

“You are there because you fucked up at home. Sending you there was not a result of your
brilliance
. You are standing on American soil to protect your own neck. I gave you this assignment because you were in the right place at the right time. Don’t make me regret it.”

Shame burned through him.
I will prove myself.

“That old man had been a loose end for too long,” his father muttered on the phone. “It’s unbelievable that it’s almost over. Are you certain it was him?”

“I have no doubt. As soon as he crossed my path, I knew he was the one you were looking for. He hovered around the woman’s home and then followed her to the cabin. Clearly they were to meet.”

His interrogation of the old man a few days ago flashed in his brain. Rafael had been silent, watching him threaten the old man. The suspect had been belligerent, unwilling to share his knowledge, and smirked when he threatened to kill him. “You can’t kill me.” He’d laughed. “If I die, your father’s empire will collapse. I hold the key that protects his business.” The disrespect in the old man’s eyes had pushed him over the edge, and he’d swung the hammer at his head. The old man had collapsed, and he’d hit him again before realizing he needed to stop.

The man had stopped breathing.

He’d sat down and tried to calm his panicking brain.

Rafael had pressed his fingers against the neck of the suspect and turned a leering gaze his way. “His heart has stopped. You lost your temper before he could give us the information! I won’t be blamed for this.” He leered, an evil smile on his face. “Your father will kill you with his bare hands. Your ass is dead.”

He shot Rafael twice in the forehead.

Shock had crossed Rafael’s face as he raised the gun, but he’d fired before the man could say another word. Disposing of his body had taken a few minutes and given him time to plan his next step.

Yes, he’d fucked up, but if he could find the device in time, he could save face and protect his father’s hard work. And his own neck.

His father would never forgive him if he knew he’d killed the old man before he’d told them where the thumb drive was.

His only lead was Gianna Trask.

Interrogating her would be a pleasure.

Nora knocked on the door to the suite.
The presidential suite.

Many hotels had them, but actual presidents had stayed in this one, and now Gianna’s uncle had commandeered it. Nora wondered if he would have deigned to stay in another room if the suite hadn’t been available. From what she’d read about Saul Messina, his ego was legendary, but he cared about his employees and it had paid off. His company’s dedication and public praise were all over the Internet. He’d created the business from the ground up, his finger in every aspect. She knew he was single, but not from lack of women vying for his attention. She wondered what it had been like for Gianna to grow up in his home. He’d been commended for taking in his brother’s orphan and had been quick to crush all media attempts to interview the girl. He’d protected her like his own.

Nora had found one old public photo of Gianna Trask—back then Gianna Messina—taken immediately after her parents’ deaths. It was an image of Saul Messina carrying the girl out of the hospital, her arms clasped around his neck, his angry eyes looking directly into the lens of the camera. Newspapers and magazines across the nation had printed the photo of the survivor. Gianna was in profile, terror apparent in her expression. Nora assumed she’d been scared of the masses of media that’d camped outside the hospital where she’d recovered after her harrowing accident. Nora had blown up the photo and studied the child’s face, seeing the resemblance to the woman who’d survived another near-death experience in the Cascade Range.

Some people seemed to attract bad luck.

Or was Dr. Trask’s survival an example of good luck?

Nora wasn’t sure. What she did know was that three men were dead and Gianna Trask appeared to be a common denominator.

A man opened the suite door and Nora knew instantly it was Dr. Trask’s old boyfriend, Owen Thomas. She’d already run a quick check on him and nothing had jumped out at her. Chris Jacobs had reported that Saul and Owen had shown up on his brother’s doorstep, searching for Gianna, and been sent packing by her daughter.

Nora looked forward to meeting Violet Trask.

“Detective Hawes?” Owen asked.

Nora nodded and handed him her card as she stepped inside the suite, her boot heels sounding hollow on the marble floor.
Nice.

Saul Messina came forward, shook her hand, and waved her toward a sofa in the living room. “Can I get you something to drink?”

She refused as she studied the man. His manners were impeccable. He was tall and moved with a deep-rooted confidence. She turned her gaze to Owen Thomas. What was his relationship to Saul Messina?

“Mr. Messina, I know you’ve built a successful business. Can you think of a reason someone would strike out at Dr. Trask to get back at you?”

A glimmer of respect crossed his face, annoying Nora. She didn’t waste time when she had an interview to do. She got down to business and got her questions out of the way. She didn’t have time to sip coffee and make pleasantries.

“The same thought occurred to me, Detective Hawes. I’ve tried to create a wall that separates my business from my family life. I’ve always protected Gianna’s privacy.” His face was fierce and Nora believed him. It was the exact same look she’d seen in the old photograph. “But I’ve come up empty. I have no enemies, Detective Hawes. At least none that I’m aware of. No threats have been made against WorkerBee or myself in over five years, and I’m proud of that fact. I run my company with the philosophy that we need to be good neighbors. It’s always worked well for me.”

“I’ve asked Dr. Trask if she can think of someone who would like to hurt her, and she can’t, but often I’ve found that the people closest to victims have different opinions. So I’ll ask both of you if you have any ideas.” She included Owen with a glance. The tall man had perched on the arm of a chair and pulled out his phone, and was occasionally scrolling, telling Nora that he didn’t feel the interview was worth his time. Saul had sat in a chair directly across from her and given her his full focus. Yes, the man knew how to win people over.

Owen needed lessons.

“Gianna doesn’t make enemies,” stated Saul. Owen nodded his agreement.

“Not intentionally, I assume, but sometimes things happen. Incidents with crabby neighbors. Road rage. Angry coworkers.” She looked expectantly at the two men, who exchanged a look and shook their heads.

“Truly,” said Saul, “I can’t think of anything.”

Nora let the silence linger a second longer. “Dr. Trask told me about a necklace with a gold medallion she had as a child. It was given to her by her maternal grandmother but has since been lost. Are you familiar with it?”

Saul’s eyebrows rose. “Of course. Gianna was distraught over the loss of the necklace. I looked for it several times in the boxes from her old home but could never find it. She hasn’t mentioned it in years until she emailed me about it this morning. Why are you asking about that now?”

His reaction appeared sincere. Owen stared at her with one brow raised, echoing Saul’s question.

“It’s turned up. It was around the neck of the man who was found dead in Gianna’s rented cabin.”

Both men simply stared at her, their body language frozen in place.

Saul reacted first. “Gianna didn’t say anything about that in her email. How can that be? Are you sure it’s the same? Perhaps it’s only similar.” Bushy gray brows formed a single line above his eyes.

“Dr. Trask is quite positive it is the same.”

“She hasn’t seen it in decades,” said Saul. “She must be mistaken.”

“Did you look for it?”

“I forwarded the request to an assistant. All her parents’ things are in storage. It could take some time, but yes. I can tell him to put a few more people on it.”

“Dr. Trask hasn’t said much about how she came to live with you,” Nora began, choosing her words carefully. “I’ve read the newspaper articles, but I’d like to hear your side of the story. I noticed you weren’t quoted in any of the articles.”

Saul’s facial expression shut down. “I refused to feed their media frenzy.”

“Understandable.”

“Why are you asking about something that happened so long ago?” Owen asked.

Nora glanced at Owen, who’d lost interest in his phone and now listened intently. “The appearance of a long-lost necklace has me curious about her past. I’m exploring many areas. This is one that I assumed you’d describe best, Mr. Messina. Dr. Trask was a child at the time. I imagine her memories of the incident are cloudy.”

“She doesn’t remember the accident,” Owen stated. “She’s told me that several times. She recalls the bright lights of the house where she found help. That’s it.”

Several times? Why would Owen ask her about it more than once?

“I got a phone call early that morning,” said Saul. “My brother’s car had gone off the road and down the cliff to the ocean. I was told Gianna had crawled out of the car, up the steep cliff, and walked several miles to find help in the pitch dark.” He swallowed hard. “They were on vacation in Southern California. Some of those roads along the coast are treacherous.”

“You went there?”

“In a heartbeat. It wasn’t that far from where I lived. She’d been transported to a hospital by helicopter. They were concerned with her head injuries.”

“She didn’t break any other bones,” Nora commented.

“But her skull had a hairline fracture. The rest of her injuries were bruises and abrasions. The doctors thought some of the wounds came from her climb up the rocky slope to the road.”

“The accident happened around midnight?” Nora asked, knowing the accident report placed the mother’s death at that time.

“So they say.”

“The car was partially submerged in the ocean.”

Saul nodded. “When they looked at the tide levels and salt marks inside the vehicle, they estimated the car was almost fully submerged.”

“She was a very lucky girl,” said Nora. “I can’t imagine how traumatic that must have been. And either she realized her parents were dead or she needed to get help.” Pitch-dark sky, water, cold, a steep rocky bank to climb up. No wonder Gianna had blocked all memories of the accident.

“Since his body wasn’t found at first, for three weeks people speculated that her father had sent the car over the bank to murder Gianna and her mother.” Anger flooded Saul’s face. “The media was brutal. But when his body washed up a few weeks later, they shut up. I’m thankful Gianna was in the hospital most of that time. I insulated her the best I could from the horrors of what was said during that time, but I assume when she was old enough, she did some research and read the articles for herself.”

“I read them,” Nora said simply. “Can you imagine what would be said if it’d happened in our Internet age? Every conspiracy theorist in the world would be commenting and creating their own evidence.”