Soul Mate (The Mating Series) (15 page)

“What does that entail
?”

“He gives advice on people’s finances.” I shrugged like I didn’t know what it entailed.

“Investments? Stocks? What does he advise on?”

“I don’t know
,” I said.

“He has a degree in finance, but there’s no record of him
ever working in finances. He’s not registered with the SEC either.”

“I’m not privy to his business transactions
,” I said.

“We subpoenaed his client list and spok
e to some of his clients. They’re just as evasive on what Jimmy Kim does for them.”

My head snapped in Ben’s direction.
Oh Shit!
“You got his client list!” I cried.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“He claimed to be with clients as his alibi for two of the murders.” Ben scratched his head. “Funny thing is
, none of his clients will confirm or deny that they were with him.”

“You arrested him tonight. How in the hell did you get his client list already?” I asked.

“We met with Jimmy on Thursday and got his client list yesterday. Didn’t you know that?” I had no idea Jimmy was in town at all.
Why didn’t he tell me he was in town?
“You didn’t know he was in town did you?”

“No
,” I said.

“See he claims you’re his girlfriend, but he didn’t even tell you he came home on Tuesday. Things like this
don’t add up.”
Tuesday!
I had no idea Jimmy was home Tuesday.
It is a trick to get you to talk.
Cops did it in the movies. They played one suspect against the other to get them to talk. I pressed my lips tight. I stopped speaking. I wasn’t to give him any more information. “I upset you didn’t I?”

“No
,” I said, curtly.

“
I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to,” Ben said. He pulled into my apartment complex. “I really don’t know where you live,” he said. “I only know the complex from the information you’ve given us, but I don’t know where.”

I pointed.
“It’s down on the left. The last entrance.”

As we pulled up
, I saw all of my lights on. I left in a hurry, but was sure that I didn’t leave all my lights on. Mom wouldn’t have turned on lights. She didn’t need them. I became concerned.

Ben saw my expression change. “What’s wrong?”

“I didn’t leave all of my lights on,” I said.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,” I said. I opened the car door. Ben followed behind me.

“Stay behind me
,” he said. As we went up the stairs to my apartment, I saw my front door open. “Let me go first. Stay here,” Ben said. He reached in his jacket and pulled out a black gun. He entered my home, gun barrel first.

I
waited for Ben on the landing. If an intruder flew out, he’d run right into me. I decided to go inside. The landing didn’t keep me any safer. I found my apartment in shambles. I felt my knees buckle again. I fell in my chair.

Mom
materialized in front of me. “What happened?” she asked, alarmed.

“Sh!” I put my finger to my lips.

“Why?” Ben appeared from my hallway, gun drawn. “Oh my!”

“
It’s clear.” He looked at me. “I thought I told you to wait outside.” I didn’t say anything. I just stared at mom. “Cassandra?” Ben asked.

My stomach
churned the Ben & Jerry’s threatened to come up. “I’m going to be sick,” I said, running to the bathroom.

I heaved several times in my bathroom. Crying, I sank to the floor. “Cassie, what is wrong with you and who is that gun toting man in the living room?”
Mom asked.

“Go away
,” I said. “I can’t talk!”

“Cassandra Rose!
You’re going to talk to me. What the hell is going on?”

“Mom
,” I whispered. “Everything is so screwed up right now and the last thing I need is to be caught talking to myself.” I retched again.

“Oh man
,” Ben said, coming into the bathroom.

“Go away
,” I said to my invisible Mom.

“
I’m not going away. Let me help you,” Ben said. He didn’t realize that I spoke in the opposite direction. Mom stood over me with a worried expression. Ben handed me a wet cloth. “This will help,” he said. “You’ve had a lot to deal with today.”

I
sobbed. “I can’t take anymore!”

“I know
,” he said, soothing. “I know.” He brushed my hair back as I puked again. Another man held my hair while I puked; it seemed to be my modus operandi.

I curled in a ball while
. Ben watched from the side of the tub. “I need to report this. Will you be okay while I call the station?”

“No police
,” I said.

“I have to report this
.”

“Please. No more police. No more questions.”
Mom eagerly waited to speak. She paced around us. She made the air cold in frustration.

Ben rubbed his arms.
“It’s cold in here. Maybe you should lie down in the living room.”

“I need
to change,” I said. “Can you help me up?”

Ben
lifted me off the floor, and directed me to my room. “I’ll be in the living room.”

I watched him go down the hall and to the couch before I shut my door. Mom immediately started talking. “Okay, talk
,” she said.

“Oh Mom
,” I cried. “Jimmy’s in Jail, Mary, my boss is dead, and someone ransacked my apartment.”

“Oh
Baby, tell me all about it.”

Quickly and quietly, I told Mom the whole story about Jimmy being arrested at Mary House, Mary being dead, and Nessie’s injuries. I told her how the board shut down Mary House, and how I ended up being driven home by Detective Ben King.

“What happened to your apartment?”

“I guess I got robbed.”

“Was anything stolen?”

I thought about it. I didn’t have anything of real value.
I owned two things worth stealing, a TV and a laptop. I remembered seeing my TV on the floor, probably broken, but not stolen. I looked around my room. The draws emptied and clothes strewn all over. I searched for my laptop. I found it by the bed, opened, and on its side. I picked it up and found it powered on. “As far as I can tell, nothing is missing,” I said.

“Cassie, I don’t want to alarm you, but
this wasn’t a random robbery. Someone was looking for something,” Mom said.

“I don’t have anything. I don’t even have a flat screen television.”

“They were looking for some kind of information. They went through your computer.” Mom pointed to the computer. I looked at my computer, on and open to my e-mail account. I felt violated. I never used personal information via the internet. I wasn’t careful with passwords. Anyone who knew me could figure out my password. The person knew me or knew a lot about me. The room spun. I saw spots in front of my eyes. I blinked hard.

“Come on, Cassie, keep it together
,” Mom said.

“I can’t
,” I yawned. I started pushing debris off my bed. “I just need to lie down for a moment.” I dropped across my bed. The moment I did, my entire body shut down. I tried to fight, but I couldn’t hold my eyes open or think any longer.

Just before I went to sleep
, I heard mom calling my name. “Cassie, don’t fall asleep!” she demanded. “What about that man in the living room?” I didn’t care, the sleep washed over me.

CHAPTER 7

I woke to sunlight streaming through my curtains. I forgot the events of the night before. I rolled over to look at my alarm clock. It wasn’t there. The whole night stand was toppled on its side. I shot up. Memories flooded my brain as I looked around the room in disarray. “About time,” Mom said from the end of my bed.

“What time is it?” I asked
, rubbing my eyes.

“Nine o’clock
,” Mom replied, head tilted reading the clock on the floor.

I looked down at myself. I remembered flopping crosswise on the bed. Now I was tucked in, under the covers. My jacket, shoes and socks
removed. “He put you to bed,” Mom said.

“He?” I asked.

“That sexy hunk of man, you brought home last night.” I didn’t know who she was talking about. I looked at her puzzled. Mom rolled her eyes. “The cop who brought you home.”

“Ben?” I asked. “Detective King?”

“Ben is his name,” Mom said.

I reddened with embarrassment. “Ben put me to bed?” I lifted the blanket to
see what I wore. I still had on my shirt and pants. I sighed with relief.

“Relax, Cassie, he was a perfect gentleman
,” Mom said. “I was here all the time. I made sure he didn’t take advantage of you.”

“Oh God!” I
groaned and collapsed back on the bed.

“He seems like a good guy
,” Mom said. “I’ve been watching him all morning.” She giggled.

“Mom, really?”

“Cassie, have you looked at him? He’s an Adonis!”

“I haven’t paid much attention to him
,” I scoffed.

“Don’t get me wrong…I love Jimmy and he is easy on the eyes too, but Ben…wow
,” she said.

“Mom!”

“I’m dead, Cassie, not married!” She rolled her eyes at me. “I can look.”

When I finally got up and shuffled to
the living room, I found Ben. He wore only his jeans and an under shirt. I immediately understood Mom, Jimmy was muscular, but Ben was buff. Mom appeared over Ben as he attempted to fix my front door. She dramatically swooned and then disappeared. I stifled a laugh. Mom practically drooled with Ben unaware of her presence.
If Ben only knew,

“Hey, you’re up
,” Ben said.

“Ben
, you didn’t have to stay,” I said.

“When I found you passed out on your bed, I couldn’t leave you alone
. Not with your place unsecured.”

“You stayed to protect me?”

“Not at first,” he said. “I intended to secure your door and leave, but realized that I couldn’t fix it. Not even temporarily.” He pointed to the door Jam. “See here, the intruder tried to pry it, but it didn’t work. I guess he wanted in pretty bad because he ended up breaking the door in. Look up here and here.” He pointed. “The entire frame is splintered. The dead bolt is broken. The door is useless now.” Ben shook his head. “It looks like the guy used a battering ram to get the door open.”

“That would make a lot of noise
,” I said. Mr. Johnson would have came out of his apartment or at least called the superintendent to complain. “My neighbors must have heard.”

“They did
,” Ben said. “I spoke to both your neighbor and the maintenance man this morning.”
Man I was dead asleep this morning.
I didn’t hear anything.

“You talked to Mr. Johnson?”

“Yes.”

Mr. Johnson and I were not friends.
The nosy old man spied and gossiped on everyone. When I first moved in, he seemed pleasant enough, but over time he began to wear on me. Each time I came in, he gave me some juicy tidbit about other neighbors. “Did you hear the couple in apartment B fighting?” or “Did you see that new guy in apartment C? He seems strange to me.” I stopped using the building laundry mat so I didn’t run into Mr. Johnson. When I started avoiding him, he focused my life. He gossiped about me.

I rarely made any noise, but when I did, Mr. Johnson banged on his walls or call
ed the superintendent to complain. When I bought a new bed, I banged the wall carrying it up the stairs. The next day I received a noise complaint notice on my door.

“What did he say?” I asked.

“Well, he said you’re a strange girl.” Ben made air quotes and laughed. “He said quote: ‘That girl is strange she’s always having conversations with herself.’.”
How dare Mr. Johnson gossip about me!

I rolled my eyes.
“I meant about last night. What did he say about last night?”

“He said that he heard a man pound on your door and say ‘Police open up.’ Then he heard them breaking down your door.”