You Can't Hide (14 page)

“I’m sorry, Detective.” Her voice shook and she cursed her own weak fear. This should be about Avery and Cynthia, but she was enough of a pragmatist to admit it was not. It was all about her.

“You’ve been trying to reach me all afternoon. What have you found?”

He was standing so close she could feel his sigh against her cheek. He was strong and solid, his eyes sharp and fierce, yet she’d seen the compassion there. For Cynthia. For Avery. And for just a moment she let herself wonder what would it be like to be the recipient of his protection instead of his accusation. The moment was short-lived.

52

Karen Rose

[Suspense 5]

You Can't Hide

“We found three florists who’d sold lilies to a young woman on Saturday,” he said grimly.

“She paid them all with a credit card.”

Tess didn’t have to ask. She already knew. Gathering her courage, she lifted her eyes to his. They were serious, but not accusing. “Mine,” she said flatly. He nodded once. “Yes.”

She pressed her lips together. “I didn’t do this, Detective. Any of this.” She looked away. “I don’t expect you to believe me.”

“I didn’t expect to believe you, either.”

Stunned, she jerked her eyes back to his unsmiling face as her pulse spiked once again. “You do believe me?”

His brows knit, as if his path to this point was a complete mystery. “Yes.”

“Then…” She was almost afraid to say the words aloud. “Then you’re not going to arrest me?”

“No.” He grabbed the end of the handrail and took a step back on the landing, his intense eyes troubled. “But I need to understand why
you
.”

“I don’t know. I thought I was just a tool. A pawn. But I’m not.”

“I thought you might be the target this morning. I wasn’t sure until now.”

She tilted her head. “Why this morning? What changed?”

He looked away for a few seconds. When he looked back his eyes were subdued. “Yesterday afternoon I requested a list of the cases in which you’d testified for the prosecution. There were a lot of them, a lot of people who could gain from setting you up. I owe you an apology, Dr. Ciccotelli. I was wrong.”

His use of her title served to reerect the wall between them. Still, formality beat accusation any damn day of the week. “Thank you.”

“We have to decide where to go from here.” He checked his watch. “I’ve been gone too long. I have to get back upstairs and finish processing the scene. Come on, I’l walk you up and you can go back down the elevator.”

Tess shook her head, her stomach clenching at the thought. “That’s alI right. I’l take the stairs.”

His look said he thought she was crazy. “It’s nine floors.”

Nine floors or nineteen, it didn’t matter. Tess only took elevators when it was completely unavoidable. That usually required a destination twenty floors or above. In her current state, she didn’t even want to think about being trapped in an eight by ten box, even for only nine floors. “I ran down a flight and a half, so it’s only seven and a half floors now. Go on up and finish your job, Detective. It’s the least we can do for Avery Winslow now. I’l be fine. Call me when you’re ready to sit down and talk. I’l go back through my notes on my court evaluations. Maybe it will help shake loose one of the names on your list.” She looked down, then back up to meet his eyes.

“Thank you, Detective, for believing me.”

He nodded once and walked up two steps, while she walked down two. Something prickled at the back of her neck and she looked up, only to find he’d stopped and was looking down. His mouth was a grim line, his blue eyes bright and focused on her face, which heated under his scrutiny. It wasn’t the same accusing look as before, but this new expression was every bit as intense. Her pulse scrambled.

“You’re welcome, Doctor,” he finally said, very soberly. Then he took the stairs two at a time and less than a minute later a door above her head opened and closed, the sound echoing through the stairwell.

Tess exhaled a huge lungful of air, feeling lightheaded. Detective Aidan Reagan was a potent man. Her skin tingled with the aftereffects of that long look that she refused to even try to categorize.
Just be grateful he isn’t arresting you, Tess,
she told herself. She started down the stairs, relieved and guilty at the same time. She wasn’t going to be arrested. But two people were still dead. That she could not change. Still weak-kneed and lightheaded she managed the remaining seven and a half flights, exiting the first-floor stairwell just as Amy stepped off the elevator, Tess’s tan coat over her arm. Her

53

Karen Rose

[Suspense 5]

You Can't Hide

friend’s eyes immediately narrowed. “What happened up there? I finally found a parking place and went up to find you, but they wouldn’t let me off the elevator. There was a snotty cop standing guard that said Detective Reagan chased you down the stairs. I thought I’d have to meet you downtown again.”

“It wasn’t like that. Avery Winslow is dead.”

“I figured that much,” Amy said. “Cops and CSU everywhere.”

“There was another picture.” The thought of which sent her stomach pitching. “The picture came in an envelope from my office, Amy.”

Amy’s brows snapped together. “Well, that’s not good, but anybody could steal an envelope. It’s not the end of the world.”

“It is for Avery Winslow.”

“You didn’t cause that, nor can you change it. Take your coat. I’l take you home.”

Tess took it with a small smile of gratitude. She’d bolted from Amy’s car half a block away when traffic had snarled to a halt, leaving her coat in the backseat. “Thanks. The only good thing is that Reagan knows I didn’t do it.”

“He does, does he? And the grand detective told you this?”

Tess shifted on her feet, uncomfortable at her mocking tone. “Yeah, he did.”

Amy’s laugh was just shy of a sneer. “And you believed him?”

Tess nodded. “Yeah, I did.”

“Hel , Tess, don’t be an idiot.”

Tess straightened her spine, affronted. “I’m not.”

Amy pushed through the door to the street. “If you believe anything any cop tells you, you’re an idiot. My car’s parked two blocks away.” She studied Tess’s face critically. “You’re pale. Do you want to wait here while I get the car?”

Tess shook her head, still stinging from the insult. “The walk will be good for me.”

Amy shrugged and started walking. “Whatever. Look, I’m sorry I called you an idiot, but you’re scaring me here. The police want you to trust them. It’s part of the scam. Reagan’s got incredible blue eyes that I’m sure beamed total sincerity, but bottom line is that he’s a cop. Cops lie to get you to confess.” She shot her a sharp look. “You talked to him in the stairwell, didn’t you?”

Tess kept her eyes forward. “Only to say I didn’t do it.”

“And he asked you to get together later to talk.”

She lifted her chin, unsteady under Amy’s verbal assault. “Actually, I offered.”

Amy’s scornful laugh grated. “How much did I say I was going to charge you? I’m going to have to double it.”

Tess gritted her teeth and said nothing.

Amy huffed impatiently. “Now you’re mad at me because
I’m
the only one telling you the truth. Tess, do not trust the police. Reagan’s going to bat those long eyelashes and flash that movie-star smile to get you to tell him everything. And honey, anything you say, can and
will
be used against you. Don’t make me work so damned hard. Keep your mouth shut and everything will be fine. Do not talk to any detectives without your attorney being present. Last I checked, that was me. Do I have your word?”

Tess shoved her cold hands in her pockets, not certain which irked her more-Amy’s ultimatum or her rather disparaging view of Tess’s ability to judge character.
It’s not like I’m a
psychiatrist or anything,
she thought sardonically. Working with the police was not a mistake. It very well might be her only hope of ending this before anyone else died. “And if I say no, Counselor?”

Amy stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, forcing Tess to do the same. Her friend was totally serious, her eyes sharp as razors, her cheeks red with ire. “Then you’l need to hire yourself another attorney,
Doctor,
because I won’t represent you.” Then she started walking again, leaving Tess standing on the sidewalk staring at Amy’s back with her mouth gaping open.

54

Karen Rose

[Suspense 5]

You Can't Hide

As Amy disappeared into the crowd, Tess realized it was the second time in an hour someone had called her “Doctor” in that nasty tone.

The first had been the cop outside Avery Winslow’s front door whose grip on her arm had probably left a bruise. But Aidan Reagan had confronted him. Told the cop to take his hands off, and he hadn’t said it nicely, either. Reagan had stood up for her. But, she told herself, it was in his nature to do so. It appeared to be the way he was wired.

It was sobering, as were her current options for getting home. Amy was long gone and Tess couldn’t catch up even if she went running after her, which she wasn’t about to do. But she’d left her office without her briefcase or her purse. Her pocket held a dol ar fifty in change, some lint, and her cell phone.
If I were home, I could call Vito and he’d come without blinking
. The thought was just unexpected enough to make her blink. And clench her teeth. Home was Chicago now, not South Philly. And her brother Vito was hundreds of miles away.
I miss him.
She could admit it to herself.
I miss them all
. She knew Vito would come if she called. But it would cause her brother trouble with their father and she didn’t want that. Now if she’d actually been arrested…
Yeah, I would have cal ed Vito then.
But she hadn’t been, so it was moot. Jon would be in surgery right now and Denise would be gone. She glanced up the height of Avery’s building. They were still up there, Murphy and Reagan. As was what was left of Avery Winslow. She closed her eyes against the memory, opened them quickly at the pictures that flashed against her eyelids. Avery lying there, his head blown half off. Cynthia, her body ripped wide open. And the sound of her own voice goading Cynthia to her death. The images would haunt her forever.

She couldn’t go back up there, couldn’t face it again.

And as much as it galled, Amy’s warning was rol ing around in her mind. Reagan was a good man, a good cop. Murphy had said so. And yet Murphy had allowed her to be brought in and grilled. Logically she knew he’d been doing his job. But it still hurt. And it illustrated just how quickly a cop’s trust was set aside.

She’d help Reagan and Murphy. But careful y. For now, she needed a place to sit down and get out of the cold. She glanced around, got her bearings. She was only a few blocks from the Lemon, a place she knew she’d be welcome without a dime.

Monday, March 13, 4:45 P.M.

Joanna side-stepped a lady walking a lumbering basset hound, murmuring apology as she hurried. Tess Ciccotelli, like everyone else on the street, had her head down against the wind and rain. Made for smooth tailing. She’d been fol owing the woman all afternoon and now knew another of Ciccotelli’s clients was dead. That would be another front-page story. With Cy Bremin’s byline.
Over my dead body.
No pun intended. Her eyes narrowed, still focused on her subject who had turned a corner and was now heading west. She needed exclusivity to guarantee that bastard Schmidt wouldn’t throw her story to Bremin.

She needed unencumbered access to Tess Ciccotelli. It looked like she’d be able to get her wish. In a move that still had Joanna scratching her head, Ciccotelli had all but fired her defense attorney. Right out there on the street. Because the shrink actually wanted to cooperate with the cops. Personally, Joanna agreed with the lawyer. Ciccotelli was an idiot. Or, and it
was
a consideration, maybe she really hadn’t done anything wrong and this was one really elaborate setup. Frankly, it mattered little which one was true, as long as the byline said “Joanna Carmichael.”

Chapter 7

55

Karen Rose

[Suspense 5]

You Can't Hide

Monday, March 13, 4:45 P.M.

Aidan got back just as ME tech Johnson zipped Winslow’s body bag. He stepped out of the way of the gurney and walked over to Murphy’s side. “She’s all right,” Aidan said, his voice low. “I told her about the credit cards. I didn’t have to tell her they were hers. She already knew.”

“Spinnelli called me while you were with her.” Murphy showed him his notepad, on which he’d scrawled the address for a mailbox store on the other side of town. “He traced the billing address of the credit card to this place. They’re open till six.”

Aidan glanced at his watch. “We’l just make it.”

“Spinnelli also said he’d heard from Patrick. He’s gotten notice from five different lawyers who are filing appeals.”

“Shit.”

“Just hit the fan,” Murphy finished. “Where’s Tess?”

“Said she was heading home to start going through her old court evaluations. I told her we’d call her later tonight.”

“Murphy!” Jack emerged from the hallway that led to the bedrooms, motioning them to come. “You, too, Aidan. Come on. You’l want to see this.”

They fol owed Jack back to what had been the Winslow baby’s nursery. The crib still stood in the corner, the changing table stil stocked with disposable diapers and baby powder. A thick layer of dust covered everything. One of Jack’s men stood on a step stool, his face in an open air vent, the vent cover propped up against the wall.

“This is Rick Simms. Show them what you found, Rick.”

Rick turned around, his thumb and forefinger gripping a small black box, an inch wide and half an inch thick.

Aidan stepped up on the corner of the stool to get a better view. An inch-long cable protruded from one end of the box and he suddenly knew exactly what Rick Simms had found. He looked back at Murphy, both stunned and angered, surprised he could still feel either after all he’d seen this afternoon. “It’s a camera.”

“Good eye,” Rick said. “Wireless camera, high res.” He twisted the box slightly. “And capable of transmitting sound. Here’s the mike.”