You Can't Hide (44 page)

She brushed her hand over Rachel’s head. “Show them the rest, sweetie. They’re going to see it sooner or later.”

With a sigh, Rachel folded down her col ar. Her thick black hair, which had hung halfway down her back was now a jagged mess, barely reaching her nape. “It actually feels kind of good,”

she said lightly. “I must have lost five pounds of hair.”

Stricken, Aidan touched the tip of her shorn hair. “Oh, honey, I’m sorry.”

“Stop it,” Rachel said brusquely, taking Aidan’s hands in hers. “It’s hair, Aidan. Just hair. Besides, I already have an appointment to fix it.”

Tess nodded. “One of Robin’s waiters moonlights as a hairdresser. He’ll make you mahvelous, dahling. A good cut, some highlights…”

Rachel patted Aidan’s hands. “I’l come out of this better than I went in.”

“Sounds like you took care of things pretty well, Tess,” Abe commented. “Just one more thing. Which cop did you call to take her statement?” Tess looked across the bul pen to the empty desk next to Abe’s with a lifted brow and Abe sighed. “I should have known something was up when she took a long lunch. Where is Mia now?”

“She got another call just as we were leaving the ER. That wasn’t more than twenty minutes ago. I asked her not to call you until I had a chance to talk to you. She said for you to call her when you’re ready.”

“Then I guess I’ve got someplace to be.” Abe brushed his thumb against Rachel’s bruised face.

“Next time, call us. We’re big boys, kid. We know how not to erupt.”

“Okay.” Now that it was over, Rachel’s blue eyes filled. “I’m sorry.” Abe crouched in front of her chair and pul ed her into his arms, smoothing his hands up and down her back. “Oh, Abe, I was so scared.”

“I know. But you were so brave. Don’t be quite so brave again though, okay?”

With a shudder she nodded and Abe gave her back a final pat before standing up and pul ing Tess to his chest. He kissed the top of her head. “Thank you,” he said and let her go with an unsteady grin. “When things settle down, I want you to teach her whatever you did to Clayborn last night. Very, very cool, Tess.”

“I will. Now go. Mia’s waiting for you.”

Aidan sat on the edge of his desk and folded his arms over his chest. “So what am I going to do with you, squirt? I’ve got some calls to make.”

“We can take her home,” Tess said. “Vito and me.”

165

Karen Rose

[Suspense 5]

You Can't Hide

Aidan saw Vito standing over against the wall, as if for the first time realizing he was there.

“Thank you. I-” His phone rang and Tess admired the long lean lines of his body as he reached to answer it. “Reagan… Yes.” His eyes darted to hers and his face went even paler than before. “Get Spinnelli,” he mouthed. Tess ran but by the time she returned with Spinnelli, Aidan had hung up the phone and was quickly dialing again, demanding the call be traced. Spinnelli’s eyes were glued to Rachel. “My God. What happened?”

Tess was watching Aidan’s face, dread rising to choke her. He was visibly shaken but he said nothing, wouldn’t meet her eyes. “Aidan? Who was that? What did they say?” She tugged on his arm. “Aidan? Look at me, dammit.”

Slowly he did, holding her gaze as seconds ticked and the muscle in his taut jaw twitched. Then his eyes flicked to Rachel and stayed there.

And Tess knew. Covering her mouth, she lurched back. “No.” She thought about the way she’d found Rachel, bruised and bleeding and scared. It was bad enough when she thought it had been retribution for Rachel’s anonymous tip. She swallowed back the bile that burned her throat.

“Be judged by the company you keep?” she whispered.

Aidan nodded.

“Holy hell,” Spinnelli muttered. He pul ed Murphy’s chair around their desks. “Sit down, Tess, before you faint. And who are you?”

“Vito Ciccotelli.” Behind her Vito’s voice was rough, his hands tight on her shoulders as he pushed her into the chair. “Philadelphia PD. I’m her brother.”

Spinnelli pinched his lips together hard. “I’ll call your dad to pick you up, Rachel.”

“No.” Rachel shook her head. “‘Be judged by the company you keep’? What does that mean?”

“It means that you were hurt because you know me,” Tess said woodenly. “You’re not the first.”

She shook her head again. “Those boys were friends of those asshole jocks that raped Marie. That had nothing to do with you.”

Tess turned her head to look into the girl’s blue eyes. “And how do you think they found out it was you, Rachel?”

Rachel opened her mouth, closed it again as Tess’s meaning sank in. “All those people… They died just because they
knew
you?” she asked, wide-eyed. Horrified. “Your doctor friend, too?”

Tess nodded, her mind spinning, her body numb. “And my doorman friend.”

Spinnelli hesitated. “Tess.”

Her eyes flew up to meet his. He shook his head sadly and Tess felt her heart stumble and stop. Her lips didn’t want to form the word. “Who?”

“Do you know a Marge Hooper?”

She blinked slowly, unable, unwilling to comprehend. “She owns the wineshop.”

“I’m so sorry, Tess. Mia called right before you came to get me. She’s at the scene now, Abe’s on his way.”

The room started to spin and she closed her eyes, focusing on the strength of Vito’s hands on her shoulders. “How?”

Spinnelli cleared his throat. “I don’t think-”

She opened her eyes and stared fiercely into Spinnelli’s face. “Goddammit to hell,” she hissed.

“You tell me, Marc.”

He flicked a glance at Rachel who still sat, stunned. “Not here. Not now. Rachel, I’m going to call your father to come get you.”

Aidan stood up, his face once again unreadable. “I’l take her home, Marc,” he said grimly. “I have to go out anyway. Come on, Rachel.”

Rachel stood up unsteadily, Aidan’s hand supporting her arm. She started to shrug out of Tess’s coat, but Tess shook her head. “Keep the coat,” she said and looked up at Aidan’s flat eyes.

“I owed your brother one anyway.”

He said nothing, just nodded once and walked away.

166

Karen Rose

[Suspense 5]

You Can't Hide

Numb, Tess didn’t move. He was gone. Without a word. But what could he have said?
Bye,
Tess, thanks for a night of mind blowing sex but you nearly got my sister killed?
He’d be justified. She couldn’t even blame him for going. Just by being seen with her, he’d risked his family, his sister. Everyone else who’d been targeted was dead. Rachel could have been, too. Nothing else mattered except that girl’s safety.

Not even your heart, Tess?
Not even that.

“That sonofabitch,” Vito muttered. “I’d like to…”

“Vito, stop. What else could he do? We’l just score another one for the bad guy,” she murmured. “He’s made all my patients fear me. Now the people I care about are afraid of me, too.” Vito crouched beside her, taking her cold hand in his warm ones. “Come home with me, Tess. Where you belong.”

“I can’t. Not until this is over. I’m not going to run and hide.” She looked up at Spinnelli. “Tell me about Marge.”

“Her throat was slit sometime between midnight and four this morning.”

She closed her eyes, then opened them, unable to look at the picture her mind conjured. “She has two children, Marc. They’re both away at col ege.”

Spinnelli’s face was kind. “We’l find them and tell them. Tess, about Aidan. He didn’t mean to be abrupt. He had a shock and so have you.”

She stood up on shaky legs. “Vito, I’m ready to go now. Take me back to Aidan’s.”

Vito’s tight jaw dropped. “After that? After he treated you like that?”

She nodded. “I think I should get my things,” she said and he relaxed a fraction. “My clothes and Bella. If the hotel won’t let me keep Bella there, then maybe Amy can watch her until I can get back into my place.”

“Tess, don’t do anything hasty,” Spinnelli said. “Please.”

Ignoring his plea, she squared her shoulders and looked up at him. “Marc, somebody watching me knew that Rachel was involved in the report of that rape to the police. This has gone beyond trashing my professional reputation or whatever other motives you think this sick bastard may have had. Somebody wants to hurt me and they don’t care who else has to pay in the process.” She sighed. “And I can’t think of anybody that hates me that much.”

Chapter 18

Thursday, March 16, 2:00 P.M.

Aidan pul ed into traffic, his cell phone to his ear. “Kristen?”

“Aidan.” Kristen sounded hassled. “I’m eye-ball deep today. Is this fast?”

“Rachel’s hurt.” Beside him, Rachel stared out the car window, shaking her head.

“Oh, my God.” The activity in the background abruptly ceased. “How bad?”

“A few stitches. I’m taking her home now.” A task he dreaded. He hated the look he’d see on his parents’ faces-the worry and the fear.

And the blame. They wouldn’t mean to, but he and Abe had promised their father she’d be safe. It had been a stupid promise to make. “Can you tell me if any of the guys she turned in are out on bail?”

He could hear her keyboard clacking. “Just one of them. Andrew Poston was released on bail this morning. Andrew is a judge’s son. This is going to be ugly, Aidan.”

“I don’t give a damn whose son he is. I want a warrant for Poston’s house.”

“Aidan…” Kristen hesitated. “You shouldn’t be involved. This isn’t your department.”

“I got a call right after Tess brought Rachel to me, Kristen. The caller said the next time my sister would get worse if I didn’t change the company I keep.”

167

Karen Rose

[Suspense 5]

You Can't Hide

Kristen’s little gasp echoed between them. “Abe told me about the doorman and the note. Was the caller male or female?”

“I couldn’t tell. The voice was distorted.”

Kristen sighed. “All right. I’l try to get you a warrant. Promise me you’l take Murphy.”

“I will, thanks. I have another call coming in.” He pushed a button. “Reagan.”

“It’s Murphy. We found them.”

It took Aidan a second. “Bacon’s videos? You found them? All of them?”

“They’re probably his backup set. He’s got them all organized by year. Women and… kids. God.” Murphy sounded ill. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Murphy, the ones of…”

“Of Tess?” he asked, understanding. “I’ll get a policewoman to view those.”

“Thanks. Meet me at my house and I’l bring you up to speed. We’ve got a lot to do and I promised Tess I’d go with her to Harrison Ernst’s viewing tonight.” He slipped his phone in his pocket and glanced at Rachel who was staring at him wide-eyed. “What?”

“You’re going out with her tonight? With Tess?”

“It’s not a date. It’s a viewing, but yes, I’m going with her tonight. Why?”

“Because you just walked out like you never planned to see her again.”

“That’s ridiculous. She didn’t think that.”

“Yeah, she did, Aidan. I saw her face when you walked away. It wasn’t like it was even her fault or anything and you got all broody and mad. I didn’t know what to say to her. She’d been so nice to me and you were mad at her.”

“I wasn’t mad at her. She knows better than to think that,” he protested.

“I know what I see. I’d call her if I were you or she might get away. She’s a whole lot nicer than Shelley, Aidan. Shelley looked down on us. Tess… she fits right in.”

“How do you know? You’ve spent less than four total hours with her.”

Rachel’s look was cool y adult. “She talked to me last night and today about her family. Partly to take my mind off the pain when she was stitching me, but partly because I think she needed to talk to somebody. It’s funny. I never thought that shrinks needed to talk to people, too. Her family seems just like us. Except that her dad’s sick, you know. She just found out her dad needs a heart transplant or he’l die.”

Aidan’s own heart clenched. “Poor Tess. On top of everything else.”

“Call her, Aidan. Don’t let her get away or I’l kick your ass. Better yet, I’l have her do it. That was pretty amazing, what she did to that guy last night.”

Yeah, it was amazing. And after he’d finishing having the shit scared out of him, he’d found it incredibly arousing, the sex better than any he’d ever had before. Tess was most definitely not what he’d first labeled her to be. “How’d you get so smart, kid?”

Rachel smiled at him and he wondered when she’d grown up. “Good genes.”

Thursday, March 16, 2:55 P.M.

“Tess, what is
taking
you so long?” Vito boomed from the kitchen.

“I can’t get Bella in the carrier.” Tess sat on the edge of Aidan’s bed, drained. She looked at the bedding she and Aidan had all but destroyed in the four times they’d… Right here and now she could be honest with herself. They’d had really good sex. And maybe, when all this was over and she was no longer a threat to the safety of anyone around her, they might have really good sex again.

But from where she was sitting right now, that didn’t look likely. He’d walked away like she was a plague carrier. For all intents, that’s exactly what she was. But of course everything looked worse when you were having the day from hel .

Marge Hooper’s had been considerably worse. Marge was dead. It started to sink in on the ride to Aidan’s. They hadn’t really been friends, more like acquaintances. But she was dead, the message clear. Nobody Tess knew was exempt.

168

Karen Rose

[Suspense 5]

You Can't Hide

“This has been a really shitty day, Bella,” Tess told the cat, who sat poised to run again. Her parents’ revelations, being sued, stitching up Rachel Reagan, then watching Aidan walk away…

And looming over it all was Marge and Mr. Hughes and Harrison. “I didn’t think after yesterday it could get much worse. I was wrong.” She stood up. “So stop being a pain in the ass and come here so I can get out of here.” She reached, only to have the cat escape again, nimbly climbing to the top shelf of the bookshelves that fil ed an entire wall of Aidan’s bedroom. Every shelf was bowed, loaded with books.

Angry male voices distracted her and she could hear Aidan and Vito arguing in the kitchen. With a tired shake of her head, Tess left them to it. They were big boys, after all. And she had to catch her cat. Standing on her toes, she grabbed onto the highest shelf and felt for Bella’s col ar just as Aidan appeared in the doorway, looking furious.