Criminal(51)

“He must have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time,” she said earnestly. “It’s... not the best part of the city.” She looked around at her sad apartment, her meagre existence, as if to prove her point to him. “Bad stuff happens around here all the time.”

The officer didn’t look convinced by her statement, however. Had she oversold it?

“Not like this it doesn’t,” he said to her, tapping his stylus against the touch screen pad he held. “Even for the criminal element in this city… this is a big deal, ma’am,” he said to her, looking a little more stern now. “Which is why we’re looking into this so seriously. The building’s security camera showed him — and sometimes you and him — entering the building to go to your apartment. Now, I know you might be concerned about saying something to get yourself in trouble but… I’m really just concerned with finding out who would shoot up a neighbourhood in this city.”

He made his case so well, his smooth, deep voice so convincing. He just wanted to help.

Angela sipped her water, doing her best to hold back her tears. She’d spilled so many, already, and was exhausted over it. She sat down on her ratty couch and let out a long sigh.

Detective Luke Crusher moved over, sitting himself down on her couch beside her, placing his glass of water on the coffee table. All the equipment dangling from his belt making it seem so awkward for him.

“This isn’t the sort of city where we see gunfights in the streets, ma’am. And certainly not the kind of city where we see murder en masse, right out in the open. Your friend was a victim of that attack, and even if he was involved in something criminal… either way, anything you can tell us would help us track down the perpetrators.”

Angela looked up at the officer, her emerald eyes glittering with her unshed tears, her face looking more mature than her 30 years, her lips drawn into a tight line as she considered the detective.





Chapter 2


Roughly one week earlier...

The beat of the music in the club reverberated through the walls of the office, so that even though it was quiet, the feeling of the beat and energy below carried up into it. Javier sat upon the corner of his desk, a fine white suit upon him to contrast his dark skin and eyes, though he’d shed his tie.

“I see you out that window every night, and I can’t help but smile,” he said to Svetlana, who sat upon the edge of a one-way window that looked out over the dance floor below. His lips were spread into a broad smile as he eyed the dainty woman, dressed in a mix of fluorescent pink and black, a raver outfit if ever there was one.

She leaned back as she looked at him, all softness and affection in her every move.

“Vell maybe you should be comink down more often instead of hidink away from all of us. Enjoy the life you’ve built.” Her toes were pointed inwards, resting against one another in her high stiletto heels. They glowed under the black light, just like most everything else she wore.

She flicked her blonde hair over her shoulder, running her fingers through it idly as she glanced back to the crowd, a lingering look of enjoyment upon her face.

“I’ve got a lot of work to do,” he said simply, then rose up from his spot upon the desk, the tall man towering over the much shorter woman as he made his way towards her.

“Besides,” he continued, sitting himself down on the arm of the leather sofa next to her, reaching out to take her dainty hand in his large palm. “I can’t be myself with others around. But you? You bring out something special in me,” he said, his deep voice so soft and warm with her, in a way it never was with anyone else, matching the way he gently stroked the pale, smooth skin on the back of her hand.

Svetlana giggled, shimmying a little bit closer to him as her gaze met his.

“You’re too kind,” she protested with a little shake of her head. “But I’m glad, regardless, that you think so.” There was such a reverence in her gaze as she bit down on her lower lip nervously. Not nervous of him... nervous of how she acted around him.

He made her head spin, all of her willpower drained as she wanted nothing more than to make him happy, and it was etched all throughout her features.

Javier smoothly lifted her hand up to kiss at the backs of her knuckles, letting his dusky eyes meet her gaze as he took his time, revelled in that moment together. Until at last he lowered her hand again and reached out to rest his palm upon her bare knee.

“You’re the most beautiful vision to walk through those doors down there, and there’s just something about you,” he said, his Cuban accent so rich. “You have a way of making me — and everyone else — more relaxed, more pleased. You’ve an aura of peace and serenity about you, dear Lana.”