Half Empty(29)

“What?” Wade asked.

“Ruslan blamed the women in Fedor’s life for ‘ruining him.’” Lori made air quotes when she spoke. “He’s a big, scary man, but he hires people to do his dirty work. I’d be shocked if you found anything you can pin on him, including a traffic violation.”

“This is your father-in-law?” Wade asked Trina.

“There was no love between Fedor and his dad. The two never spoke,” Trina told him.

“That gives us something to go on,” Armstrong said.

“Let’s find out if anything is missing from the office. Forensics will be here in a couple of hours to start dusting for prints.”

Trina pulled herself out of the chair and turned toward the door.

God, she was tired.

The backyard buzzed with officers, most of whom stopped and moved aside when they walked by.

Her legs started to shake.

Wade stopped her. “You okay?”

She closed her eyes, opened them. “The last time I was in that office was when we found him.”

“You don’t have to do this.” He looked at the police officers. “She doesn’t have to do this.”

Trina placed a hand on his arm. “I’m okay.”

“You’re shaking.”

“Yeah, I am. But I’ll survive.”

Wade kept an arm around her waist when she continued walking.

She took the final steps through the door and cringed. It would have been harder to see the office in its normal state and imagine exactly how she’d seen Fedor. This way, with the desk sitting in the wrong place and the chairs in places they never were . . . it was easier, somehow.

Wade squeezed her shoulder.

“I’m okay.” Yet as she said those words, she saw the wall behind the desk and remembered the blood splatter.

She swallowed hard.

“Can you tell if anything is missing?” Detective Gray asked.

“I wasn’t in here very often. Uhm. His desk. A chair, only I think the original chair was removed with him. The wall was painted . . . after.” It had been a lighter color, the whole room. But that wasn’t what they were asking. “He liked pens, there was an old inkwell set on his desk.” Not that they could see it under all the clutter. “I don’t know if it was here after they cleaned up the room.”

“Do you have a cleaning lady?”

“Yeah, Cindy . . .” Trina looked at Lori. “You remember her?”

“I do.”

“She comes twice a month. She’d probably know if anything was missing more than I would.”

Detective Armstrong wrote something down. “We’ll need her number.”

“It’s in the house. I’ve been trying to get ahold of her the past few days, but she hasn’t returned my calls.”

The detectives exchanged glances. Armstrong wrote a note in his small pad of paper.

Detective Gray pointed to the safe behind the tilted painting on the wall. “Do you have the key?”

“No. I didn’t have any of the safe combinations or keys.”

“Really? That’s odd.”

She shook her head. “Not necessarily. We’d only been married for a year. I didn’t see the need for that kind of thing.”

The detectives were silent. “Your husband was a wealthy man.”

“He was. He had everything to live for, it made no sense for him to kill himself.”

“So why do you think he did it?” Armstrong asked.

Lori interrupted Trina before she could answer.

“The investigation that followed Fedor’s death determined that he was distraught over his mother’s impending death. They were very close. She passed shortly after Fedor’s funeral.”

While all that was true, Trina felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end when Lori delivered the information in her lawyer voice.

Armstrong scribbled in his notebook.

“Gentlemen. If that’s all, I think it would be good for all of us to get some rest. We’ve been up for over twenty-four hours.” Lori cut everything off.

The officers exchanged looks.

Trina was too tired to figure out what had gotten up Lori’s butt.

“You’re Wade Thomas,” Detective Gray said as if he was just figuring it out.

“Yeah, we talked about this a few hours ago,” Wade said.

Trina looked up at Wade, then back to the officer talking.

“So you two are . . . dating?” he asked.

Wade opened his mouth and Lori stepped in front of him.

“Are you a fan, Detective?” Lori asked.

Gray tilted his head. “No. I’m more of a Guns N’ Roses guy. I just, ah . . . I don’t know. The man who owned all this is dead for only a year.” His eyes traveled to Trina.

“Okay, that’s enough!” Lori pushed Trina and Wade out of the room.

“You’re out of line.” Wade pointed two fingers at the detective.

Reed moved to stand beside Lori.

“Okay, everyone, relax. We’re just doing our job.” Gray looked at Reed. “You of all people should know that.”

“Yeah, I do. If you’re thinking what I think you’re thinking . . . you’re digging in the wrong hole.”

Trina’s head spun while she tried to catch up on the hidden conversation running all around her.

“We’re going to go upstairs and get some sleep. If you gentlemen have any more questions, you make sure and wake both of us.” Lori pointed between herself and Trina.

Gray started to grin . . . and not the kind of grin that made you smile, but the kind that made you worry. “You’re a lawyer.”

“Very perceptive, Officer. And he’s a famous singer,” she said, pointing to Wade. “And he’s an ex-detective, and before the end of the day, you might meet the former first lady of California and a duke. Friends in this circle are seldom the gardener.”

Detective Gray stepped back. “Yes, ma’am.”

They were several feet away when Trina turned to Lori. “What the hell was that all about?”

“They were questioning you like a suspect,” Reed answered for Lori.

“What? Me? Why?” She started to turn around.

Wade redirected her toward the house. “Another time, darlin’. You need to sleep.”

Within half an hour, Trina sat curled in her bed, with Lori sitting beside her.

“I’m not guilty of anything, Lori.”

“I know that.”

“Other than not loving my husband.”

“I know that, too. But keep that to yourself, Trina. It will only raise suspicion.”

“This is all so wrong. Everything about this is just wrong,” she cried.

Lori patted her knee. “Get some sleep, even a few hours will clear your head.”

“We should be at the hospital.” Yet even as Trina said those words, she knew if she didn’t get a few hours of horizontal time, she’d only make herself sick.

Lori grasped Trina’s hands.

“What room did Wade take?”

“Across the hall. He left his door open, so if you need anything . . .”

“This is so unfair to him. We barely know each other.”

Lori smiled. “Maybe, but he doesn’t seem to be itching to leave. Which says a lot about his character.”

“I told you he was a good guy.”

Lori patted her hand. “Get some sleep.”

She didn’t have to be told twice. Lori left the room, and her head hit the pillow and she was gone.

Nightmares startled her awake almost as quickly as she’d fallen asleep.

Her door shot open and Wade crossed the room in a pair of boxer shorts.

“What was that?” She looked around the room, expecting to see that something had crashed to the floor.

“It was you,” Wade said while he sat on the edge of the bed.

“How long have I been asleep?”

“Not long enough, hon.” He brushed her hair from her eyes and smiled.

“I’m sorry about all this . . . you don’t deserve—”

“Shh, stop, stop.” He crawled on top of the covers and pulled her head to his chest. “Go back to sleep.”

“This is all wrong.”

He stroked the side of her hair, and the heaviness of her eyes pulled her under.

“Shh, I’m right here. It’s okay.”





Chapter Twenty



Wade booked several suites at the closest hotel to the hospital where Avery was recuperating. He’d called Ike and asked him to pack a bag and get it to the hotel as soon as a plane could fly it out. While Trina was at Avery’s bedside, Wade took a moment and called his mother so she wouldn’t worry.

She was already beside herself.

“You left in the middle of your own party, that isn’t like you. I don’t like what this woman is doing to your head.”

“Did you miss the part about how her best friend was beaten within an inch of her life and is in the ICU?” It was unlike his mother to be so cold.

“No, I didn’t miss that, Wade. And don’t take that tone with me. I’m not heartless. I just don’t see how any of this is your problem. How long have you known this woman, a couple of weeks?”

Wade was starting to see the end of his rope with the conversation, and they had only been talking for five minutes. “Someone I know very well once told me to follow my gut when I was hungry and my heart when someone made me smile. Well, Trina makes me smile.”

“I didn’t say that, I said follow your gut when it came to women and leave the heart out of it, that organ only gets you into trouble.” Ahh, there his mother was.