Hearts on Fire 5: Loving Frankie(11)

She called him deputy with such disgust and disrespect.

“We may need to talk to you again. Do you have a cell number we can reach you at or a home phone?” Buddy asked her.

She shook her head.

“I work at Prestige Friday and Saturday nights. But I’ve been job-hunting for something else for during the day. Lure lets me use his cell phone number as a contact number. If you need to contact me, I suppose you could try there. You said you were going to talk with Charlie and Lure? They know me well and watch over me.” She looked at Turbo as she continued. “I was with them all day and night Saturday and Sunday, if that helps to know.”

Turbo clenched his teeth. Was she sleeping with Charlie and Lure? Fuck!

Buddy cleared his throat then pulled out a business card.

“Here’s my number. You call us if you think of anything else or if you need to contact us for any reason.”

“Okay.” She took the card and then headed toward the door. She opened it, and Turbo let Buddy and Jake head out first.

“Be sure to lock up,” Turbo told her.

“I always do.”

She closed the door, and they all headed down the hallway and out of the building.

“What do you think?” Jake asked Buddy.

“I think Turbo’s girl is hiding something, but I don’t think she killed Gloria.”

“You don’t?” Turbo asked.

“Hell no. She is sweet and only seemed to get on the defensive with you, Turbo. I think you need to work on your angle,” Buddy teased him.

“Sounds more like she’s involved with the owners of Prestige. They know Nate, don’t they?” Jake asked.

“They do. But I don’t think she’s involved with them. I think she’s trying to piss me off to keep me at bay. But seeing where she lives, and knowing that Gloria was killed more than likely the night she attacked Frankie, has my gut twisted with concern. Something isn’t right.”

“Well, what do you know? Deputy Hawkins has a bit of investigative skills a brewing. Should we keep him in the loop?” Buddy asked Jake, and Jake chuckled as he started the truck.

“Only if he promises to not start a fight with Charlie and Lure over Frankie.” Buddy chuckled.

“He’s a Hawkins. Good fucking luck with that.”

Turbo shook his head as Jake and Buddy chuckled.

Turbo felt pissed and disappointed. He’d really hoped he and his brothers had a chance with Frankie. But if she was banging her bosses, sloppy seconds weren’t the Hawkins’ style.



* * * *



Buddy Landers walked out of the interrogation room with more questions than answers.

Lux, as he liked to be called, was a drug dealer, a little fish in a large pond with useless information. Lux was with Gloria the night she got busted by Charlie and Lure for selling drugs. She’d been having sex with Lux in the back room of the club. Buddy, Jake, and Turbo got a lot of information from Lure and Charlie, who were more than happy to assist with the investigation. Buddy was starting to think that Lux would be his only tool in figuring out who’d killed Gloria. As far as he was concerned, Frankie wasn’t a suspect but a victim in the case.

Frankie had not only gained the attention and concern of Lure and Charlie, but also of Turbo and his brothers. Buddy had great instincts, too, and he believed that Frankie was definitely hiding something. It might not be illegal since she’d been more than willing to help in the investigation and even give up her gun to prove her innocence. But when Buddy called her and asked for some more personal information, she’d asked him to not invade her privacy and her past. That things had happened she didn’t want to rehash, and nothing was illegal, was just as upsetting.

He was curious, but he respected her wishes. She wasn’t a suspect, after all. But he wouldn’t be too sure about Turbo and his brothers. They liked Frankie, and it seemed the more she tried blowing them off, the more interested they became.

“Hey, did you get anything more out of him?” Detective Bryce Moore asked Buddy as he joined him outside of the interrogation room.

Buddy pulled out his notes.

“Not much but that he’s on the bottom of the totem pole. Looks like Gloria was the contact for their distributor and operator. Lux isn’t budging on any names. He’d didn’t bat an eye when I suggested he would be charged as a suspect in her murder. He just said he wasn’t talking anymore and wanted his lawyer.”

“Well, maybe he’ll reconsider. Here’s a list of all the contacts and recent text messages and calls from his cell phone. I looked into the numbers. Lux is very friendly with Sal Baletti.” Bryce smirked.

“Sal Baletti? That scumbag. Holy shit, he’s probably their supplier for the club. That’s one bad-ass group of men. His brother Gino and the rest of the family have ties to New York and Chicago. This is definitely something we can work with.”

“Sure is, and get this, there’s some sort of investigation going on into Baletti through the Special Crimes Unit.” Bryce handed Buddy a note.

“This is the number of the main investigator. As soon as we started digging into Baletti, we got a call.”

“Shit. I knew this wasn’t going to be a cut-and-dried case. Looks like some heavy shit is about to go down.”

“Sure does.”

Buddy glanced at the interrogation room.

“Looks like I’m going to be at this awhile. Let me know when his attorney comes.”

Bryce smirked.

“Considering the evidence on his cell phone alone, I’d say he’ll be talking to you instead.”

Buddy nodded and prepared to enter the room again. He wanted answers, and he wanted Gloria to be the only body to pop up in Treasure Town, but something told him things were going to get worse before they got better. The Baletti family was nothing but trouble, and they always seemed to be able to keep their hands clean. But based on the facts that they were connected to Gloria’s murder and they were known criminals, Buddy wasn’t taking any chances and letting them make their way into Treasure Town. When he was done here, he would call Jake and talk to his superiors. They needed to handle this accordingly, and knowing how large their organization was, he knew it wasn’t going to be easy.





Chapter 4




Frankie was glad that Cassidy had called her to go shopping and grab some lunch today. It took her mind off of the fact that Gloria had been murdered and that Frankie had been initially questioned as a suspect. She had to go to work at Prestige tomorrow night and wasn’t looking forward to the third degree Charlie and Lure were going to give her. She’d already received a text message that they wanted to talk and to come early.

They had just sat down when Cassidy’s phone began vibrating again. Cassidy exhaled in annoyance.

“What’s wrong? Is that Keith again?” Frankie asked her.

“Sure is. He is not taking me breaking up with him too well at all.”

Frankie took a sip of her iced tea.

“He hit you. There’s no way you should take him back or accept his apologies again. You went through this before with him,” Frankie reminded Cassidy, although she didn’t have to. Keith was a big guy with a bad temper. He was also abusive, and Cassidy was trying to resist his tactics of charm, apologies, and professions of love. It wasn’t easy.

“I know. It just doesn’t seem real. I mean that he hit me and lost his cool over some other guy asking me out. I mean, we’re not even boyfriend and girlfriend anymore.”

“But you decided to meet him for lunch and talk. He took it as a sign that you were forgiving him and you were working things out.”

“I know that. You were right. I was stupid, and I guess you know I missed having a boyfriend and going out places. Now it’s like I have to worry about every guy I meet or flirt with. Maybe I was just being lazy.”

“Lazy? Are you kidding me? Listen, you were comfortable. You truly loved him, and he destroyed that innocence of love. He corrupted it and tainted it by hitting you and by hurting you and calling you all those names and lying. Remember, your other friends saw him with other women, too.”

“I know, I know. It will work out. I’m just going to ignore him.”

“You can block his number. You can do it right from the phone.”

“Hey, look who’s walking across the street and headed this way,” Cassidy said, and Frankie followed her line of sight.

She felt her belly tighten and her heart begin to race. Nate and Rye Hawkins appeared to be walking from a large black pickup truck. Hawkins’ Construction was written on the side of it.

“No wonder they have such incredible bodies. Damn, I bet they work shirtless, too, with those tans they have. Muscles clenching and shifting as they hammer nails and sweat drips from their pecs. Damn,” Cassidy whispered as she took a sip from her iced tea glass and stared.

Frankie got annoyed. She instantly felt jealous, and it shocked her. Just then Cassidy’s cell phone rang as Nate and Rye walked toward the front entrance and saw her. Nate crunched his eyes together and Rye headed toward her. She looked away, and Cassidy stood up.

“I need to go. Something came up.” She grabbed her bags.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I just have to take care of something. Shit. I’m sorry, Frankie. I’ll see you at work tomorrow night.” She leaned down and gave Frankie a kiss on the cheek and a hug.