Seams of Destruction (8 page)

“Give me your camera,” Jade ordered. “When it’s your turn, I want to take your picture.”

“But I’ve already found my true love,” Mitch objected.

“But you told me before we wrote our vows that you didn’t have a lover.”

“That was then. This is now.”

Jade pouted. “But I want to take your picture.”

“All right. If you insist,” Mitch said, stepping up to put his hand on Juliet’s breast.

Jade started laughing and at the look on his face, she laughed even harder. She was unable to hold the camera up to take his picture.

“Come on, Jade. People are waiting.”

She finally got control and snapped the camera. She had to check the digital photo before she would let him leave the statue. She smiled in satisfaction and he took the camera from her so he could have a look.

“I can think of places I would rather put my hand,” he said in a low voice as they left the courtyard.

They boarded the train for Milan at the scheduled time. They found two seats together, and Mitch sat down and leaned his head on the back of the seat.

Another great day with Jade.
Would there be any more when they returned to Los Angeles or would Chief Castillo immediately book her for the murder of Reannan as he had indicated he would be doing?

Chapter 8

They had taken a late-night flight from Kennedy Airport, which allowed them both to sleep as the jet flew non-stop to Los Angeles. Jade had cuddled up against Mitch, laying her head on his shoulder and slept the entire five hours.

“Do we have to stay at my apartment?” Jade asked when they were landing at the LA airport.

“We don’t
have
to,” Mitch replied.

“I would rather stay at your house.”

“I would think you would prefer your own apartment with all its amenities.”

“It has such bad memories for me now.”

“What difference can it make since you said you no longer love David?”

“You’re right, it shouldn’t.”

“I don’t have a problem with staying at my house. I do have that one room fixed up with a few pieces of exercise equipment.”

“And then we can always jog in the morning.”

“And if I hurry and order it, I can get a pool installed,” Mitch teased.

“All right, we’ll stay at my apartment.”

“Let’s try it at my place for a few days and see how it works. I do have some things to do around the place.”

“I’ll have to pick up more clothes at the apartment,” she said.

“I have a washing machine and you can wash what you took to Milan with you. That should last you until we can get over to your apartment.”

The first thing Mitch did when they reached his house was call the Los Angeles Chief of Police. His assistant, Megan Steele, answered his private line and told him Grant was out. Mitch told her he wanted to set up an appointment to talk to him and she offered to look at Grant’s calendar and find an hour of free time. He knew he would have to take Jade with him but she could sit in the reception area with the Chief’s assistant, Megan, and read a book or a magazine.

“Do I have to go with you?” Jade’s question was almost a whine when he told her.

“It’s either that or stay home handcuffed to a piece of furniture.”

She gave her grudging consent to go with him.

“Jade, if there’s any possible way of proving your innocence, it’s necessary for me to have a meeting with Castillo.”

“I know, I know,” she said. “I just didn’t want to go back to the police station. They might put me back in jail.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

She was silent for a minute, her forehead creasing in lines of worry, making Mitch sorry he had been impatient with her.

“Show me your laundry room and I’m going to wash my clothes so I’ll have something clean to wear. Do you want me to wash yours?”

“If you would, I’d appreciate it.”

Jade felt very domestic as she started the laundry. After she had put the clothes into the washer, she stepped outside and looked at the back yard. The lawn needed to be mowed.

Mitch came to stand behind her. “I see I have my work cut out for me.”

“Why don’t you have a lawn service?”

“I like doing it. Good therapy.”

“I can’t imagine you needing therapy.”

He smiled. “Sometimes tracking down and catching those bad guys gets to me.”

“You have some beautiful flowers.”

“My mom planted those when she was alive and I’ve tried to keep them blooming in honor of her memory.”

“Was this her house?”

“Actually, this is the house Matt and I grew up in. I’ve kept it for sentimental reasons. I was living in another house that I owned when Mom died. When I decided to move in here rather than sell it, I rented out the house I was in. Which reminds me, one of the things I have to do this week is go check on my rentals and make sure they are being kept up the way they should be.”

“How many do you have?”

“Ten houses and an apartment building.”

“That must keep you busy.”

He nodded. “I’m lucky. I’ve been able to keep good renters in my properties so I haven’t had much upkeep. I’ve known of some owners who have renters that really beat up their property.”

“I looked in your frig. I would say we need to go grocery shopping.”

“Let me take you out for dinner tonight and we’ll shop tomorrow.”

“All right, if you insist.”

“I insist. Unfortunately it’s going to be nothing like the food we’ve been use to eating in Italy.”

“What are you offering?”

“There’s Chinese, not far away. We could even get takeout if you wanted. There’s a Mexican one. The Yard House, which has sea food and chicken on their menu, is the closest one.”

“That sounds good. Let’s go there.”

“Okay. I think I’ll get out the mower and cut the lawn while I have an hour or so.”

“After I get the clothes in the dryer, I think I’ll lay down for a nap. Five hours of sleep in an airplane just doesn’t do it for me.”

Mitch smiled sympathetically. Opening the garage door which was situated next to the laundry room, he went in to get the lawn mower and Jade went to check on the laundry. A few minutes later she heard a mower start up, and looking out the window, she watched as Mitch walked behind it, back and forth across the yard.

Mitch hadn’t handcuffed her, Jade thought. She had a feeling he was beginning to trust her. She certainly hoped so. Maybe he believed she was innocent after all.

Mitch was enjoying the domestic scene taking place at his house that day. He couldn’t help but wish it could continue that way from now on. Jade had begun to appear very affectionate toward him the last few days, holding his hand, putting her arm around him, and cuddling up to him on the trip home from Milan. Now that they were back in LA, he wondered if it would continue.

He was sure she was innocent of the murder of Reannan. He hoped he wasn’t letting his feelings get in the way of doing his job. How ironic that Grant Castillo had picked him for the job of escorting Jade to Italy because of his attitude about women. He had done exactly what Castillo hadn’t wanted him to do. He had fallen for her. Fallen hard.

He had to find a way to prove her innocence. He needed to see the autopsy report and the report the arresting officers had filed. He found it hard to believe that while they had been in Italy something hadn’t been found to prove Jade hadn’t killed Reannan. Unfortunately, the other two suspects had a solid alibi for the night of Reannan’s murder.

But as Jade had said, the arresting officers had been so sure she was the guilty party, the investigation hadn’t gone much farther. If his emotions weren’t involved, he wondered if he would have done the same thing. Let her be tried and convicted of the crime.

He finished cutting the back lawn and moved around to the front. Before he started cutting the grass, he went into the house to get a drink of water and check on Jade. He didn’t see her in the laundry room or the kitchen. He walked down the hallway toward the guest bedroom and found her asleep on the bed. Standing at the doorway, he stared at her for a minute. She looked so peaceful with all the lines of worry erased. They hadn’t been there in Italy, but had appeared as soon as they arrived back in Los Angeles.

For the hundredth time, Mitch vowed to prove her innocent of the charge against her. He looked forward to his appointment with Grant Castillo the next day.

Mitch and Jade walked into the office of the Chief of Police. Grant’s assistant, Megan, told him Grant was in his office and he should go right in. He nodded and waited until Jade sat down and took a book out of her hand bag.

“I’ll make this as quick as I can,” he told her and then strode into the Chief’s office.

The Chief looked up from his large desk. “How’s it going?” he asked.

“Everything’s fine but I need to talk to you about Jade being a suspect in the murder of Reannan Scott.”

The Chief motioned him to a chair and looked expectantly at Mitch.

“First off,” Mitch said, “someone is still following us.”

“What do you mean, ‘still following you?’”

“Just what I said.”

“Did he follow you in Italy?”

“Having never seen the person’s face, I couldn’t really say. But that would have been an expensive trip for whoever it is.”

“Has he been following you since you came back?”

“Yes. And the amazing thing is, he followed us home from the airport early this morning. It has to be someone who is in the know at Sorrento’s. How else would they know what time our flight was coming in?”

The Chief slowly rubbed his chin. “This could put a whole new light on this murder case.”

“That’s my opinion. So I have a list of things I would like to run by you.”

“Shoot.”

“First, I would like to see the arrest report and then I would like to see the autopsy report on Reannan. I’m assuming one was done.”

“Of course. It happens to be the law.”

“Even in the case of a homicide where the cause of death is obvious?”

“Yep.”

“Good, I would like to read it.”

“I’m not sure if it’s come back yet. At least nothing has crossed my desk.”

“If it’s finished, I would like to read it.”

“What are you thinking?”

“I find it hard to believe if Jade attacked Reannan with the box cutter that the other woman was going to stand there and meekly submit to having her throat slit. It seems like it would have to be a man strong enough to hold her with one arm and slit her throat with the other.”

“That sounds plausible.”

“Do you have a problem with my having all the reports to study over at home?”

“I don’t see a problem with any of your requests so far. Anything else?”

“I want your permission to run an investigation on all the employees of Sorrento’s. That would, of course, include Giovanni Sorrento. Oh, and the four contractors who work for Sorrento’s.”

“I don’t have a problem with any of that. But I can tell you right now, Sorrento has an air tight alibi for the time in question.”

“What would that be?”

“He and his attorney happen to be good friends. They were both playing cards with a group at my house that night. You know Stephenson is my brother-in-law, don’t you?”

“Someone did tell me that.”

“Okay, you have my approval to go ahead, but forget about Sorrento.”

“Thanks, Chief,” Mitch said as he stood and shook hands with Castillo. “Do you want to request all the paper work I mentioned or should I talk to your assistant about it?”

“No, I’ll take care of it and I’ll have her call you when it’s ready. In the meantime, stick with Jade 24/7 until she is either proven innocent or is convicted.”
The Chief followed Mitch to the door, but before he could open it, Castillo stopped him with a hand on his arm.

“You haven’t fallen for that model, have you?” he asked.

Mitch froze.

Had he been that obvious?

“You know me better than that,” he said.

The Chief didn’t reply as Mitch opened the door. He gave a wave to Jade as she stood up when she saw the two men.

“Ready?” Mitch asked.

She nodded and followed him out the door. As they walked down the hallway together, Mitch felt bad about the answer he had given Castillo. While he hadn’t exactly lied, he was sure he had led the Chief to believe he hadn’t fallen for Jade.

“Do you want to go by your apartment and pick up some clothes?” Mitch asked as he opened the passenger door for Jade.

“That would be nice. I haven’t been exactly looking forward to wearing the clothes I wore in Italy, even though they have been laundered.”

“Let’s do that and then we’ll go grocery shopping.”

“Sounds good.”

As Mitch pulled out from the underground parking, he glanced into the rearview mirror. Sure enough, the car that had followed them to the police station was once again following them. He wondered if he should try and lose it. That probably wouldn’t be a good idea. He hadn’t told Jade yet about someone following them and he didn’t want to frighten her.

“How did your meeting with the Chief of Police go?” Jade asked.

“It went just the way I hoped it would. He agrees with my plan to further investigate Reannan’s murder. He’s having his assistant pull together all the paperwork I requested and she will be calling me in a couple of days. Then I’ll go down and pick it up and go over it at home. Ordinarily, I would do it at the department but since I don’t know how long it’s going to take me, I’ll take it home. Then you won’t have to worry about sitting around in the police station.”

“Thank you. That’s thoughtful of you. I really appreciate it,” she said.

“You know me, there’s nothing I’d rather do than please you.”

“Is that true?”

“You bet.”

She looked at him thoughtfully, as though she wasn’t sure if he was serious or only teasing her.

Two days later, Castillo’s assistant called Mitch. She told him the papers he had requested were ready and he could pick them up at her desk. Once more, he and Jade made the trip to the police station.

Before he could get started on the review, Mitch had to take Jade to Sorrento’s. Giovanni had called that morning to say he needed her to come into work to try on some new styles he had designed to be shipped to Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City. He always liked to see them on Jade before he had them made up in the various sizes.

Mitch followed her into the warehouse where once again he saw the three men he had seen on their previous trip. Jade nodded to them as they looked up from their work and walked to the front of the building where Giovanni had his office.