Read Bancroft and Ford: Alpha Male Bad Boy Billionaire Romance Online
Authors: Kristen Lane
Bancroft and Ford: Alpha Male Bad Boy Billionaire Romance (9 page)
He picked up Liam from the neighbors, thanking her for the favor and paying her one hundred bucks for her troubles. Michael had no idea what the going rate for a sitter even was and the old bag was probably getting over on him big time, but honestly he didn’t care. What Michael really wanted was for his wife to come home and care for their son, not some stranger that he only nodded hello to when he went to fetch his mail. He fed Liam a meal of chicken nuggets and French fries, the only meal he could seemingly get his son to eat. Michael was nowhere near the cook that Linda had been and even if he was, he regretfully realized that he didn’t know what Liam liked and didn’t like. They ate in silence, Michael occasionally sneaking glances at his son wishing in his mind that there was some way to reach out or to bond with the young boy, but he was at a loss. His mind drifted back to the small baby whose mother was suddenly gone, in a sense just as Liam’s own mother was. If that piece of garbage Timothy Preco could embrace his daughter in those circumstances, then Michael would be damned if he couldn’t embrace his own son too.
Once Liam was safely tucked into bed, Michael began the daunting task of reviewing all of the evidence he had collected thus far. The murder had been an extremely violent one, the victim suffering over fifteen stab wounds. There was nothing missing or stolen from the apartment and the woman’s child had also been left unharmed. This was definitely more likely a crime of passion than a robbery or anything else. Most of the evidence so far led Michael to believe that Timothy Preco would be his prime suspect, but he could just be jumping to conclusions. He had to admit he had bitter feelings towards anyone who cheated on their spouses, especially after Linda had cheated on him.
Michael knew that he had to rely on cold hard facts and that his case had to be rock solid when it came time to go to court. He laid out what he had before him on the living room floor, but it wasn’t very much to go through. The forensics team had gone over Ms. Constantine’s apartment with a fine tooth comb but came up empty handed. There was no trace DNA under her nails, fingerprints or even a singular hair left behind by her killer. The apartment and lobby door showed no signs of forced entry and whoever had come into the apartment either knew Ms. Constantine or they had the key. This made Michael’s job a lot harder but he would tackle this case just as he did any other, and choose to ignore the fact that if he messed this up in any way it surely meant the death of his career as a detective.
Michael felt confident even with how little evidence he had to go on. Just like any other investigation, he would go over every detail of the victim’s life until a connection was made. Michael decided that despite his Captain’s warning to lay off of Timothy Preco, that was the exact detail of Ms. Constantine’s life that he needed to explore first. He didn’t become a detective to get dragged into the politics of bureaucracy, he did it because he wanted to be a damn good cop. He was determined to put away Maria Constantine’s murderer no matter the cost. It would be far worse publicity and more detrimental to his career if he accidentally arrested the wrong man due to a poor investigation. If Mr. Preco turned out to be the right man, then that was just a pill that his Captain and the rest of the higher- ups would have to swallow.
Michael was startled by a small and gentle tap on his shoulder. It was nearly three in the morning and he was on his second pot of coffee when Liam crept into the living room. He had been woken up from his sleep by a nightmare, just as he had every night since Linda had left. Liam would sneak into what once was both of his parent’s bedroom, becoming distraught when he couldn’t find his mother sleeping in her bed. It was possible that Liam had always had nightmares; Michael regretted not knowing such an important and unsettling fact about his own son.
As Michael tucked the boy back into bed, sitting along side him and stroking his forehead until he fell asleep, his mind still couldn’t stop from drifting back to his case. Who ever had committed this heinous act was somewhat of a professional and had covered their tracks incredibly well, Michael just had to search and wait for the one slip up that criminals always wind up making sooner or later. While the circumstances of that slip up varied each time, the result was always the same and Michael always sent his perp to jail. Michael needed to focus all of his attention to this case and Liam needed someone who could care for him. He would strike up a deal with the elderly woman next door later that day to begin watching Liam on a full time basis. She wasn’t either his parents, or even Michael’s best option but she was reliable and he knew that at the very least Liam would be safe and well cared for.
He was surprised when an attractive and petite woman in her mid to early thirties answered the front door of the Preco’s massive estate. At least an estate was what Michael thought they called a home and property this large; he honestly didn’t think he had even been somewhere so fancy and upscale before. He had been expecting a butler or something of the sort to answer the door, but instead he was graced with the presence Mrs. Adrianne Preco. She warmly welcomed Michael in as if they were old friends, leading him into what he later found out was called a drawing room.
Michael thought of his own humble home and of Linda, maybe if he had been able to buy her a house with a room specifically made for receiving guests, then she would have been happy, but he doubted it. The problems in their marriage could have been worked out, if Linda had really been willing to, if she hadn’t run off with some doofus who clipped bangs for a living that is. He may have been a crappy husband, but it was Linda who so freely and willingly broke their wedding vows. Michael shook his head in an attempt to clear his mind. “Focus” he thought to himself, he knew he had to give all of his attention to the task at hand. He had the chance to interview a member of the main suspect’s family and it could prove to be a pivotal point in his investigation.
Mrs. Preco sat poised and smiling on an expensive looking sofa across from him. He marveled at how beautiful she was, she had a classic look about her and an air of delicacy. He could easily tell the woman had never worked a hard day in her life, and as pretty as she was Michael couldn’t say he blamed her. Maria had been quite the looker as well, as he could tell from searching through her social media accounts and multiple photos. He had come to a dead end there as well, finding no conversations, comments or pictures with any other likely suspects, male or female. In fact, Maria hadn’t posted many pictures of herself with anyone at all other than her immediate family and even those were dated from a few years back. That was a fact that Michael found odd in itself, why such an attractive and seemingly bright and friendly young woman would live the life of such a loner. He wondered just how much Mr. Preco was paying her off to live in complete seclusion so willingly.
Michael had also seen Mr. Preco up close and in person, from first appearances nothing about him would warrant the attraction of such fine and considerably younger women other than his wealth. While the media and his political career portrayed Mr. Preco as a go getter and a ruthless businessman, as well as a devout Christian and family man, Michael’s first meeting with him had given off the impression of a much more timid and less spectacular of a person. Even with all of his wealth and fame, Michael struggled to see what either woman really saw in him. He already had proven that his Christian values were a fraud when he had an affair on his wife and a child out of wedlock, Michael was willing to bet just about every other aspect the public saw of Mr. Preco was also a facade.
When Michael asked of her husband’s whereabouts at the moment, Mrs. Preco glumly replied that he was off on business all day and often all night as per usual. Although it was now painfully obvious that the majority of Mr. Preco’s nighttime business had been carrying on an affair with Maria. “Please, call me Adrianne” she cooed, smiling sweetly at the detective. Michael tried his best to keep his cool, but he couldn’t deny that the seductive sound of her voice and the way that she looked at him made him a little more than warm under his collar.
Michael decided to cut right to the chase, he was here to get the facts straight not get his dick wet so to speak. Still, the longer he spent with Adrianne, the more enthralled he became with her. She reminded him of one of those big screen movie vixens from the nineteen fifties. When he questioned her about her husband’s whereabouts the night that Maria was murdered, her response was just as vague as the first. She could not in fact provide Mr. Preco with an alibi for that night, which in Michael’s mind meant that he had struck gold.
After spending all night long digging into Maria’s history and personal life, Michael had discovered that her last known employer was The Gap and that had been over a year ago. She had no known job or involvement in illegal activity, which left only one logical explanation for the woman’s swank apartment and seemingly luxurious lifestyle. It also confirmed that at the very least Mr. Preco had been telling the truth about the payoffs he made as hush money to Maria, which even for a billionaire was motive to kill. Surely if Maria had been blackmailing him, a man in Mr. Preco’s position would have to rid himself of such a problem immediately. It also made sense that Mr. Preco would have the key to his mistress’s apartment, which he paid for. So far, two pieces of the puzzle connected. No one, not even his own wife, could provide an alibi for the man on the night that his lover was viciously murdered, and Mr. Preco was most likely the only other person besides Maria with the key to her front door. Still Michael knew he couldn’t just rush into things; a man this wealthy would surely have the defense team sent straight from the gods if he ever saw his day in court and the investigation couldn’t have any holes.
“Is there anyone else who can vouch for your husband that night, perhaps a maid, a driver, or even a friend of his?” Michael asked, hoping that the answer was no. He wasn’t sure why exactly he harbored such ill feelings towards a man he didn’t even know, but he was sure that his very public and hurtful infidelity had something to do with it. The feelings only got worse when he saw what a catch Mrs. Preco was, and it tied in with his lack of understanding as to why his own wife had abandoned and cheated on him. She paused for a moment, seeming as if she was seriously searching for an answer that could aid her husband, but just as Michael had suspected the answer was indeed no. “We do have some staff to assist around the house but Timothy insists that they only come during the daytime and when he is not home” Adrianne answered matter-of-factly. “My husband, or should I say soon to be ex-husband, is a rather private man, which is how I suppose he was able to carry on an affair for all of this time right under my nose” she added bitterly. She wore a wounded and betrayed look on her face that pulled at Michael’s heart strings and was all too familiar to him.
What did pique Michael’s interest, other than the fact that she referred to Mr. Preco as her soon to be ex-husband so freely in front of a stranger, was that Adrianne mentioned recently employing a nanny as the only full time staff in the residence. From Michael’s investigating he had found that the Preco’s marriage was a childless one, so he wondered for whom she would need a nanny. Adrianne explained that her husband had the guts to bring home his love child for his dedicated and loyal wife to help him raise. As cruel and heartless it may have seemed on Timothy Preco’s behalf, Michael could understand why Adrianne had obliged. She had been humiliated and made a fool of by her husband and thanks to his notoriety it had been done in the public eye. He suspected that the woman was merely trying to save face and play the part of the martyr and saintly wife who had been
unexpectedly
burned by her monstrous husband. It was also possible that Mrs. Preco was simply a kind hearted and charitable woman, but in his experience on the force and with people in general, Michael doubted that was the case.
Still, all Michael had to go on so far was circumstantial evidence, none of which would be likely to hold up in court. He needed to dig deeper and learn more about Timothy Preco’s deep dark secrets and who better to do so from than his scorned and bitter wife. He decided to take a different approach to his questioning, a tactic he often used to coax the answers he really wanted from people. Those answers were usually far less obvious than his typical line of questioning, the type of detail and secrets that someone gave about themselves or someone they knew without even realizing their admission of guilt.
Michael stood, thanking Adrianne for her helpfulness and hospitality. He extended his hand, holding out his card to her and she took it graciously. He thanked her again, playing the part of humble and acting as if she had done him some great service and social justice just by talking to him, and insisting that he’d see himself out. Before he exited the ridiculously named drawing room, Michael turned to Adrianne speaking in a soft and sympathetic tone. “I have to say I admire your strength Mrs. Preco, and I can understand what you’re going through.” The slight and slender woman suddenly jumped up from her seat with such ferocity that it surprised Michael slightly. She had appeared so ladylike and gentle the entire time he was speaking with her, now it seemed as if she were ready to pounce on Michael and tear out his throat.
It wasn’t until he saw a single tear fall from Adrianne’s cheek that he understood her sudden passion vigor. “You have no idea what I am going through…” she began but Michael interrupted her, quickly diffusing the situation. “I didn’t mean to offend you Mrs. Preco, I only meant I know what it’s like to have the one you love the most betray you. I came home one day five months ago, to find out that my wife left me for her lover. She dropped our two year old son off with our neighbor and just took off. It was pretty hard to handle, I had no idea that she had been cheating on me for just about a year. So in a way Mrs. Preco, I do understand what you’re going through. If you need someone to speak to at all or if you can think of anything else that might be helpful, please feel free to call me day or night.”
Michael said goodbye to Mrs. Preco who remained slack jawed and in shock for a few minutes longer than she probably should have. Michael also bet that Adrianne was the type of woman who was not accustomed to being put in her place. “Please, call me Adrianne” she called after him, just as Michael closed the front door behind him. Michael couldn’t stop from smiling to himself as he climbed behind the wheel of his car. Not only was he making leeway in his case, but Michael was ninety nine percent sure that Adrianne had been flirting with him throughout their entire meeting. Judging based off of the tone of her voice and the look on her face when she had called after him, it was a sure bet that she was the type of woman who also got her kicks from a strong man putting her back in her place.
