Guilty Pleasure (21 page)

“
Maybe someone is trying to
set him up.”

“
That is a possibility but
why would they. The only person gaining anything is Adam. First his
ex-girlfriend ends up dead, then his landlord, next Detective Dane.
My theory is Adam’s landlord saw Adam bring Linda Bennett back to
his apartment. Adam had to kill the landlord before I talked to
him. Detective Dane was catching on, we don’t know all the
questions he asked Adam, so again Adam had to find a way to kill
him.”

“
But Adam was with Monica
and me.”

“
He could have easily had a
bandmate do it. I know a couple of them have shady past, who knows
what favors they owed Adam.”

“
Why would he kill Linda
Bennett and since she was murdered like those other people were it
had to be the same killer?”

“
Adam must be a serial
killer. And those other three got in the way. The only one that was
personal was Mindy. She broke his heart so he killed her. Look at
Adam who would think he could do those things. Any woman or man for
that matter would eagerly go home with him. And another thing, I
looked up unsolved murdered cases that had the same M.O. and there
were about ten of them scattered over the United States. I’m
betting if we could find a way to track where Adam’s band played
that we could put him in each murders location.”

“
Oh my God,” Nicole said
stunned as she sat up.

Michael sat up. “I’ve been trying to find
anything to prove me wrong, but the more I dig the guiltier Adam
becomes.”

“
But wait? He is not trying
to stop you from looking into everything.”

“
I know, and this scares
the hell out of me. Nicole, I think he might kill us to save
himself. But if I’m wrong and he is innocent I will condemning him
to life in prison for something he didn’t do and the real killer
will walk scot-free. This is why I’m so stressed. I don’t want to
risk your life. I can handle the risk on my own life, but I don’t
want to send an innocent man to prison either.”

“
I don’t want you risking
your life either.”

“
So for now let’s just act
like everything is normal and I’m having trouble finding any
information about Adam’s landlord’s murder. Can you do
this?”

“
Of course.”

“
Now, let’s talk about
something a bit more pleasant. When are you moving in with me? I
want you to get used to me because I have been thinking about doing
something.”

“
What is it?”

“
I always wanted to live in
London even if for just a little while. I can open a law firm over
there, after of course I study British law. And I would love for
you to come with me.”

Nicole smiled brightly. “That sounds
awesome. I always wanted to visit London.”

“
Then it’s settled. When
I’m done here, we will pack up and move, so you need to pack your
stuff and move in here as soon as possible. Plus, I will know you
are safe. It will ease my mind. This apartment building has really
good security I will make sure they don’t let Adam into this
apartment.”

“
Won’t he find that odd if
we never invite him over?”

“
I have never invited him
over here, so it will feel normal to him.”

“
Why haven’t you invited
him over before?”

“
I’m a private person,
Nicole. I told you that from the beginning.” Michael grabbed her
legs and pulled her back down to a lying positon then he laid on
top of her. He just stared into her eyes. She looked so happy. He
just smiled then lowered down and kissed her.

***

“
Nicole called. She will be
stopping by and getting her stuff. She is moving in with Michael
now. She had other exciting news too.”

“
Yeah, what is it?” Adam
said.

“
It seems Michael and she
will be moving to London at some point. He just asked her to go
with him.”

“
He never mentioned that
before.”

“
Exactly. Adam, I’m going
over to Michael’s tonight and see if I can find that key. Nicole
asked me to bring her some clothes. And you know her, she will want
to make me some dinner or something. I’m going to suggest she take
a nice long bubble bath with music blaring while I cook dinner for
her. She sound stressed so it will be easy to convince her. The
main thing is Michael won’t be there. He has to go talk to his
partner at the law firm about this impending move or something. She
was also gushing about how Michael was taking her on a romantic
picnic at Millennium Park tomorrow night or something. To be honest
when she said Michael wasn’t going to be there my mind started
spinning.”

“
I think you are wasting
your time.”

“
Maybe, but I’m not going
to sit here and let him frame you for all of this. I really believe
this is what is going to happen if we just sit back and let him
handle all of this. If this means I lose yours and Nicole’s
friendship then so be it.”

“
What if you are right and
he is the killer. What do you think will happen to you if he finds
out you have been snooping around his apartment.”

“
He won’t find out. As long
as the music is blaring from the bathroom then I will know Nicole
is still in the bath. The moment the music stops I will hustle my
ass back into the kitchen.”

“
And if you are wrong about
Michael.”

“
Then I will drop all of
this and wish them a bon voyage as they set sail to
London.”

“
What do you want me to
do?”

“
Stay here just in case
Michael shows up to update you about something.”

“
Why do you care so much
about what happens to me?”

“
Why wouldn’t I care? My
friends are my family. I hope you feel the same about
me.”

Adam smiled brightly. “I do.”

“
Well, there you go. Family
helps each other. So sit back and just look pretty. I got this.”
Monica went into Nicole’s room to pack a suitcase of her clothes.
She was scared as hell to go snooping around Michael’s apartment.
God, what if he did come home and find her…Monica grabbed Nicole’s
large suitcase. She stuffed as many clothes as she could in it. She
left the room and looked at Adam sitting on the sofa reading a
book. He was the nicest person she has ever met. She remembered
seeing him in that bar and listening to him sing. Hell, it was love
at first sight. Then for whatever reason he came over and talked to
her. He was so sweet and instantly made her feel at
ease.

“
You look like a cute
little pixie, I just had to come over and say hi. You look kind of
loss.”

“
I’m new to this area. I
just got a job at the bakery a couple of blocks down the road. My
boss said the food was good here. I love your music. I’m Monica by
the way.”

“
Adam. You and I are going
to be friends. Can you feel it?” He smiled so warmly it about
melted her heart.

She was so scared being out
on her own. Her parents had died in a car accident just before she
started college. Getting her degree became even more important. She
was so happy that she decided to take her bosses recommendation and
go to
Tears and Beers
. Though, she was a bit disappointed that nothing romantic
ever developed between her and Adam, she was grateful for their
friendship.

“
Are you alright? I can
come with you if you want?” Adam said when he noticed her standing
there in the hallway just staring at him.

“
No, you have to stay here
just in case Michael stops by.” Monica lingered just looking at
him. “You know I love you in a friend kind of way
right?”

“
Yes, I love you too. Are
you sure you don’t want me to come with you. Even better, why not
just stay here with me. We can give Nicole her clothes
tomorrow.”

She couldn’t afford to wait. If Michael was
planning on moving to London, he would have to set things in motion
to frame Adam. “I told Nicole I was coming. Don’t worry I won’t get
caught. Nicole would be so pissed if she found me going through
Michael’s things.” She went over and gave Adam a kiss on the cheek.
“If Michael shows up here send me a text.”

“
Okay.”

Monica walked back over to the suitcase and
grabbed the handle then she wheeled it out the apartment.

Chapter
Eighteen

Nicole greeted Monica at the door to
Michael’s apartment. Monica dragged in the large suitcase that had
Nicole’s clothes in it.

“
I didn’t know what clothes
you wanted so I just brought them all.”

“
Here I got this.” Nicole
grabbed the suitcase and took it to Michael’s bedroom.

“
Whoa, this is a fancy
apartment,” Monica said as she followed her to the bedroom. Nicole
said the apartment was big, but damn, Monica wasn’t expecting it to
be this big. How in the fuck was she going to find a small freaking
key in here. But, he would have to hide it from Nicole
too.

“
Which one is your
dresser?” Monica asked.

“
Both of them are
Michael’s. He said he will buy me my own dresser.”

“
So where your clothes
going?”

“
In the closet I guess for
now.”

Monica let Nicole give her the grand tour.
The view from the balcony was breathtaking. Then they headed back
to the kitchen.

“
Girl, let me cook you
something in this fancy ass kitchen. You can take a nice long
bubble bath while you listen to some music. I’m assuming Michael
has sound wired into that fancy bathroom.”

“
I couldn’t let you do
that.”

“
Sure you could. You need a
little down time. Oh come on, I want to play with the snazzy
stove.”

Nicole chuckled. “Okay, but don’t let me
stay in there too long. I love taking long bubble baths, you have
found my weakness.”

“
Take as long as you want.
I want to check out that big ass T.V. too. Then after dinner we can
go online and check out apartments in London. You can make a short
list for Michael.”

“
Oh, that is a good idea.
It will save him the hassle.”

“
Yeah, but we have to make
sure those apartments are as fancy as this one. Now
shoo.”

Monica quickly grabbed some steak and
lightly seasoned it then popped it into the oven. She made a salad
and put it in the refrigerator. By time she was done she heard the
music coming from the bathroom. She quickly and quietly went to
Michael’s bedroom.

“
Alright, you creepy
fucker, where would you hide shit.” She looked into the closet and
found a small safe. “Shit, I hope it isn’t in there.” She went
through the couple of smaller boxes in the closet but didn’t find
anything. She looked at his suits, ties, coats and shoes that were
all neatly in the closet. She closed the closet doors then went
over to his smaller dresser. All that was in there was clothes,
socks and underwear.

“
Damn it.” She could still
hear the music coming from the bathroom so she went to the larger
dresser.

There was nothing but clothes in all the
drawers but the top drawer. He had a ton of cuff links laid out in
a wooden display case. “Damn this guy is anal.” She saw a couple of
smaller boxes. In one was a small picture of an older couple. The
man looked a lot like Michael. She assumed this had to be his
parents. As she carefully put the picture back she accidently
bumped the display that held the cufflinks. She noticed a small
drawer under the display she carefully opened it up. There was a
key in there. She grabbed the key then reached into her pocket to
take out the scan of Adam’s apartment key. She compared the two
keys they were a perfect match.

Fear raced through her. She was right…oh my
god, she was right. She had to get Nicole out of this fucking
apartment and…

“
What are you doing in my
bedroom?”

Her blood ran cold hearing Michael’s voice.
She could still hear the music coming from the bathroom. Her heart
banged in her chest and her palms began to sweat as the fear
mounted. What the fuck was she going to do? She couldn’t just run
and leave Nicole with this asshole. She had to try to act
naturally.

“
I’m sorry, I’m a bit of a
snoop.” Her voice shook.

“
What is in your
hand?”

She could hear his footsteps getting closer.
She quickly turned around. She looked up into his dark eyes. She
was too afraid to move.

“
I will scream if you touch
me.”

“
No you won’t.”

Michael’s gaze went to the key and piece of
paper in her hand. How in the fuck did she find that key? It didn’t
matter, he was going to have to kill her.

“
You know what has to
happen now don’t you,” Michael said.

Monica went to scream but he grabbed her and
covered her mouth.

“
You stupid little bitch.”
He pushed her down on the bed and climbed on top of her as he kept
her mouth covered. “Now what are you going to do?” He wrapped his
hands around her neck and squeezed. She struggled under him trying
to break free. She tried to scream but only a slight breathy sound
came out. Michael squeezed harder. “You couldn’t just leave it
alone, could you? I wanted to kill you from the moment I saw you. I
wanted to torture you and watch the sweet agony wash over your
face. The only reason I contained myself is because of
Nicole.”