Hazardous Duty (26 page)

But I didn’t do it.

“Someone must have sneaked into the
apartment after I left.” I ran my hands through my hair. “It’s the only thing I
can think of. Either that, or he stabbed himself.”

“If it was someone else who stabbed him,
then they would have been hiding in the apartment, right?” Riley asked.

My head dropped into my hands. Someone
else in my apartment? Why didn’t I just move into Grand Central Station? “I
have no idea. Nothing is making sense right now. How would someone else have
gotten in my apartment?”

“The same way Cunningham did—through the
fire escape.”

“But why? Why would someone else break
in?” I asked.

“Maybe they were following Cunningham,”
Riley said.

I noted how the blood on his shirt turned
a dark brown. His hair was more rumpled than usual and dark circles shadowed
his eyes. Our time together so far had been one adventure after another. And
now this.

Riley glanced at Parker. “You have no
reason to hold her.”

“I’d say I do,” Parker said. “What would
a respected candidate for senate be doing breaking and entering into an
apartment? It doesn’t fit.” Parker looked at me and I could see the conflicting
emotions in his eyes—compassion blended with loyalty to his job. “I want to
believe you, Gabby. The evidence is stacked against you.”

I wasn’t going down without a fight. “I
thought he was going to kill me,” I said. “He said nothing would keep him from
winning this election. We all know he wanted me quiet, to stay away from him.
It made him desperate. Especially after what happened today.”

Riley leaned toward me. His baby blues
narrowed before he asked his next question. “What happened today?”

“I confronted one of the women he had an
affair with.”

He sighed and, for some reason, I felt
guilty.

“Why would you do something stupid like
that? Are you
trying
to get yourself killed?”

A tear rolled down my cheek. This
couldn’t be happening. I wasn’t going to be Parker’s scapegoat. “No, I didn’t
want to get killed. What I wanted was to put an end to this case.”

Parker stood and began pacing. “It looks
like you got your wish, Nancy Drew. Your main suspect is dead.”

I slammed my fist on the table. “Well,
whoever killed him isn’t, so this case isn’t even close to ending.”

Riley put one hand over my clenched fist
and held it on the table. “Enough, Gabby.”

He turned to a cool Parker. “Do you have
any more questions for my client? If not, I’m taking her home.

Parker sighed and stopped pacing. “Not
for now. But I will later, so don’t leave the state or do anything stupid.”

“Understood.”

Parker glared at me. “Which part? The
leaving or the stupid, because I don’t think you have a lot of control over the
latter.”

Riley held my fist so I couldn’t swing
it at Parker’s smug pretty-boy face. He took my hand and pulled me from the
seat. With a hand on my back, he led the way outside to the star sprinkled
night. The air was balmy, humid without the wind, but chilly when it blew.

Inside Riley’s car, I pushed my head
back onto the seat and tried to maintain control. Cunningham was dead. Someone
killed him in my apartment. I was the number one suspect. Would they let me
wear my cute little T-shirts and flip flops in jail?

“I can’t believe this is happening,” I
muttered when Riley climbed in.

“We have to figure out who stabbed him,
Gabby.”

I lifted my head and whirled around to
face Riley. “You believe me?” I held my breath, afraid of his answer. I
desperately needed someone to believe me.

He tilted my chin up. “I believe you.
You may have a nose for getting into trouble, but you’re not a liar. Plus, I
saw your face when you found out he’d been stabbed. You were clueless.”

I forced a smile. “Thanks. It’s good to
know someone’s on my side.”

“I’ve always been on your side, Gabby.”

I felt my cheeks growing warm and
scolded myself. Riley was engaged, not the kind of man who should give me warm
fuzzy feelings.

His hand dropped from my chin and he
started the engine. As we drove down the road, thoughts haunted me, unanswered
questions swirled in my mind, stabbing at my nerves.

“You should stay with Sierra tonight.”

I nodded. I had no desire to go back to
my apartment. I was supposed to clean other people’s crime scenes, not my own.

“Gabby, about Veronica—”

I’d almost been killed, if not by
Cunningham, then by whoever else was in my apartment. I’d had a man murdered in
my room tonight. I’d spent hours being interrogated and accused of murder.
Heaven forbid I’d use all those little excuses to stop poor engaged Riley from
talking about his girlfriend.

“It’s like I said before Riley, you don’t
have to explain.”

“I need to Gabby, for my sake if not for
yours.” He drew in a deep breath and strummed his fingers against the steering
wheel. “I called off the engagement before I moved here. I needed to get away
from all the pressure. I had television cameras on me all the time. The trial,
my engagement, Laskin’s campaign. I felt like I had to be perfect, look
perfect, act perfect. I never planned for my life to end up like that.”

I waited for him to continue, part of me
relieved that he was opening up, part of me wanting to smother him with a
pillow.

“I couldn’t take it anymore. I called
off the engagement, but Veronica is used to getting what she wants. It didn’t
sink in. When she showed up at the apartment, I had no idea she was coming. As
far as I was concerned, we were through.”

“But she thought differently?”

Riley smiled weakly. “Yes, and she’s
very convincing. We had been together four years. I decided to give it another
chance. She promised to lay off with some of her high expectations and try again.”

I nodded, though my heart was heavy.
“That makes sense.”

“I didn’t purposely lead you on, Gabby.
I was attracted to you, but I knew I needed time to get over a four-year
relationship, so I didn’t rush things. And now . . .”

“She seems nice, Riley. I hope you’re
happy together.” It killed me to say the words, though they were the truth.

“Veronica’s . . . high
maintenance.” He ran a hand through his hair. “A wonderful woman, I’m just not
sure we’re right for each other.”

“Maybe you should be telling her this
and not me.”

His fingers strummed the wheel again.
“You’re probably right.”

“When are you going back to California?” I didn’t
want him to leave. More than anything I wanted him to stay, if he was engaged
or not.

His voice sounded strained. “I don’t
know. I just don’t know, Gabby.” He pulled up to the apartment building and cut
the engine. “I never wanted to deceive you.”

“You’ve been a good friend, Riley. If
you hadn’t been around, I wouldn’t be alive now.”

“There’s one more thing you should know
while I’m sharing.”

My gaze fluttered to his. “Go on.”

“Remember the Milton Jones trial that
went on last year?”

Finally, he was going to share the
entire truth with me.

“Yes, I remember.”

“I was the attorney in charge of
prosecuting that case.”

“Why are you walking away from your
career?”

He shrugged. “I never wanted to be a big
shot attorney. All I ever wanted was the peaceful American dream, picket fence,
two-point-five kids and all.”

I offered a half-smile. “Veronica can
help you with that.”

He slowly nodded. “Yeah, I guess she
can.”

A movement in the distance caught my
eye. “Speaking of your lovely fiancée, here she comes now.”

Before Riley even opened the door,
Veronica folded into his arms, tears running down her porcelain cheeks. “Are
you okay? I’ve been so worried.”

I thought maybe that question might be
better directed at me, but no such luck.

“I’m fine.” Riley swung the door open
and gave Veronica all his strong, soothing attention. “Nothing a shower and
clean clothes won’t fix.”

The two started into the apartment, arms
around each other, while I watched in the background. Riley glanced over his
shoulder, a glimmer of something in his eyes.

An apology maybe?

At least some of my questions had been
answered. The answers stunk, but I had them. I still wasn’t done yet, though.

***

“Veronica’s always going to try and make
Riley fit into her perfect little life.” Sierra popped an organic, all-natural
potato chip in her mouth. I was staying the night in her apartment, not ready
to face the mess in mine. “You should have heard her talking after you left
about how anxious she is to get him away from this town.”

“She seems nice.” I went to the
refrigerator to get some soy milk.

“Yeah, but high class. You said Riley
wants it simple.”

“He thinks he wants it simple. But isn’t
Veronica the girl of every guy’s dream? I mean, she’s beautiful, successful,
rich.”

“Some guys care about more than what’s
on the outside.”

I paused mid-pour, trying to think of
one. Giving it up as hopeless, I shrugged. “Yeah, well it doesn’t matter. Riley
is engaged and that’s that. He’ll probably be moving back to California and they’ll live a perfect, if
not simple, life together.”

“That’s too bad. You guys would have
made a great couple.”

I plopped back down on the hide-a-bed,
my hip digging into one of the metal bars underneath. I made a face and rubbed
my injured hind side. “There are plenty of other guys out there for me. You
know I’ve never believed in the ‘there’s only one right person’ theory.”

“Soul mates.” Sierra leaned back with a
little smile. “I believe it.”

Part of me had to admit the idea was
appealing. The thought that you only had one perfect person for you and the two
of you had to find each other. It made for a good movie, but in real life it
wouldn’t work.

“I would take you for dreamer too,
Gabby.”

I stood up, just for the sake of moving.
“I stopped dreaming a long time ago, Sierra.” Right about the time my brother
was kidnapped, I thought.

Sierra frowned. “You know, those who
don’t dream age more quickly. You should at least get an animal companion.
They’ll add a few years to your life to make up for your pessimistic attitude.”

“I’m not a pessimist.”

“Could have fooled me with your comments
of late.”

I sighed. “Can we talk about something
else?”

“Sure, how about Detective Parker. He
would be a good distraction from Riley.”

I swallowed, my throat feeling raw.
“Parker thinks I’m guilty. He thinks I killed Cunningham.”

“Who did stab Michael Cunningham?”
Sierra asked.

“That’s the question of the hour.”

“Somebody else had to be in your
apartment, Gabby. It’s the only thing that makes sense. What if they came up
the fire escape after you left? If they were following Cunningham and saw him
sneaking into your apartment?”

“But why would they kill him?”

“They had a vendetta against him.”

“But why?”

Sierra blew the hair out of her face.
“Maybe it was a scorned lover.”

According to Candace Mills, he had a lot
of those. I sat up straighter. “You may be on to something, Sierra.”

“Don’t sound so surprised.”

“I need to look at the crime scene.” I
propelled myself off the bed toward the door.

Sierra staggered behind me. “I don’t
think that’s a good idea. Riley said you should stay away.”

“I just want to see the evidence.” I
opened the door and started creeping upstairs.

“They’ve probably taken the evidence to
the station, don’t you think?” Sierra asked.

There was evidence and then there was
evidence. I had no doubt the blood splatters would still be there. I shushed
her. “Don’t let Riley hear you.”

“Too late,” a deep voice said.

I looked up and saw him leaning against
the doorframe to my apartment. “What are you doing?”

“Looking at the crime scene.”

“Why?”

“Trying to search out any evidence they
may have missed.”

“And?”

He shrugged. “I didn’t see anything.”
His arm darted across the door before I could enter. “You shouldn’t go in
there.”

“Why?”

“It’s bloody.”

“I see blood all the time. It’s part of
my job.”

“Yeah, but not in your own apartment.”

“I’ll be fine.”

Sierra piped in from behind. “Don’t
argue with her. You’ll never win.”

“So I’m learning.” He dropped his arm.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Riley and Sierra followed behind as I
tiptoed into what used to be home sweet home. Now it just felt like the place I
lived; there was nothing sweet about it.

“Where’s Veronica?” I asked.

“She went back to her hotel.”

“She looked pretty shaken.”

“She’ll be okay.” His hand covered my
shoulder. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

I couldn’t turn to look at him. He’d see
the truth in my eyes. “I’m sure.”

As the kitchen came into view, I stopped
in my tracks. Red blood pooled the floor, fingerprint dust was everywhere, a
patch of my rug had been cut out.

I drew in a shaky breath and pointed to
the corner where the pedestal of the cake dish stood, stale muffins atop it.
“That’s where he cornered me. He started to reach for me when I grabbed the
glass top and swung it over his head. He collapsed in front of me.”

“The block of knives is on the other
side of the kitchen, so someone had to walk past him to grab one,” Riley said.

“In the process they’d crunch the glass
that was scattered all over the floor.”

“Some might even get caught in their
shoe,” Sierra said.

I held my head higher. “And maybe one of
those pieces fell out when the intruder escaped.”