Dark Justice by Kristi Belcamino (smallest ebook reader .txt) 📗

my way every once in a while.

My phone buzzed.

“Chief thinks I’m too close to the case. Called me off.”

“Motherfuck.” I typed.

The female detective opened her phone and looked at something. Then the detective nodded and came back.

“You and your partner are planning to buy this hotel, I hear?”

I clamped my mouth shut. How did he know. How did they find out so quickly?

I glanced over at the detective. She was speaking to the hotel manager, who had just arrived.

“We were trying to keep it on the down-low,” I said. “I was doing some investigation into financial inconsistencies before the sale went through, so we could find out who might be embezzling.”

The detective cocked his head. “Is this something you’ve done in the past?”

I shook my head. “Not really.”

“Huh.”

He looked down at this notebook. I glanced over. It was a bunch of indecipherable scribbles.

I yawned. “Are we done? I think if you have any more questions I should have you speak to my attorney.” Despite what James thinks.

“One more question. Were you aware that Maxwell Carlton had also made a bid to buy the hotel?”

“What?” I was genuinely surprised. I shook my head. “No. I just got into town the other day from out of the country. Dante has been handling all of this for me. We were supposed to meet about the particulars next week.”

“Apparently, Mr. Carlton offered one million more than the asking price yesterday.”

How the fuck does he know all of this? I was confused.

“Yesterday?”

“We were only aware of it because he called our office this morning, saying that he had received a threatening phone call telling him to withdraw his offer or he’d be sorry.”

“You’re fucking kidding me?” I blurted. What the fuck was going on?

I could feel my face grow warm. This was insane.

The detective looked at me, working his mouth in a weird way. He was chewing on the inside of his lip as he watched me.

“Do you think that’s why he wanted to meet with me?”

I realized that this man was not on my side. He was looking at me as a suspect. It was time for me to bail.

“I’m done here. If you need to speak to me again, you can contact my attorney.”

He nodded. “We’ll be in touch.”

I didn’t answer. I felt his partner’s eyes on me as I walked toward the elevator. I didn’t like the way she was looking at me. I didn’t like the direction the detective’s questions had gone. It had been a huge mistake to talk to them both without an attorney. But James had told me it was okay to talk to Stone. And James was on my side. Or was he?

Twenty-Two

I waited until morning to call Dante, but wasn’t able to sleep at all.

Something was fucked up, and I seemed to have landed right in the middle of it all.

When dawn broke, I dialed Dante’s number.

He was not an early riser. The restaurant business was a late-night game.

“Everything okay?” were his first words.

“I’m not sure.”

I told him everything.

“This isn’t good, Gia,” he said. “I can’t believe James had you speak to the detectives without an attorney.”

“Yeah. Now I realize it was a mistake. A big one.”

“What was he thinking?”

“Did you know he made a bid? Carlton?”

“No. It’s odd. It doesn’t make sense. I talked to him about the possibility of making an offer, and he told me I’d be making a mistake,” Dante said. “At the time, I thought it was because he thought it was a losing proposition. Maybe I misunderstood. I had no idea he wanted to buy the hotel. I had no idea he had the money to do so until just recently, when we started looking into the embezzlement.”

“How does he?”

“Not quite sure yet. It sure makes him a suspect in the embezzling situation, right?”

“A dead suspect.”

“Oh boy,” Dante said.

“I don’t like the way the cops are talking to me, Dante. They are trying to establish a motive.”

“They can try whatever they want. They can’t pin a murder on you that you didn’t commit.”

I frowned. “I’m not so sure.”

“I’m coming up there,” he said. “won’t be in until late tonight. I have some things to take care of down here first. I’ll book a room there, and let’s meet for breakfast?”

I instantly felt relief. “Thank you.”

“Don’t worry. Your attorney is top notch. I wouldn’t hire anyone else.”

“I know.”

After I hung up, I was filled with relief and exhaustion at the same time. My all-nighter finally hit me. Knowing Dante was coming took all the fight out of me. I could relax. I rummaged around until I found an old melatonin tablet and, after popping that, crawled into bed.

I slept until two in the afternoon.

When I woke, my phone showed several messages. And the hotel phone was blinking. I played the voice message back on it first. It was Detective Stone.

“We’d like you to come down to the station this afternoon, at your convenience, for some follow up questions.”

I hit delete.

While I was listening to the messages, James texted. “We still on for dinner? Five at my place?”

Um, yeah. He had some explaining to do.

“Sure. Unless I’m in jail for murder. What the fuck James? I’m supposed to come down to the station now. Why did you let me talk to them without an attorney?”

I held my breath, watching the text bubbles until his message popped up: “You’re going to have to trust me. I’m working on it.”

That wasn’t very reassuring.

I dialed Dante. He didn’t answer. He was probably on the plane already. I sent a text message. “Detectives want me to come down to station. Help.”

After I sent it, I worried it made me look guilty. Fuck. I already felt guilty even though I hadn’t done a damn thing but haul my ass out of bed to go talk to some stranger.

Who ended up murdered before I arrived.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

I took a long, hot shower and tried to forget about the detective’s message. I replayed the words he used in