Chapter Four
Gabriel
Where the hell is Mason? I couldn’t stand being held up in the interrogation room for hours, and my lawyer had more than enough time to get his ass over to Vegas from LA.
This day had started off as a complete nightmare and turned into a personal apocalypse. I didn’t think that my life could spiral down the drain any quicker until Detective Hatcher came in to interrogate me.
I’d gone over the same damned story three times. I raked my hand through my hair and scrubbed my face with my palms. How could I have done it?
Knowing full well I was on camera, I wasn’t about to take the rings or the certificate out of my pocket in case any footage got leaked to the media, but the weight of them had been a burden the entire morning since I’d slipped Luna’s ring off her finger. I knew I was taking a big risk; she could have woken up wondering where it was, but I decided to take a gamble. It was Vegas, after all.
I’d hoped she’d remember the mistake we’d made and want to amend it with an annulment, but just in case, I thought it best to take charge of the situation. It was pure dumb luck that she’d been so drunk she didn’t remember anything, and I held my breath that she’d continue in her fog at least until I had a moment alone with her.
Keeping things to myself seemed my best bet. If there was someone out there targeting the women in my life, I’d put a huge bulls eye on Luna’s back. My gut soured thinking about it.
The door was thrown open and Mason strolled in casually. “You look like shit, Gabe. How’re they treating you?”
“You could have been here two hours ago. I’ve been sitting here all fucking day.” I bit the words out like they had teeth of their own, and he recoiled regarding me with a cocked brow.
“Contrary to what you think, I do have a life of my own.” He put his briefcase on the table and took a seat as the detective entered the room.
Detective Hatcher placed his palms down flat on the table and stared directly into my eyes as he leaned in. For a moment, I thought he’d try to get tough or slam me with new evidence, but instead he flashed a sympathetic smile. “Can I get you anything? How about some coffee or a soda?”
“Now you want to get me something? My lawyer shows up and suddenly you’re the fucking snack bar?” My throbbing migraine reminded me of Luna. I could only hope the poor girl got the hell out of dodge while she could and wondered if anyone had taken her in. Was she in another room going through the same hell?
Mason’s hand landed upon my arm. “Relax, Gabe, and tell the man which you’d like.”
“Coffee. Black.”
“Now, was that so hard? Let’s be gentlemen here, shall we?” Mason’s act grated my balls, and I was ready to get my ass back home to Cali.
Detective Hatcher went to the door and told someone on the other side to grab my order. It didn’t take two seconds for a hot cup of black coffee to be placed in front of me. I was fully aware of the cameras and two-way glass. Hell, that kind of thing was my business, and the department had used G2 equipment for years.
Hatcher took his seat at the table. “We’ve taken your statement. I strongly encourage you to stay in the city until you’re cleared to leave. We’re not placing you under arrest just yet – despite what the press is leaking – but I’m not going to lie: the evidence is mounting. We’re only waiting for the sake of protocol, so consider yourself lucky you’re being locked down instead of locked up. Are you feeling me?”
I nodded. Great, stuck in Vegas. At least I had a nice suite of my own, and I could make sure Luna stayed with me. “Anything else?”
“Yeah, I’d steer clear of your suite at the hotel and the casino. Our team has been through your room already, but considering the crime scene being two floors down, we wouldn’t want you contaminating anything.” He lifted his shoulders in a shrug as if it made good sense.
“You mean I can’t even go back to my suite to get my things? I have important belongings there. Couldn’t you arrange for someone to go with me?” I slammed my hand down on the table, and Mason shot me a look that said he wished I’d stop.
He leaned in and whispered, not trying to hide his words from the investigator. “I’ll make sure you get your things and another place to stay. You need to sit back and let them do their job. Consider yourself on vacation.” He then turned his attention back to the detective. “So what evidence are we looking at? What can you tell us?”
“I can tell you that there are two women dead and evidence that points to your boy here.” The use of the word boy chapped my ass good and hard, but I didn’t react. I had a feeling he wanted me to so I kept quiet in my seat as he continued. “Both ladies were bound and strangled with a garrote.”
Mason winced. “That’s brutal. I can assure you that my client is not the person you’re looking for, so I hope you’re keeping your eyes open for another lead.”
The detective let out a huff as if he’d been offended. “Of course we are.”
Mason leaned in, posturing over the detective. “Then what aren’t you telling me? Where are the surveillance videos?”
I nudged him. “I know that place has the best security in Vegas.”
“It’s funny you should mention that.” Detective Hatcher rubbed his chin, his eyes directed toward the paper in front of him. “It seems the entire system went down on that level last night. The incident went unnoticed, or perhaps ignored.”
“You’re suggesting that I had something to do with it because of a security glitch or some human error?” I was outraged, to say the least, but in my head, I was scrambling to figure out what had happened. My security was top notch, however, nothing was perfect when humans were involved.
“I’m not accusing you of anything. I’m only telling you the facts.” He leaned back and crossed his arms, glaring down his nose at me from across the table. “I’ll leave you to let it all sink in, and remember – we’ll be in touch.” He got up from his chair, the legs of it screeching against the floor as if some final kiss off before the door shut me and Mason in.
Mason stood up, but I took my time and sat staring at the coffee in front of me until he gave me a nudge. “Come on, we’ve got a lot to talk about.”
I got to my feet and noticed him staring at my clothes. “What? It’s not like they gave me time to dress properly, so the last thing I need from you is a fashion critique. Besides, I’m lucky they let me have my shoes.”
“You sure are. The floors in these kinds of places are no place for bare feet. You wouldn’t believe the things I’ve seen.” Mason curled his lip in disgust.
“I could imagine, but at the moment, forgive me if I don’t give a fuck.”
He pulled me to a stop when we rounded the corner. “Look, I’ve got to warn you. The press is already all over this, but someone leaked that you’d been arrested instead of being taken in for questioning.
“Joe’s waiting with the car, but when we go out there, I want you to keep your head and eyes down. I’ll keep hold of you, but I don’t want you looking up, and for all that is holy, please keep your mouth shut.”
“Wait, was I the only one brought in? My assistant, Luna, is she here?”
“She’s not here. They would have mentioned it. I was briefed before I went to see you. Nothing like walking into the shark tank without knowing you’ve got chum on your hands.”
I nodded as he took my arm, and we bullied our way out the front door and through the massive crowd of people that were all pushing into me.
“Why did you kill them?”
“Was it a crime of passion, Mr. Grant?”
“Did you think your money would get you out of this?”
“Is it true that you’re married?”
Ignoring the questions being thrown my way, I ducked into the car as fast as possible once we’d crossed the expanse of chaos and the door was closed quickly behind us.
When I looked up, Mason’s eyes were hard on mine. “You see the kind of nonsense those vultures will put out? Thankfully, they are already correcting the story, but what’s done is done.” He shook his head and went right into business as Joe slowly pulled away.
“We’ll get you a room across town.” He leaned up and told Joe to take us to the High Roller Hotel. Once he righted himself in his seat, he turned back to me. “You have some explaining to do, my friend, and I don’t want you to leave anything out.”
“I have to find my assistant. She’ll need to be safe, too, and she can’t stay at that hotel, either. Oh, and I need you to work on getting me my damned briefcase back as soon as possible. I signed a new deal with a huge client, and everything is in that case. Thankfully, I have my phone.”
I took the thing out of my pocket and brought it to life. The screen had dozens of missed calls. Most were from my sister-in-law, but some of the later ones were from Luna. There were a dozen in between, many from concerned friends, my staff back home, and clients. Unfortunately, my battery was at nine percent. Damn, this all needed to be sorted as fast as possible and before my reputation and company suffered.
With his own phone to his ear, Mason met my eyes. “We’ll handle it.” He arranged a suite, and Joe made it to the High Roller, making a few extra turns in case anyone was following us.
Luckily, we got out and in the building before anyone noticed. Minutes later, I was in my new room, making a list of things I needed. Considering my bags were all held up in the other suite, it was a long one. “I need you to do something for me.”
Mason leaned over and glanced at my list. “I’ll go and get that for you. I don’t trust sending Joe out for things right away, and your assistant should stay on lockdown, as well.”
I’d wait until he was out of the room so I could call Luna. I was afraid of what she might have suddenly remembered about last night. I looked around the room for a charger and thank God, the place came with a full set up of any kind of charger known to man.
Mason took the list, but made no move to leave me. “You should call your family and get your assistant on her way. Warn her about the press. Things won’t be getting any better anytime soon. She should call home, too, and let her family know she’ll be gone a while.”
“Tell me how bad this could get.” I kept my eyes averted to the floor. “Let’s stop pretending the press is my worst concern right now. What could happen to me?”
“We’re waiting for the evidence to come back from the labs. I’m sure that they have expedited it, but that doesn’t mean it will be fast. The process could take days.” He let out a long breath. “Where the fuck were you all night?”
“I was at the Serendipity Hotel and Casino. I only left once to go across the street, and Luna was with me the entire time. I gave my speech, and then we celebrated over dinner, hung out with some guests, and drank a hell of a lot.”
“That’s perfect! You have an alibi. More than enough people saw you and as long as the time of death for both women occurred during that window of time, you’re in the clear.” He brushed off his pants legs and met my eyes. “What time did you get in?”
“It was about three a.m.”
“Good, let’s hope the time of death helps your alibi. I’m going to take care of you like I did with that lawsuit.” He stood and went to the mini bar.
He’d been a good friend and I couldn’t ask for a better attorney, but I couldn’t believe that my luck had come down to what time they’d died. These were women I’d kissed and fucked and taken to my home. They had been girlfriends that I’d spent countless hours talking with and had those warm and fuzzy feelings of fresh attraction over.
“I can’t believe they’re dead. And what’s worse, I can’t believe anyone would think I did it. I mean, I can see the coincidence of it, but…”
“I think we need to throw coincidence out the window, friend. I think we need to face the reality that you’re being framed.”