Chapter Thirteen
Leo
It took hours for sleep to take me. I couldn’t tear my eyes from her. She was here, in my arms. It would take death to part us again. Unfortunately, death still loomed on the horizon for me. If Lucy was all we had, then we had shit, and I’d be damned if I was going to put my family and Dani through the Hell of me living on the run.
Lucy was loyal to her father, down to her core. She’d never betray him, not for me, not for anyone. I’d fight, of course I would. The death chamber didn’t hold a warm, fuzzy place in my heart, but I had to fight for Dani, to help her.
She rested soundly in my arms, her breath coming in steady waves, its warmth kissing the skin over my breaking heart. I had to heal her, pick up the pieces of her broken soul and meld them together with a strength that would survive losing me. I pulled my arms tighter around her. Schilling seemed to care for her and Maria worshipped her. Her father, for all his faults, did love her. There were people around who’d hold her together, if it all went wrong. She just had to open her eyes enough to see them.
I peeled myself away from her, resting her head gently on the pillow. She stirred, a soft whine escaped her lips. I was about to take the biggest risk of my life, second only to calling the mother of my supposed victim for help.
I tiptoed to the living room. The fire lay in dying embers, its dull orange glow gave little warmth as I settled in front of, cell phone in hand. He’d either kill me or help me.
“What?!”
“Sir, it’s Leo.”
“Are you out of your Goddamn mind? Do you have any idea what time it is?”
Maria’s sleepy voice echoed in the background, soothing his frayed temper, urging him to listen.
“Sir, we think we know who is behind my framing.”
“And?”
“And I need your help, for Dani’s sake. If this goes wrong, she’ll break, unless she has people who love her around her.”
“Danielle ran for a reason. She doesn’t want me in her life.”
“You suffocated her, you never let her grow up, make her own mistakes.”
“The first mistake I allowed her to make ended with her kidnapping. I’m happy with the way I raised her.”
“Sir, please.”
He muttered to Maria in quick, unintelligible Spanish.
“Fine, where are you?”
“Leave Angel behind. It’s her father she needs not his henchmen.”
“Tell me again how to raise my daughter, I fucking dare you.”
“Leave Angel behind. It’s her father she needs,” I repeated.
“You have balls, Leo, I’ll give you that. We'll be there by morning. I get arrested, I swear to God, I’m bringing you down with me.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less, Sir.”
If this didn’t work out, I was headed nowhere but prison anyway, taking him with me, didn’t seem such a bad deal. I reeled off the address of the cabin. He scribbled it down, Maria bustled in the background, chattering about bringing enough snacks for the trip and ingredients to prepare Danica’s favourite foods. I left them to it, cutting the call and making my way back to Dani.
She lay in the bed, her face twisted, her body writhing, the thin cotton sheets tangling around her limbs.
“I’m here, you’re safe with me,” I whispered, slipping into the bed beside her, pulling her into my arms. She sighed softly, her crumpled face smoothing, her breathing deepening.
◆◆◆
Schilling woke us first, chucking bacon, eggs and mushrooms into a skillet. The scent of sizzling bacon is something that hasn’t woken me in over six years. Dani lay in my arms, her head rested on my chest, her wavy ebony hair frizzed out over the pillow, tickling my chin as I bent to kiss her. She smiled into my kiss.
“Schilling’s here?”
“I hope so,” I smiled, “if he’s not an intruder is cooking bacon for us.”
“As long as there’s bacon, I don’t care,” she grinned, sitting herself up, smoothing down her hair. She slid out of the bed, snatching the shirt her father had given me. I really needed more clothes. Ones that fit. The flannel shirt swamped her, the material skimming her knees, the sleeves hung inches past her fingers. She tucked her feet into her chunky work boots, following the scent of crispy bacon.
“You lost your clothes, kid?” Schilling joked.
Dani’s laughter rang through the cabin, warming my heart. Christ, I’ve waited a decade to hear that sound again. I pulled my jeans on, trailing after her, shirtless. My stomach growled louder the closer I got to the kitchen.
“Hot,” Dani hissed, leaning against the kitchen counter, a strip of cremated bacon gripped between her fingers.
“At least you’re eating, I guess,” Schilling sighed. “Maybe I should bring you a fresh felon every week, might help get some meat on your bones.”
“There’s only one felon I’m interested in.”
“Glad to hear it,” I smiled, snatching the bacon from her hands. Schilling chased us from the kitchen. It was all so normal, so unlike prison.
We ate on the veranda overlooking the lake, watching the sun rise over the smooth, calm waters. Dani wrapped herself in my coat, wedging her chair so close to mine, I couldn’t move. Schilling banned us from talking about the case until we’d finished eating.
They both turned to me when the sound of a car crunching over the gravel driveway reached us. Schilling grabbed for his gun, shoving Dani into the house.
He opened the door at the second tap.
“Where’s my daughter?”
“Come in Mr Ramirez,” Schilling snapped as Ramirez pushed past him, stomping into the cabin. Dani scowled, squeezing my hand. Maria followed her new husband, dragging a huge hamper behind her.
“What are you doing here?” Dani hissed.
“I invited him. Figured we could use all the help we could get. He wasn’t involved, Dani, he loves you in his own fucked up way.”
“Watch your mouth, Leo,” Ramirez warned.
“He’s right,” Schilling said, helping Maria drag the hamper to the kitchen. “Your dad isn’t part of this. And we could do with the help. The people we’re going up against aren’t the kind of people who are scared of a badge. Fuck, half of ‘em have badges of their own.”
Maria hovered in the background, rubbing her hands over her arms, her warm brown eyes filling with tears. I knew that look. That kind of pain is the pain only a mother can bear. My own mother had worn that same defeated expression when she visited me, parted from me by thick plexiglass, and Christ only knows how she was coping now, with me on the run and her clueless as to my well being. Maria might not be Dani’s real mother, but her love for her, the agony filling her at Dani’s enforced separation from her is very real.
Dani stood arms crossed, at my side, arguing with her father and Schilling, her eyes burning with anger. People you feel nothing for can’t affect you that much.
“Dan,” I nudged her arm, nodding over at Maria.
Dani deflated, her shoulders slumping, her gaze roaming over Maria. Schilling and her Dad stopped their onslaught. Silence rang loud.
“Whatever you believe I’ve done to you, Danielle, Maria is innocent. She loves you.”
“Whatever, help if that’s what everyone thinks is best. It won’t change how utterly and completely I despise you.”
She stormed to the bedroom. The door slammed hard, shaking the cabin. Maria flinched.
“Go talk to her,” I smiled.
“It’s fine,” Maria sniffed. She slunk into the kitchen, bending down to the hamper, unpacking all the treats she’d brought along.
“Get dressed, son,” Schilling frowned, “We’ll go over what we have before me and Dani head to work.”
◆◆◆
We all piled around the table. Dani by my side, glowering at her father. Maria by his side, unable to tear her eyes from Dani, Ramirez kept his hand on her thigh, gently kissing her cheek when the tears threatened to spill again. Schilling set himself in the middle, a barrier between Dani and her father.
He laid out the all the files he’d compiled on the case. New evidence and old spread across the table. He’d gone through everything from my old case, highlighting anything that stood out as odd, like the speed my appeals raced through the system at.
“Judges are involved in this?” Dani asked, running her hand through her hair.
“It goes higher than that, kid,” Schilling said, shoving a pile of papers over the desk towards her.
“What’s this?”
“Accounts, showing undeclared payments between judges, governors, the damn Police Chief, feds, you name the department, at least one of the fuckers has their fingers in this.”
“Can we use these?”
“Nope. A CI, a dude I pinned for a hacking a few years before I moved into homicide, got me them. I have no warrants, no clue who to ask for them without tipping off the people we’re investigating.”
Most of what Schilling had was circumstantial and all of that obtained illegally.
“I’ll make some calls, see if any of the cartel know these assholes,” Ramirez said, pulling out his phone.
“What the cartel you’re not part of?”
“They didn’t cease to exist when I went straight, Danielle.”
“Straight my ass,” she huffed.
“That’s great,” Schilling said, “these guys need taking down, but even if we prove they helped get Leo’s case pushed through, buried his complaints about the apartment complex, had motive to remove him from the picture, that don’t get rid of the evidence we have against him.”
“What’s it gonna take, Schilling?”
“A confession,” he sighed.
“And how do we get that?” Dani spat.
“Lucy.”
“Great, let’s go drill that bitch until she caves.”
“Not us, kid, I need you to stay away from this. He has to do it.”
“I’m not letting him go alone.”
“Lucy won’t hurt me,” I assured her.
“Yeah and if her dad turns up?”
“I’ll go with him,” Ramirez offered, “wait outside, if anyone goes in, I’ll go in.”
“Without Angel? You sure you’re brave enough,” Dani sneered.
It was all arranged. Ramirez would drive me to Lucy’s. Schilling swore she’d be home today, he’d checked out her rota at the hospital she worked in. Ramirez had a picture of her dad up on his phone, if he or anyone who looked like they might work for him turned up, he’d be backup. Dani and Schilling would go into work as normal, giving them deniability.
Dani nestled in my arms at the door, dressed in fresh clothes Schilling had brought for her. He tapped his wristwatch, raising an eyebrow at me. Letting her go, watching her drive away in the car, knowing it might be the last time I see her physically pained me.
If this goes wrong, if Lucy calls the cops or her dad, I’m dead.