“Did you see Luca leave with Gina that night?”
“I did.” He nodded his head. “I thought to myself ‘Wow, lucky guy.’”
“But you didn’t know who she was?”
“No. How would I know her?” he asked as he cocked his head.
I needed to be very careful with my wording or he would become suspicious.
“I thought since Luca represented her a year ago, you would have met her or something.”
“I don’t know every client Luca represents.”
“Anyway, I’m sorry to bother you. I was just hoping that you would have seen something that night that could help him.”
“I’m sorry, but I was drinking and socializing with everyone. I wish to God I could help, but I didn’t see anything odd.”
“Thanks, Sam.” I got up from my seat and walked over to the door. Placing my hand on the knob, I turned and looked at him. “By the way, how was your birthday?”
“It was great. Best birthday I think I ever had.” He smiled.
“Did you and your wife do anything special during the day?” I asked with caution.
“No. We were supposed to, but she’s really big into charity work and had meetings all day. I didn’t see her until I got home and we got ready for the party. Why are you asking?”
“I noticed that picture you have of the two of you behind your desk and you both look so happy. I just thought maybe she would have done something romantic for your birthday. I know if I had a guy in my life and it was his birthday, I’d plan the whole day out. Birthdays should be celebrated all day as far as I’m concerned.” I smiled.
“I agree. Maybe I’ll run that idea by her for next year.” He winked.
I gave him a small smile as I left his office. If my theory was right, he’d be spending his next birthday behind bars. As I was walking to Luca’s office, Sheila stopped me.
“Sam was the one who rented that limo Gina climbed into,” she whispered. “It had to be him she met.”
“He also lied to Luca about spending the day with his wife. He just told me that she was in charity meetings all day and he didn’t see her until he got home and they left for the party.”
“What motive would he have for wanting to kill Gina and frame Luca?” she asked.
“I don’t know, but we need to find out and we don’t have a lot of time. Do you think when he leaves tonight, you can search his office?”
“Sure. I’ll call you if I find anything.”
“Thanks.” I placed my hand on her arm before walking away.
I reached Luca’s office only to find that he wasn’t in there, so I went over to Olivia’s cubicle.
“Do you know where Luca is?”
“He left.”
“Left? Do you know where he went?”
“I don’t know. He didn’t say. Is everything okay with the two of you?” she asked.
“Besides him being charged with a double murder and me stressing trying to figure out who framed him? Yeah. Everything is great.”
I tried to call him, but he didn’t answer, so I sent him a text message.
“Hey, where are you? I’m at the office and Olivia told me you left.”
No response.
I sighed and placed my phone back inside my purse. I couldn’t think about where he went off to. I needed to think about my next move. There was something I wasn’t seeing. I went back to the Peninsula and viewed the security tape again. This time, I viewed it while the party was going on, watching every person who entered the lobby.
“Bruce, stop right there.” I pointed to the screen when I saw Sam Butler in the lobby at approximately ten o’clock, making a phone call. “Who would you be calling that late while at your birthday party, Sam?” I spoke out loud.
“Wife, maybe?” Bruce spoke.
“His wife was with him.”
“Mistress, perhaps?”
“She was sitting at the bar at the party.” I smirked.
“Ah. That’s crazy.”
I picked up my phone and dialed Sheila.
“What’s up, Ariana?”
“Is Sam’s phone through the firm?” I asked.
“Yes. All the partners’ phones are. Why?”
“Then you’d have no problem getting his phone records?”
“Nope. I can get them quick. Why?”
“I need them as soon as possible.”
“I’ll start working on it now.”
“Thanks. I’ll call you to tell you where to meet me. I’m not coming back to the firm today.”
I ended the call and watched more of the security footage. Nothing out of the ordinary grabbed my attention, except seeing Luca and Gina step onto the elevator to go up to her room. It bothered me. I knew he just went up there to talk because she needed legal advice, but seeing his hand on the small of her back as they entered the elevator struck a jealousy chord in me that I found hard to control. A thought came to my head. Something I didn’t think about before. I grabbed my phone and my purse and thanked Bruce once again for helping me out. I flew out the doors of the hotel and dialed Luca.
“Hello,” he answered.
“Where the fuck are you?” I blurted out.
“At your apartment. Why? And why are you taking that tone with me?”
“I went to your office after talking to Sam, and Olivia said you left. Then I sent you a text message and you didn’t respond.”
“I never got a text message from you, Ariana. Are you on your way home? You sound frantic.”
“I have some questions to ask you. I’ll be home soon.”
After ending the call, I dialed Sheila.
“Hello.”
“I’m headed home. Can you meet me there?”
“I got the phone records and I’m on my way.”
“Great. See you soon.”
Before heading home, I stopped at the craft store and picked up a large whiteboard with some erasable markers. It was a bitch to carry inside my apartment building, but I made it up the elevator and dragged it down the hallway to my apartment. As I opened the door and attempted to bring it in, Luca came running over to me when he saw me struggling.
“Ariana, why didn’t you call me to help you bring this up?”
“I don’t know,” I spoke in a frazzled tone.
“You look exhausted,” he spoke as he set the board against the wall.
“We need to hang that up on that wall right over there.” I pointed. “Sheila will be here soon. And what’s that smell?” I asked as I sniffed around.
“Dinner.” He smiled.
“You cooked for me?” I pouted.
He walked over to me, took my purse from my shoulder, set it down, and placed his hands firmly on my hips while softly kissing my lips.
“I did and I hope you like it.”
Wrapping my arms around his neck, I stared into his panty-melting eyes.
“I know I’ll like it. Thank you.” I smiled.
“You’re welcome. Now why is Sheila coming over?”
“I had her get Sam’s phone records.”
He broke our embrace and poured me a glass of wine.
“Why?”
“I’ll lay it all out on the board as soon as you get it hung.”
“You do know we have boards like this at the firm in our conference rooms?”
“Do you want me writing Sam’s name all over it for him to see?”
“Ah, good point.” He nodded. “Well, do you have anything to hang it with?”
“I bought a small hammer and some nails. They’re in the bag in my purse. I’m going to go change before Sheila gets here.”
I walked into the bedroom and threw on a pair of cropped yoga pants and a loose tank top while Luca hung the whiteboard on the wall. I was exhausted and I was running out of time. His trial started in three days and I wanted to do everything I could to try and prevent it from even happening. As I was walking to the kitchen, there was a knock at the door.
“Sheila, come in.”
I smiled as she handed me a folder.
She stepped inside, said hi to Luca, and then looked around.
“What a great place you have, Ariana. It’s so cozy.”
“Thank you. Would you like a glass of wine?”
“Wine sounds really good right now. Thanks. What is that smell?” she asked as she walked over to the edge of the counter.
“Luca is making dinner,” I replied.
“I didn’t know you cooked, Luca.”
“I do, but that stays between us.” He smirked. “I hope you’ll stay and join us.”
“I’d like that. Thank you.” She smiled.
While Luca finished preparing dinner, I wrote some things down on the whiteboard.
“So this is what we know.” I pointed to the board with a blue marker. “Gina Burroughs checked in to the hotel at three o’clock. At three thirty, she went to the lobby and made a phone call to Sam Butler. Shortly after hanging up, she left the hotel and climbed into a limousine that Sam Butler rented. When she returned to the hotel at eight p.m. approximately four hours later, she went up to her room and then came back down at nine thirty and headed into the bar where the party took place.”
“Come sit down and eat, Ariana,” Luca spoke.
I set down my marker and took a seat at the table where Luca placed a plate down in front of me that consisted of Chicken Marsala, roasted fingerling potatoes tossed in oil and herbs, French-style green beans, and a loaf of French bread.
“Oh god, Luca. This is amazing. Why have you been holding out on me about your cooking skills?”
“Yeah, Luca, you could be a chef. This is delicious,” Sheila spoke.
“Thank you. My mother taught me to cook. It’s really all she did. She loved to cook big meals.”
I ate a piece of chicken and took a sip of my wine before asking Luca the question I needed an answer to.
“Okay, I have a question. If Gina came down to the bar at nine thirty and you didn’t go up to her room until eleven, what did the two of you talk about for an hour and a half?”
“She didn’t come sit at the bar until ten thirty,” he replied.
“Huh?” I cocked my head. “How do you know the exact time she sat down?”
“I was just finishing off my scotch and I looked at my watch to see what time it was because I was ready to leave. It was at that moment that she sat down next to me. We talked and I bought her a couple of drinks.”
“Talked about what?” I asked.
“Nothing much. I just asked her how she was doing and she asked me about the party. She never let on that she knew Sam.”
“Didn’t you find it odd that she was there?”
“No. She was a call girl. Hotels are their thing. I didn’t find anything odd about it at all. Then she told me she needed some legal advice.”
“Is that when she seemed nervous?”
“Yeah. It was like when she asked me to come to her room, her demeanor changed.”
“The bartender told me that she dropped her purse and all the contents fell out,” I spoke as I ate a potato.
“Yes, and I bent down and picked everything up for her. That was right before we headed to her room.”
“About what time?”
“I don’t know. I picked up her purse, handed it to her, finished off my drink, and then we left.”
“So that could have been what? Ten minutes?”
“Possibly. Ariana, I don’t understand what me picking up her purse has anything to do with this?”
“Rohypnol, after ingested, takes about fifteen minutes to kick in. When she dropped her purse, intentionally, may I add, and you bent down to pick it up, she slipped it into your drink. And that’s why you can’t remember anything after you got to her room.”
“Why the hell would she drug me?”
“Because, obviously, she was in on it,” Sheila spoke.
“Oh come on; she planned her own murder?”
“Not her murder, but something. She lured you up to her room for a reason, and I need to find out what that reason was.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Luca
Before Ariana finished her dinner, she got up from the table and walked back over to the whiteboard.
“Gina was definitely in on something with someone and I’m guessing that someone was Sam Butler,” she spoke. “When the two of you were in the room, someone else was either in there or came in when you were passed out.”
“Do you think it was Sam?” I asked.
“He never left the party. The only time he went to the lobby was when he made a phone call at ten o’clock.”
“There are stairs, you know,” I spoke.
“But the stairs only lead to the twelfth floor. Any floor above that is elevator access only, and her suite was on the twentieth floor. Someone entered the lobby and went up to her room.”
“And how the hell are we going to find out who?” I asked.
“I don’t know.” She sighed as she sat back down in her chair. “Someone wanted her dead and wanted you to take the fall for it. It has to be someone who knows you.”
“Maybe Sam wanted her dead because it was his baby she was carrying,” Sheila spoke.
“I thought of that. But if she was with Sam that day and they had sex, he used a condom. If he knew she was pregnant, why would he use a condom?”
“I don’t know. It doesn’t make sense.” Shelia shook her head.
I got up from my chair and took my plate to the sink.
“Maybe she didn’t tell him she was pregnant yet, but he found out,” I spoke. “Could you imagine what that would do to his family and reputation?”
“I’m heading back to the firm,” Sheila spoke as she grabbed her purse. “I just want you to know, Luca, that I’m searching Sam’s office.”
“Good idea. Let us know if you find something.”
“I will.” She smiled. “Thanks for dinner. It was amazing.”
“You’re welcome.”
As soon as Sheila left, I glanced over at Ariana, who rested her head on the table. She needed to relax and unwind. The stress of this case was getting to her and I didn’t like seeing her that way. I went into the bathroom and started the water for a bubble bath.
“What are you doing?” she asked as she stood in the doorway.
“Drawing you a bubble bath. You need to relax, Ariana. You’re exhausted,” I spoke as I dried my hands on the towel.
“A bubble bath does sound good right now.”
Walking over to her, I kissed her tender lips.
“Climb in and I’ll bring you a glass of wine.” I smiled.
I went into the kitchen and poured some wine into the glass she had with dinner. By time I made it back to the bathroom, she was already in the tub with the bubbles up to her neck. I wanted desperately to climb in with her, but this was her time and she needed to relax without any distractions from me.
As I cleaned up from dinner, I thought about how, in two days, it was her birthday. She hadn’t mentioned anything and I wanted to do something special for her. She deserved it, especially after everything she’d put herself through trying to prove my innocence. It sucked that it was the day before the trial started. I knew she needed to write her opening statement and that was going to take up a lot of her time. I’d have to get her to start writing it now because when her birthday came, she was going to enjoy it and not worry about anything else.
I had stopped at the jewelry store after I left the office and bought her a beautiful silver necklace with a pendant on it. The front side was an etching of fleur de lis, and on the back side was an etching of the North Star with a quote that was written in Latin. I was sure she didn’t know Latin, so I wasn’t worried that she would know what it said. If she asked, I’d tell her it said something else. The quote was true for me in every form. I just wasn’t sure how she’d feel about it.
I walked back into the bathroom and she had finished off her wine.
“Would you like another glass?
” I asked.
“No. I’m good.” She smiled.
“Do you think maybe you should start working on your opening statement?”
“I’m good.” She closed her eyes.
“What do you mean you’re good? The trial starts in three days.”
“I have it all up here.” She pointed to her head.
I stood there in confusion.
“So you’re not writing anything down on paper?”
“Nope,” she spoke with her eyes still closed.
Now she had me worried. Even the best lawyers in the world wrote down their opening statements.
“Ariana, this is your first major trial. I think you should write it down,” I spoke with concern.
“Do you not trust me?” She opened one eye and looked at me.
“I do trust you, but—”
“Then if you trust me, don’t worry about my opening statement.”
I sighed as I placed my hands in my pockets and leaned up against the bathroom counter. Every day I learned something new about her and the things I learned surprised me. That was what I loved about her. She was exciting and kept me on my toes. I had this fantasy about going up against her in court. The two of us, objecting to each other’s questions, battling it out together in defense of our clients. It turned me on just thinking about it, an urge so strong that my cock was starting to rise.
“I think you need to get out of the tub now,” I spoke.
“Why?”
I looked down at the bulge that was in my pants and then at her. A smile crossed her face as she bit down on her bottom lip.
“I thought you wanted me to relax?”
“Trust me, sweetheart, I’ll make sure you do nothing but relax.”
She held out her hand as I grabbed a towel, helped her from the tub, and wrapped it securely around her. Picking her up, I carried her to the bedroom, dried her off, and then asked her to lie on her stomach while I massaged every part of her soft bare skin.
****
I rolled over and my arm, which was supposed to be wrapped tightly around her body, fell onto the crumpled sheet where she laid. Opening my eyes, I glanced at the clock and saw it was one thirty a.m. Climbing out of bed, I went into the living room, where I saw her sitting on the couch, hunched over the coffee table and looking over Sam’s phone records.