Bailed Out Read online

  A hard shoulder shoved me, and then Detective Grant Pierce was between me and everybody else, his gun out and pointed at my sister. “Drop the gun.”

  Tessa, her face whiter than any ghost, gently set the gun down.

  I gulped and peered around Pierce to see the body. “Please tell me that isn’t Danny Pucci,” I whispered, my voice shaking. But I didn’t need an answer.

  The bloody guy on the floor was definitely Danny Pucci. I looked closer, trying not to vomit. Danny stared back at me, his green eyes unblinking, a hole through the center of his forehead. It took me a second to realize why. It really did.

  Danny was dead.

  Chapter 2

  Tessa’s stricken green gaze met mine, and I automatically tried to step toward my older sister.

  Detective Pierce pivoted and put me back into the wall with his right hand on my chest, his left hand pointing the gun between Tessa and Aiden. “Both of you turn around and lace your fingers behind your heads,” he barked. The sound had me jumping.

  I stayed in place. Detective Pierce was almost a foot taller than me with a tough and lanky form, dark blond hair, and an overall cranky disposition. He was probably in his early forties, but it was possible late thirties with just a ton of baggage in his hard cop eyes. His hand against my upper chest was firm, and I wasn’t going anywhere.

  Tessa immediately turned around and hesitated before lacing her fingers behind her thick reddish-blonde hair. The blonde streaks were new. Her legs in white capris visibly shook, and she looked defenseless in her Baby Yoda t-shirt with the girly cut.

  Aiden ignored the detective as two patrol officers strolled into the room, guns out. His gaze raked me head to toe.

  I shivered.

  Then he slowly, deliberately, turned around and expertly laced his long-tapered fingers against his thick black hair. He’d obviously done so before, and his knuckles were bruised and bloody. He was at least an inch taller than Pierce, and not a thing about him was lanky. He was broad and muscled with a dangerous grace that reminded me of those panthers on television.

  The uniformed cops instantly stepped up and each handcuffed Tess and Aiden, turning them toward the door and away from the body.

  “Anna?” Tessa whispered, the slightest hint of our mother’s Irish brogue in her shaking voice.

  “I’m coming,” I breathed, barely able to get the words out. What had happened? If Tessa had killed Danny, it had definitely been in self-defense. Why was Aiden there? And why was he wearing bloody boots, ripped jeans, and a Lordes T-shirt? He had belonged to the motorcycle club, but it had been disbanded, with most of the members arrested for running drugs. “Let me go, Pierce.”

  “No.” He holstered his weapon with one hand, keeping the other on me.

  I grabbed his wrist. “Tess? Don’t say a word until I get there. Ask for an attorney right away. Not one word,” I said in a rush of energy, my entire body heating.

  The officer ushered my sister out of the apartment.

  Aiden stopped cold near the door, forcing the cop pushing him to halt, his blue eyes lightening to glacier cold. “Get your fuckin’ hand off her.” While Pierce had barked his order, Aiden’s was said in a dangerously quiet voice that lowered the temperature in the entire room.

  If anything, Pierce pushed me harder against the wall. “Get him out of here.”

  The uniformed officer struggled, but then Aiden let himself be pushed out the door. There was no doubt in my mind that Aiden allowed it to happen; otherwise there’d be a fight right now.

  Pierce took a deep breath, released me, and turned on me. “What are you doing here?” His breath was hot and his eyes even more so.

  I blinked but was already against the wall and couldn’t step away. “I was bringing my sister dinner.” Then my gaze strayed to the dead body, and the smell of coppery blood began to permeate the fog in my head. A sofa pillow sat a distance away with a hole burned through it. It was a pillow my Nonna had stitched with the word ‘family’ carefully embroidered across it. Now it had a hole in the middle. “I wanted to tell her that Danny was back in town.”

  Pierce stiffened. “I take it the deceased is named Danny?”

  Numbly, I nodded.

  “How do you and your sister know the deceased?” Pierce asked as crime techs began to filter into the room, already wearing protective gear and booties.

  My brain finally kicked back in. “Sorry. I have to go.”

  “You’re a witness, and you’re not going anywhere,” Pierce said, anger cutting lines into his rugged face. Oh, he was older than me, and there was no doubt he had a lot going on, but he had asked me out once. Right now, it seemed like a good thing we’d never made that date.

  “I’m her lawyer, and I am going now.” I tried to put some authority into my voice, although the longer I remained in the room with the dead body, the more I wanted to scream.

  Pierce leaned in. “You’re a prosecuting attorney, Albertini. You can’t be her lawyer. Even if you quit your job, you’re a witness, and you can’t be her lawyer.”

  Crap. He was right. My shoulders slumped. “She’s my sister,” I whispered.

  Pierce’s eyes softened for the briefest of seconds. “All right. I’ll have a uniform escort you to your car, and you drive directly to the station for an interview. I’ll be at least an hour here, but I want you in my office when I arrive. You can make arrangements for your sister on the way.”

  It was the best I was going to get. “Thanks.” Without looking at the shiny gun or the battered body, I turned and walked out of the apartment with an officer at my side. She was in her thirties with a cute blonde bob, and she probably would’ve been pretty had she been smiling. I didn’t blame her. There was nothing to smile about.

  After she’d seen me to my car, she disappeared back inside the building. A crowd was gathering on the sidewalk, and I pulled away from the curb before anybody could stop me.

  Then I quickly dialed a phone number.

  “What, Anna? Didn’t you get enough of me today?”

  “Clark? I need your help.” I sped up to make it through a yellow light. “My sister was just arrested, and she needs a lawyer. She might qualify for a public defender, but if not, you can contract with private clients, right?”

  “Yeah.” His voice went from cajoling to serious. “Where is she?”

  Tears threatened my voice, and I shoved them away. This was just too much. “On the way to the police station. I told Tessa not to talk, but she looked scared. Please hurry.”

  I twirled the Styrofoam cup around on Pierce’s cluttered desk. As a detective in the Elk County Sheriff’s Office, he had his own office with a battered desk, two rather nice guest chairs, a plush looking leather chair for him, and a nice window that faced the city park with the beach and Lilac Lake behind him. My office was situated kitty-corner to this building around the park. I’d sat in his comfy guest chair for almost two hours before he arrived, and I’d memorized the pictures of him fishing with what looked like a brother, one with him and a smiling blond woman with the same light green eyes he had, and one of him in his dress uniform. Other than that, case files took up all available space in the small room.

  I heard him enter the room before I saw him, and he shut the door, crossing around his desk to sit. His scent of salt and the ocean, even though we were nowhere near an ocean, filtered around. “Did you get food?” As usual, he didn’t start with niceties.

  “One of the uniforms brought me a granola bar,” I said, my head hurting and my mind weary. My phone buzzed for what seemed like the millionth time, and I switched it to silent.

  His dark blond eyebrows rose. “I’m sure you called the entire family.”

  I sighed. “By the time I sat here, they already knew.” My immediate family consisted of the combination of two large families from Silverville; the Albertini and O’Shea families. Silverville was settled by Irish and Italian miners, and as most small towns go, there are few secrets. Even from fifty minutes away in
the big town of Timber City, word about Tess’s arrest would’ve traveled faster than an August wildfire. “I’m surprised you didn’t see anybody when you came in.”

  “I came in the back door,” he admitted, the leather seat groaning as he leaned back. His hair was ruffled, and his eyes battle weary, but he filled out the long-sleeved black shirt like it had been made for him. With the gun and badge at his belt, he all but screamed cop. “Tell me everything.”

  I looked in the empty coffee cup. The coffee had sucked, but at least it had been something. “I was taking dinner to my sister, you yelled at me, and I fell into her living room. You saw what I saw.” My stomach hurt like I’d been punched. “Is Tessa okay?”

  “When had you last talked to your sister?” Pierce asked, the slight gray at his temples giving him an air of command.

  “Last night,” I said, picking at the Styrofoam. His tone was conversational, but there was no doubt he was interviewing me. Definitely fishing for information, and I had to be careful. This was my sister. “I called her when I saw that The Quiet Man was on the old movie channel. It’s a family favorite.”

  Pierce rolled his head, and his neck cracked. “You didn’t call her after Danny Pucci made his first appearance in court today?”

  I caught my breath and hid the reaction as soon as I could. Pierce had done his due diligence before coming to interview me, now hadn’t he? “I did call her but didn’t catch her. There’s no way she killed him.” I sat forward, desperation ticking through my veins.

  “Really?” Pierce tugged his phone from his back pocket and scrolled along the face. “Danny Pucci was arrested a year ago for domestic battery against one Contessa Carmelina Albertini. She pressed charges, and he got a slap on the wrist since it was a first offense.” Pierce looked up, his gaze hard. “I doubt it was the first time he hit her. Hell, Anna. She might have a decent self-defense case here.”

  Fury nearly choked the fear out of me. Not quite, but close. I slammed my hand on his desk. “Tessa would never shoot anybody. She doesn’t have it in her.” Probably. Well, maybe. If she was in fear for her life, she’d shoot. I would, too.

  “Where did she get the gun?” Pierce asked smoothly.

  “That wasn’t her gun,” I retorted. “That gun was long, silver, and shiny. She has a smaller Lady Smith & Wesson, just like me.” Relief caught me with enough smoothness to calm me a little bit. Why would Tess shoot Danny with somebody else’s gun? She wouldn’t. “I told you she didn’t do it.”

  “How long has Aiden Devlin been dating your sister?” Pierce expertly switched topics.

  If he was looking to trip me up, he’d failed. “Aiden and Tess aren’t dating. I have no idea where he has been for the last two weeks.” It wouldn’t do to lie to Pierce right now, and I didn’t see a reason not to tell him the truth. “Before you ask, I don’t know why Aiden was at Tess’s apartment or if he had any prior relationship with Danny Pucci.” But I was sure going to find out.

  “So you don’t know why Devlin’s knuckles were as beat to shit as the dead body’s?” Pierce asked.

  Yeah, I’d noticed that as well. “Nope.”

  Pierce twirled a pen on his desk. “This isn’t looking good for your sister.”

  Considering I hadn’t talked to her yet, I didn’t know how bad it looked. “Did you test her hand for GSR?” I asked the question like I knew what I was talking about and hadn’t binge-watched Law & Order all day Sunday, where is actually how I’d learned about gunshot residue. A homicide case was way above my pay grade.

  “She tested positive,” Pierce said, seeming relaxed but definitely not missing anything.

  I rolled my eyes. “If she picked up the gun that had been used to kill Danny, then the residue would be on her hand. You know that.” I thought that was the truth.

  “I also know that only a moron would pick up a gun in that situation,” Pierce retorted. “Unless she was frightened by Devlin. But I’d have to ask what he was doing there.”

  I swallowed. “Did you test Aiden’s hand?”

  “Yep. Positive as well,” Pierce said, watching me like a bird of prey. “According to him, he was target practicing yesterday, but that’s all he’d own up to—so far. I’m off to interview him next.”

  “What about Tessa?”

  Pierce shook his head. “She lawyered up right away with Clark Bunne. Wouldn’t say a word.”

  Relief cooled the hot ball of anxiety in my stomach. Okay. Good. “Well, then. I guess I’ll go talk to her and figure this out. Let’s hope you’re as good of a detective as you think you are.” With that zinger, I stood.

  “Albertini? You’ll have to talk to her tomorrow,” Pierce drawled.

  I stopped cold, still facing him. “Why?”

  “Because I just arrested her for suspicion of murder. She’s being processed now.”

  Chapter 3

  I paused at the door to the station, looking out at the darkened night. Pierce had arrested my sister? Oh, I wasn’t sure about him before, but this put us squarely on the opposite side of pretty much everything. Even though I was a prosecuting attorney, darn it.

  Either way, I couldn’t just leave now. Looking around the reception area, I fumbled in my purse like I’d forgotten something, shook my head, and then returned back up the stairs toward Pierce’s office. Just in case anybody was watching, which I didn’t really think was happening. Of course, there were cameras, so it wouldn’t hurt to be careful right now.

  Not that I was doing anything wrong.

  Well, not really.

  Once I crossed to the second floor where detectives were mainly holed up in their offices, I strode briskly down the hallway to the interrogation rooms. The light for the second one was on above the door, so I whisked around the corner and entered the darkened surveillance room, shutting the door quietly. Then, for some bizarre reason I didn’t want to explore, I tiptoed up to the two-way mirror to see Aiden facing me with Pierce across the table from him.

  Pierce’s shoulders looked tense, and Aiden’s expression looked bored.

  Oh, this was so not good.

  I held my breath, leaning over to engage the speaker system.

  “Those are nice bruises on your knuckles,” Pierce was saying, his tone congenial.

  “Thanks,” Aiden said, sprawled lazily in his chair. Apparently the police had confiscated his clothing because he now wore an ECSO, Elk County Sheriff’s Office, black shirt that stretched tightly across his spectacular chest. One I had spent hours exploring with my hands and mouth only a couple of weeks ago. He stretched out his right hand, and the knuckles had already turned a painful looking purple.

  Pierce tapped a closed case file on the smooth metal table between them. “Once I get the lab results back on Danny Pucci, what are the chances your DNA is found on his body? Say in those bruises around his eyes?”

  Aiden lifted one shoulder. “Chances and odds aren’t my thing.”

  I shifted my weight, my heart thundering.

  Aiden’s gaze flicked from Pierce to directly at me, the blue of his eyes sharp. Oh, there was no way he could see me through the mirror, and no way he could hear me. He did not know I was there.

  His lips tugged in a smile.

  How did he do that?

  I made myself exhale and breathe normally so I didn’t just pass out right then and there.

  Pierce leaned toward Aiden, his blond hair looking more ruffled and shaggier than usual. “I had a nice long talk with Tessa Albertini.”

  “Did you now?” Aiden drawled, his attention returning to Pierce.

  What was it about the bad-boy Irishman that got to me? His hair was black and a bit too long, his eyes sharp and way too blue, and his body one that had been sculpted with a devastating attention with too much muscled detail. In other words, he was just too…everything.

  And the fact that he’d saved my life when we had been kids would never leave me alone. No matter what happened, he would always have a place in my heart—and that was before
we’d slept together, and I’d learned that those romance novels that promised multiple orgasms were actually based on fact and not fantasy.

  Who knew? Now I did, and I didn’t want the fun to end.

  But murder had a way of changing things, now didn’t it? I sighed.

  Aiden’s lips twitched again as if we were on the same wavelength.

  How did he do that?

  Pierce slapped his hand on the file. “Like I was saying, I talked to Tessa Albertini, and she said you shot Pucci. That she walked in right after you shot him.”

  Aiden lifted one dark eyebrow. “Really?”

  “Yeah,” Pierce said, satisfaction thick in his tone.

  I shook my head. Pierce had told me that Tessa hadn’t said a word, so he was trying to trick Aiden. Or get Aiden to say that Tess shot Danny. Turning two people against each other was an old police interrogation tactic, and Pierce could tell any lie he wanted.

  Somehow, I figured Aiden already knew this. This wasn’t his first arrest—not by a long shot. Although, after our last escapade, when he’d saved my life again, after I’d saved his, he’d promised he was one of the good guys. Since that moment, I’d had plenty of fantasies starring him as an undercover FBI agent, but we’d checked out the FBI, DEA, and DHS, and Aiden Devlin didn’t work for any of them.

  I stood closer to the glass, taking in his fallen Angel-like appearance. Just who was he?

  “Devlin?” Pierce prodded.

  Aiden flattened his injured hand on the cool metal table. “If Tessa walked in and saw me shoot the dead guy, how did she get the gun from me?” He leaned toward Pierce this time, his gaze intense. “The Albertini women are a tough bunch, a stubborn bunch, but even the tallest is half my size. You think Tess took the gun from me?”