“No. I almost never leave the shop when I’m working. But we don’t get our rush until about eight, so…” Her face grew even paler. “I was supposed to leave around noon today during the shift change. That’s one of the busiest times downtown.” Tegan started to breathe harder, wheezing in and out in a panic, so Aaron slid a hand behind her back and started rubbing up and down in a soothing motion.
Her gown only tied at the neck so all he felt was smooth, soft skin. No bra, something he didn’t want to be noticing.
“Do you want a glass of water?” Carlito asked as she started to get herself back under control.
Aaron still didn’t remove his hand and she didn’t seem to want him to. Touching her was stupid for his sanity, but he didn’t care. She needed comfort right now.
“No, I’m good. I want to help you find who did this.”
“I’m going to start with the obvious. Do you know of anyone who could have wanted to harm you? Any enemies, ex-boyfriends? From what I heard from some of the eyewitnesses, you’ve done a lot of design work for the shops downtown, so what about other freelance work? It’s a stretch, but any contracts that didn’t work out? I want the names of absolutely anyone you can think of.”
Chewing on her bottom lip, she flicked a wary glance at Aaron before she looked back at the detective. “There’s only one person I can think of who would want to hurt me enough to kill me, but he’s dead.”
Aaron almost jolted at that, but remained where he was, his palm on her back. Her heartbeat had evened out now. What the hell? The thought of anyone trying to hurt her made all his protective instincts rise up.
Her gaze dropped to her lap. “Have you ever heard of a man named Enzo De Fiore?”
It sounded vaguely familiar to Aaron, but he couldn’t place it. Duarte seemed to be having the same issue. “That sounds familiar.”
“He is—was—a gangster in Chicago. Before he died eight months ago, he was convinced that I helped my brother steal a bunch of diamonds from him. Diamonds that he already stole from someone else. I didn’t take them, but that didn’t matter to him. Before I settled here I was on the run for two solid years because he was convinced I knew something.” Her cheeks flushed a delicate shade of pink. He couldn’t be sure, but she looked almost guilty as she continued.
“I didn’t take his diamonds, but…I did steal his dog when I ran.”
Chapter 3
Enzo slammed his fist against the steering wheel but it didn’t make him feel any better. Nothing would make him better until he got his fucking diamonds. He’d been watching that little bitch Tegan for a few weeks now and her lifestyle wasn’t like someone who had a stash of millions of dollars’ worth of diamonds at her disposal.
He’d have gone after her sooner but he had other shit to worry about—like the Feds not believing he was really dead. Coming after Tegan and potentially showing his face in Miami eight months ago would have been stupid. Especially with all the CCTVs they had in the city. So he’d done what he had to do. He’d lain low in a backwoods small town in the middle of nowhere until the time was right. He hadn’t been in the news lately so he’d sent his partner ahead to get a place ready for him, a place close to Tegan.
Ever since, he’d been watching and waiting for the right opportunity to make a move.
Then she’d almost gotten herself killed in town today. So now he was sitting in the hospital parking lot while she was inside hopefully not fucking dead.
He wasn’t sure who would want to kill her—other than him, of course. Maybe she’d double-crossed a partner when she’d taken his damn diamonds. And deep down he knew she had to have had a partner. Probably her brother. Though that fucker was a ghost, long gone. Enzo hadn’t even gotten a hint of where he might be. He didn’t think her brother would try to blow her up though…no, there had to be someone else involved with her. Or maybe she’d stolen from someone else after him?
It didn’t matter. Whoever wanted her dead would just have to wait.
She couldn’t die until he got what he wanted—hell, needed. Those diamonds were his ticket out of the country, away from the federal charges he’d be facing if the FBI knew he was still alive, his key to escaping his life of crime. He was tired of always looking over his shoulder, wondering who might try to kill him from day to day. He just wanted to retire comfortably. He deserved it after all.
Keeping his ball cap tugged low, he pulled out his cell phone.
His partner answered on the first ring. “Yeah?”
“How is she?”
“Good. From what I hear, she just has a mild concussion. Maybe not even that. Cops are here, though. A detective, I think, and some guy, one of the witnesses. He apparently works for a security company, but I don’t know more than that.”
Now would be the perfect time to search her place. With her damn dog that she’d stolen from him, and her schedule—and her nosy neighbors—it had been impossible to get inside. Even now it was a risk because there was no guarantee a neighbor wouldn’t see him. But if she was at the hospital he had to take this chance, since it was clear someone wanted her dead. No one was getting his diamonds. No one. “I’m going to search her place. Call me when she leaves the hospital.”