Bailed Out (The Anna Albertini Files #2) - Rebecca Zanetti Page 0,13
was over. Plus, I had no intention of staying away from Aiden right now. Oh, we were done on a personal note, but I was going to find him and get the truth about Danny Pucci from him.
Then I’d say goodbye.
Quite possibly with a kick to the groin.
It was after five when Nick finally finished piling cases on my desk in an obvious attempt to both bury me with work and keep the office running smoothly until he got off his butt and hired more attorneys, so I drove directly to Donna’s house where she and Tessa were already into a bottle of wine and an extra-large Vinnie’s fully loaded pizza. I threw my briefcase and purse on the sofa and grabbed a slice before Donna could hand me a plate. “Did you send the family home?”
Tessa nodded, her hair still in the ponytail and her eyes mellow from the wine. “Yeah. We had a family meeting with a lot of yelling and swearing, and then they went home. I’m supposed to keep everyone informed.”
I swallowed without chewing and coughed, quickly recovering and going slower. The food was delicious. I pulled up a chair at the island, patted Tess on the shoulder, and took a deep breath. “All right. If you killed Danny, don’t say another word to anybody.”
She rolled her eyes. “I didn’t kill Danny.”
That’s what I had figured, but it didn’t hurt to ask. “Okay.” I tried to put my lawyer hat on when all I wanted to do was snuggle down with my sisters and get lost in a movie. But this was serious, and I was the one with the law degree, so I had to grow a pair. “Tell me what happened.”
Tessa finished her slice of pizza, took a deep drink of the Cabernet, and exhaled. “There isn’t much to tell. I got home, and my door was unlocked.”
“Open and unlocked or shut and unlocked?” I asked.
She pursed her lips. “Shut and unlocked. I slipped my key in, discovered the door was unlocked, so I twisted the knob.” She shrugged, still looking young in her goofy T-shirt. “I do forget to lock it sometimes, so I wasn’t worried. In fact, I was thinking about a million things and stepped inside, almost shutting the door before I saw…Danny on the floor.” She gulped as if trying not to puke. Her face paled.
I tried to keep my voice level. “Okay. What happened next?”
“I kind of froze,” Tessa admitted. “I dropped my purse on the ground and just stared at him like I wasn’t sure what I was seeing, you know?”
“Yeah.” Boy did I ever know. “Then what?”
She rubbed her eyes. “I heard a noise to the left, by his feet, and I just reacted. The gun was on the floor next to Danny, and I grabbed it and jumped toward his head and away from the noise. It was all instinct.”
“Where was the gun when you grabbed it? By his head, his feet, what?” I kept my voice level even though fear for my sister made my throat hurt.
She frowned. “It was kind of by his shoulder. Not touching him but right next to him.”
Donna poured more wine for the three of us. “Didn’t I read somewhere that leaving a gun at the scene was smart, so long as you wiped it down? That it was better to drop it, if it’s untraceable, than take it after shooting someone?”
That sounds good, but hell if I know. It also sounds like something off a television show.” I checked out Tessa’s coloring to make sure she wasn’t too pale, and light pink still lingered in her Irish-looking cheeks. “What happened next, Tessa?”
“I, um, caught sight of Aiden, who I hadn’t even realized was in the room. So I grabbed the gun, pointed it at him, and I didn’t recognize him right away with the beard.” She shivered and rubbed her hands along her arms. “Then you came inside, and the police were there yelling at me to drop the gun. So I dropped the gun.”
What questions should I ask her? “Did Aiden say anything?”
She shook her head. “Neither of us had time to say a word.”
I bit my lip. “Aiden’s knuckles were bruised. Do you have any indication that Aiden hit Danny or shot him?”
“No,” Tessa said quietly. “Except that they were both in my apartment and kind of bloody.” Her very green eyes darkened. “How much trouble am I in?”