Bailed Out (The Anna Albertini Files #2) - Rebecca Zanetti Page 0,14
you didn’t kill Danny, we’ll figure this out.” I ran through the scene in my head. “How long had you been away from your apartment, and think really hard on whether or not you locked your door before leaving.”
“I was gone for a couple of hours—just shopping. And I think I locked the door, but I might not have.” Tessa reached for her wine.
“Good. Give me a list of where all you went during the afternoon, and we’ll find any security cameras that caught your image.” If we could establish that she wasn’t anywhere around when Danny was killed, she’d be okay. Of course, we had to be able to determine when he’d been shot. “When was the last time you talked to Danny?”
Tessa went from pale to tomato red.
Ah, crap. “Tessa?” I asked.
She looked away. “I talked to him just yesterday.”
I shut my eyes and then slowly reopened them. “For how long?”
She ducked her head. “I don’t know. Maybe for an hour?”
Donna’s lips tightened, but when she spoke, her tone was gentle. “Tessa.”
Tess sighed. “I know. I’ve been talking to him on the phone a few times the last month. He said he’s gone through anger management and changed, but we were just talking as friends and nothing more. I promise. I’d never try for something more with him.”
Donna looked at me. “Is it bad that they’ve been in contact recently?”
“It isn’t good,” I admitted. “Did you invite him over, Tessa?”
“No. I didn’t even know he was in town,” Tessa burst out. “He has been living in Washington state up in the mountains, and there was no discussion about him visiting. I promise.”
Okay. We could deal with this. “Do you know of anybody who would want Danny dead?”
“Besides anybody he ever dated?” Donna asked dryly.
“No,” Tessa said. “He never mentioned being scared or worried about anybody. In fact, I think he’s made some good friends where he lives now and seems much more grounded. Like he’s finally found himself.”
I couldn’t quite make sense of this. “Then how was he arrested here for domestic violence of a girlfriend? His hearing was yesterday.”
Tess stilled. “I don’t know anything about that. He’s dating somebody in town?”
I had to get my hands on that file. “It seems like it. We need to find out who and what happened. Is there anybody else in town that Danny would be talking to these days?”
Tessa shrugged. “I don’t know. He had some friends in the bar where he used to work, so maybe there? Also, I guess, Aiden Devlin? What was he doing at my apartment, and what was their connection to each other?”
Excellent questions. I rubbed my left temple, which was beginning to ache. “I have no idea, but I’m going to find out. I promise.”
Chapter 6
After a night of not sleeping well, I drove away from my sweet cottage with the lovely view of Tamarack Lake. Tamarack was much smaller than Lilac Lake and yet no less busy on this Saturday at the beginning of July. I rented the guest house of a much larger estate from old friends of my parents who were actually rarely in Idaho. The rent was cheap so long as I kept an eye on the main house, dock, and grounds, which I happily did.
At the moment, I’d much rather be going to the lake with my sisters for a Saturday of playing on a boat, but duty called. My heart rate was up and my anxiety flaring, and the most uncomfortable sense of anticipation tingled through my hands on the steering wheel. I’d called Aiden that morning and left a message when he hadn’t picked up. After waiting most of the day without receiving a response, I’d texted him that I was on my way to his apartment complex on the border of Idaho and Washington state. If I didn’t find him there, I’d head to the Lorde’s garage north of Spokane.
I was finding him whether he liked it or not.
My phone rang when I was just a mile away from my house. “Hello.”
“Don’t even think of coming to the Lordes apartment complex,” Aiden said.
Every nerve in my body short circuited from his low voice with the slight brogue. My heart twinged. Man, I’d missed him these past two weeks. I’d thought we were starting something, and now I wasn’t even sure who he was. I tightened my hold on the steering wheel. “We need to talk.”